Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Dumanis funding plea goes for the jugular

Message based on foe's white-collar criminal links...which she also has

District attorney Bonnie Dumanis
District attorney Bonnie Dumanis

Amid the big-money heat of the current campaign to replace fallen Democrat Bob Filner for mayor of San Diego, Republican district attorney Bonnie Dumanis has been on a mission of her own to raise cash by invoking the ghost of some embarrassing GOP financial shenanigans of the past.

Ramping up for her reelection bid next year, Dumanis has just launched her latest foray for what the late California assembly speaker Jess Unruh famously called the mother's milk of politics with a hard-hitting email against Robert Brewer, her best-funded challenger so far.

My opponent is a white-collar criminal defense lawyer who brags that he's willing to spend $1 million to defeat me. That kind of spending could translate into a mountain of misleading ads during the campaign.

We've set an ambitious November goal of raising thousands of dollars through grassroots contributions to fight back.

The email offers a preview of the kind of take-no-prisoners campaign Dumanis, who came in fourth in last year's race for San Diego mayor, is expected to wage to hold on to her job.

Sponsored
Sponsored

We're going to do everything we can to hit our November goal because we can't let all the progress we've made in the District Attorney's Office be undone — especially by someone whose clients scammed taxpayers and investors out of tens of millions of dollars.

That jab is an apparent reference to Nancy Hoover, the onetime Del Mar mayor and close associate and financial backer of Republican Roger Hedgecock, forced to resign as mayor of San Diego in the mid-1980s money-laundering scandal that followed the collapse of J. David Dominelli's Ponzi scheme.

Dominelli was Hoover's boyfriend; Hedgecock is now a talk-show host on U-T San Diego, the cable-TV operation owned by GOP stalwart Doug Manchester.

According to Brewer's profile on the website of his law firm, Jones, Day:

Bob has represented several San Diego Superior Court judges who have been the focus of investigations, including Michael Greer, who was indicted for bribery in 1996. In 1989 Bob was co-counsel for ex-mayor of Del Mar, California, Nancy Hoover, in a nine-month federal securities fraud trial.

Dumanis concludes her message with:

Click here to chip in $40 right now to help fight back against my opponent, who made his money defending some of San Diego's most notorious criminals, crooks and con men.

But even as she hits Brewer for ties to the local white-collar crime set, the D.A. herself has not been above collecting campaign cash from more than a few persons of interest to law enforcement here.

As reported in August, her campaign got $500 from National City car dealer Tony McCune, a key figure in so-called "Rolodex Madam" Karen Wilkening's high-dollar prostitution case that Dumanis handled as a young assistant prosecutor in 1989.

As reported by the Los Angeles Times in June of that year, McCune admitted on the stand that he'd had sex with prostitutes provided by Wilkening and later helped fund her temporary escape to the Philippines. According to the story, "Deputy Dist. Atty. Bonnie Dumanis declined comment when asked if McCune [was] going to be charged with a crime."

He never was.

Bud Alessio

In addition to McCune's financial backing, records show Dumanis has received $1400 this year from Dominic J. "Bud" Alessio and his wife Katherine. He served a stretch in federal prison for giving gratuities to federal prison officials.

In exchange for Alessio-provided gifts of food, lodging, and entertainment, the feds had done favors — including arranging unauthorized visits with women — for his father, the notorious border gambling mogul Johnny Alessio, and his brother Angelo when they were doing time for a 1971 tax-evasion rap.

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Born & Raised offers a less decadent Holiday Punch

Cognac serves to lighten the mood
Next Article

Hike off those holiday calories, Poinsettias are peaking

Winter Solstice is here and what is winter?
District attorney Bonnie Dumanis
District attorney Bonnie Dumanis

Amid the big-money heat of the current campaign to replace fallen Democrat Bob Filner for mayor of San Diego, Republican district attorney Bonnie Dumanis has been on a mission of her own to raise cash by invoking the ghost of some embarrassing GOP financial shenanigans of the past.

Ramping up for her reelection bid next year, Dumanis has just launched her latest foray for what the late California assembly speaker Jess Unruh famously called the mother's milk of politics with a hard-hitting email against Robert Brewer, her best-funded challenger so far.

My opponent is a white-collar criminal defense lawyer who brags that he's willing to spend $1 million to defeat me. That kind of spending could translate into a mountain of misleading ads during the campaign.

We've set an ambitious November goal of raising thousands of dollars through grassroots contributions to fight back.

The email offers a preview of the kind of take-no-prisoners campaign Dumanis, who came in fourth in last year's race for San Diego mayor, is expected to wage to hold on to her job.

Sponsored
Sponsored

We're going to do everything we can to hit our November goal because we can't let all the progress we've made in the District Attorney's Office be undone — especially by someone whose clients scammed taxpayers and investors out of tens of millions of dollars.

That jab is an apparent reference to Nancy Hoover, the onetime Del Mar mayor and close associate and financial backer of Republican Roger Hedgecock, forced to resign as mayor of San Diego in the mid-1980s money-laundering scandal that followed the collapse of J. David Dominelli's Ponzi scheme.

Dominelli was Hoover's boyfriend; Hedgecock is now a talk-show host on U-T San Diego, the cable-TV operation owned by GOP stalwart Doug Manchester.

According to Brewer's profile on the website of his law firm, Jones, Day:

Bob has represented several San Diego Superior Court judges who have been the focus of investigations, including Michael Greer, who was indicted for bribery in 1996. In 1989 Bob was co-counsel for ex-mayor of Del Mar, California, Nancy Hoover, in a nine-month federal securities fraud trial.

Dumanis concludes her message with:

Click here to chip in $40 right now to help fight back against my opponent, who made his money defending some of San Diego's most notorious criminals, crooks and con men.

But even as she hits Brewer for ties to the local white-collar crime set, the D.A. herself has not been above collecting campaign cash from more than a few persons of interest to law enforcement here.

As reported in August, her campaign got $500 from National City car dealer Tony McCune, a key figure in so-called "Rolodex Madam" Karen Wilkening's high-dollar prostitution case that Dumanis handled as a young assistant prosecutor in 1989.

As reported by the Los Angeles Times in June of that year, McCune admitted on the stand that he'd had sex with prostitutes provided by Wilkening and later helped fund her temporary escape to the Philippines. According to the story, "Deputy Dist. Atty. Bonnie Dumanis declined comment when asked if McCune [was] going to be charged with a crime."

He never was.

Bud Alessio

In addition to McCune's financial backing, records show Dumanis has received $1400 this year from Dominic J. "Bud" Alessio and his wife Katherine. He served a stretch in federal prison for giving gratuities to federal prison officials.

In exchange for Alessio-provided gifts of food, lodging, and entertainment, the feds had done favors — including arranging unauthorized visits with women — for his father, the notorious border gambling mogul Johnny Alessio, and his brother Angelo when they were doing time for a 1971 tax-evasion rap.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Victorian Christmas Tours, Jingle Bell Cruises

Events December 22-December 25, 2024
Next Article

East San Diego County has only one bike lane

So you can get out of town – from Santee to Tierrasanta
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader