Here's something you might be interested in.
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
U-T’s suspect lobbyist picked by mayor
Campaign cash could have role in Chargers deal, paper suggests
Kevin Sloat
If San Diego loses the Chargers to Los Angeles, the blame may be placed squarely on California's pay-for-play politicians, particularly Democrats.
So seems to be the suggestion of a U-T San Diego exposé regarding the efforts of Missouri billionaire Stan Kroenke to build a new football stadium in L.A.
Stan Kroenke
"To understand how the well-connected can reap results from California’s especially fertile soil for political influence and special favors, consider the latest effort to attract an NFL team to Los Angeles," says the February 8 story regarding the stadium-building partnership between Kroenke and Terrence Fancher's Stockbridge Capital Group.
Terrence Fancher
"Based in San Francisco, Stockbridge is a relatively young investment group that controls billions of dollars in public pension funds, has spent millions on political campaigns, and received unusual help from state lawmakers and regulators," the piece says.
"At first glance, Fancher would seem to bring baggage along with assets to the partnership," the paper notes, adding, "From a standing start in 2003, Fancher has assembled a $9 billion real estate portfolio, built mostly with funding from public pension systems in California, New York and Texas."
Darius Anderson
In constructing his public-pension-funded financial empire, the U-T reports, Fancher was assisted by Darius Anderson, "a prominent lobbyist and fundraiser for Democratic politicians, who also controlled firms acting as 'placement agents' to connect investment managers to pension funds….
"According to published reports, Stockbridge spent at least $2.7 million in placement fees with Anderson’s firms," the account says. "In 2010, without admitting or denying anything, Anderson paid $500,000 to settle an investigation by New York’s attorney general….
"The attorney general said Anderson didn’t have a proper license, and split fees with another placement agent that funneled money to an aide to New York’s comptroller who was accused of bribery, money laundering and other crimes."
The piece goes on to chronicle a string of Stockbridge legislative and regulatory activities it says were linked to campaign contributions, including $33,000 to indicted Democratic ex–state senator Leland Yee.
"With Kroenke moving to complete the L.A. stadium by 2018, I’m guessing Chargers fans will know in a year or two where they will be driving to see games,” the story adds.
Not mentioned in the story is Anderson's link to San Diego's Republican mayor Kevin Faulconer, who picked Anderson's Platinum Advisors to be the city's Sacramento lobbyist this past September.
The two-year deal, approved by a unanimous city council vote, will set taxpayers back $312,000.
Platinum was selected by the mayor to replace Sloat, Higgins, Jensen & Associates, whose principal Kevin Sloat — onetime aide to ex–San Diego mayor and former California governor Pete Wilson — had agreed to pay a record $133,500 fine to the state's Fair Political Practices Commission for giving a slew of illegal gifts to California lawmakers.
Based on public records, the timing of the transition to the new lobbyist is unclear.
Disclosure filings with the California secretary of state's office show that Sloat continued to be compensated by the City of San Diego during the final quarter of last year, receiving $14,000, for a total of $199,161 during the two-year legislative term ending in 2014; Sloat did no lobbying for the city during the final reporting period, according to the document.
The city has yet to file a lobbying registration for 2015, and neither Sloat nor Platinum currently lists San Diego as a client, according to the most recent online disclosure reports.
On January 8, former Sloat staffer Moira Topp's firm Topp Strategies filed a report listing itself as a subcontractor to Platinum to lobby the legislature and governor’s office on behalf of the City of San Diego regarding "issues affecting local government."
Reached by phone in Sacramento, a representative of Anderson's Platinum confirmed that the firm is currently representing the city.
Developer Douglas Manchester's U-T took a dim view of then-mayor Bob Filner's firing of Sloat and Washington DC lobbyist Patton Boggs in January 2013.
"The abrupt dismissals leave the city without an important voice in both capitals right when the first round of budgets and legislative priorities are being crafted," a January 25, 2013, news story said.
Disclosures showed the Washington lobbyist had represented the city regarding the so-called Navy Broadway complex, a development proposed by Manchester to be built on federal property at the foot of Broadway.
Filner's fellow Democrat Todd Gloria, then city council president and interim mayor, arranged to re-hire both lobbyists in September 2013 after Filner's fall in a sexual harassment scandal.
Here's something you might be interested in.
U-T’s suspect lobbyist picked by mayor
Campaign cash could have role in Chargers deal, paper suggests
U-T’s suspect lobbyist picked by mayor
Campaign cash could have role in Chargers deal, paper suggests
Kevin Sloat
If San Diego loses the Chargers to Los Angeles, the blame may be placed squarely on California's pay-for-play politicians, particularly Democrats.
So seems to be the suggestion of a U-T San Diego exposé regarding the efforts of Missouri billionaire Stan Kroenke to build a new football stadium in L.A.
Stan Kroenke
"To understand how the well-connected can reap results from California’s especially fertile soil for political influence and special favors, consider the latest effort to attract an NFL team to Los Angeles," says the February 8 story regarding the stadium-building partnership between Kroenke and Terrence Fancher's Stockbridge Capital Group.
Terrence Fancher
"Based in San Francisco, Stockbridge is a relatively young investment group that controls billions of dollars in public pension funds, has spent millions on political campaigns, and received unusual help from state lawmakers and regulators," the piece says.
"At first glance, Fancher would seem to bring baggage along with assets to the partnership," the paper notes, adding, "From a standing start in 2003, Fancher has assembled a $9 billion real estate portfolio, built mostly with funding from public pension systems in California, New York and Texas."
Darius Anderson
In constructing his public-pension-funded financial empire, the U-T reports, Fancher was assisted by Darius Anderson, "a prominent lobbyist and fundraiser for Democratic politicians, who also controlled firms acting as 'placement agents' to connect investment managers to pension funds….
"According to published reports, Stockbridge spent at least $2.7 million in placement fees with Anderson’s firms," the account says. "In 2010, without admitting or denying anything, Anderson paid $500,000 to settle an investigation by New York’s attorney general….
"The attorney general said Anderson didn’t have a proper license, and split fees with another placement agent that funneled money to an aide to New York’s comptroller who was accused of bribery, money laundering and other crimes."
The piece goes on to chronicle a string of Stockbridge legislative and regulatory activities it says were linked to campaign contributions, including $33,000 to indicted Democratic ex–state senator Leland Yee.
"With Kroenke moving to complete the L.A. stadium by 2018, I’m guessing Chargers fans will know in a year or two where they will be driving to see games,” the story adds.
Not mentioned in the story is Anderson's link to San Diego's Republican mayor Kevin Faulconer, who picked Anderson's Platinum Advisors to be the city's Sacramento lobbyist this past September.
The two-year deal, approved by a unanimous city council vote, will set taxpayers back $312,000.
Platinum was selected by the mayor to replace Sloat, Higgins, Jensen & Associates, whose principal Kevin Sloat — onetime aide to ex–San Diego mayor and former California governor Pete Wilson — had agreed to pay a record $133,500 fine to the state's Fair Political Practices Commission for giving a slew of illegal gifts to California lawmakers.
Based on public records, the timing of the transition to the new lobbyist is unclear.
Disclosure filings with the California secretary of state's office show that Sloat continued to be compensated by the City of San Diego during the final quarter of last year, receiving $14,000, for a total of $199,161 during the two-year legislative term ending in 2014; Sloat did no lobbying for the city during the final reporting period, according to the document.
The city has yet to file a lobbying registration for 2015, and neither Sloat nor Platinum currently lists San Diego as a client, according to the most recent online disclosure reports.
On January 8, former Sloat staffer Moira Topp's firm Topp Strategies filed a report listing itself as a subcontractor to Platinum to lobby the legislature and governor’s office on behalf of the City of San Diego regarding "issues affecting local government."
Reached by phone in Sacramento, a representative of Anderson's Platinum confirmed that the firm is currently representing the city.
Developer Douglas Manchester's U-T took a dim view of then-mayor Bob Filner's firing of Sloat and Washington DC lobbyist Patton Boggs in January 2013.
"The abrupt dismissals leave the city without an important voice in both capitals right when the first round of budgets and legislative priorities are being crafted," a January 25, 2013, news story said.
Disclosures showed the Washington lobbyist had represented the city regarding the so-called Navy Broadway complex, a development proposed by Manchester to be built on federal property at the foot of Broadway.
Filner's fellow Democrat Todd Gloria, then city council president and interim mayor, arranged to re-hire both lobbyists in September 2013 after Filner's fall in a sexual harassment scandal.
Comments