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

Tying Bry to Trump cost donors more than $1.3 million

Pro-Gloria group backed by Airbnb, Anheuser-Busch, and Westfield Property Management

Pro-Gloria hit piece funded by business and labor groups
Pro-Gloria hit piece funded by business and labor groups

It's been no secret among inside political observers that the big gorilla of the San Diego's election season this year was a so-called independent expenditure committee calling itself Neighbors for Housing Solutions Supporting Todd Gloria for San Diego Mayor 2020.

The committee raised a total of more than $1.3 million through October 17 this year, according to financial disclosure forms submitted to the city clerk's office.

Now the city's ethics commission has confirmed the outsized role of the group in the form of a list of big-money donors ranked in order of contribution.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Protect Neighborhood Services Now Sponsored by the SD Municipal Employees Association, is expected to press Gloria hard for raises and other financial perks for its members during the trying budgetary times to come.

The city employee labor group gave $250,000, followed by the LGBT Caucus Leadership Fund with $155,000, the Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters Political Action Fund Small Contributor Committee, which came up with $100,000, and the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce PAC, contributing $99,963.

The Committee to Expand the Middle Class, Supported by Airbnb, Inc., gave $80,000, per the ethics commission's list. At the next level down $50,000 each came from John G. Thompson, the Laborers' Int'l. Union of North America Local 89 PAC Fund, the Laborers Pacific Southwest Regional Organizing Coalition PAC Small Contributor Committee, the Southern California District Council of Laborers PAC Small Contributor Committee, and the San Diego Works! PAC.

Another pro-Gloria mailer, this one featuring pro-Bry Republicans. In fact Holly Smithson backed Biden over Trump this year.

$20,000 each was raised from SeaBreeze Vacation Rentals, LLC, the Downtown San Diego Partnership PAC, and Share San Diego, a political committee run by the short-term rental lobby.

Anheuser-Busch Companies gave $10,000, as did HNTB Corporation, Campland's Michael Gelfand, Service Employees International Union Local 221 Independent Expenditure PAC, Westfield Property Management, LLC, Evan Low for Assembly 2020, and ex-San Diego Unified Port commission member Robert Nelson.

In their take-no-prisoners campaign against Gloria's opponent, his fellow Democrat Barbara Bry, Neighbors for Housing Solutions rained a volley of direct mail hits on the city councilwoman from La Jolla, including one that charged that Bry was "tied to Donald Trump."

Said one of the committee's two-sided hit pieces, dispatched October 7 according to the website PoliticalPropaganda.org, "Barbara Bry will drain the swamp and run San Diego like a business."

Another mailer pictured Bry with an offshore oil derrick and linked her to Big Oil through her stock ownership. Another, sent to Democrats and headlined "Barbara Bry, The Republican Choice for Mayor," carried endorsement-style praise for Bry from Republican county supervisor Dianne Jacob and GOP Coronado Mayor Richard Bailey.

"As a Republican, I know I can work with Barbara," said Bailey's quotation. "Barbara Bry shares the same principles that have guided me as an elected official," Jacob was said to have proclaimed.

A quote from Holly Smithson, identified in the piece as a "Republican, Technology Leader," said: "We need a proven job creator and that's Barbara Bry."

A onetime U.S. Environmental Protection Agency spokeswoman under 43rd President George W. Bush, Smithson backed Biden over Trump this year as part of a Biden-sponsored effort called 43 Alumni for America.

The latest copy of the Reader

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

Aaron Stewart trades Christmas wonders for his first new music in 15 years

“Just because the job part was done, didn’t mean the passion had to die”
Next Article

Reader writer Chris Ahrens tells the story of Windansea

The shack is a landmark declaring, “The best break in the area is out there.”
Pro-Gloria hit piece funded by business and labor groups
Pro-Gloria hit piece funded by business and labor groups

It's been no secret among inside political observers that the big gorilla of the San Diego's election season this year was a so-called independent expenditure committee calling itself Neighbors for Housing Solutions Supporting Todd Gloria for San Diego Mayor 2020.

The committee raised a total of more than $1.3 million through October 17 this year, according to financial disclosure forms submitted to the city clerk's office.

Now the city's ethics commission has confirmed the outsized role of the group in the form of a list of big-money donors ranked in order of contribution.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Protect Neighborhood Services Now Sponsored by the SD Municipal Employees Association, is expected to press Gloria hard for raises and other financial perks for its members during the trying budgetary times to come.

The city employee labor group gave $250,000, followed by the LGBT Caucus Leadership Fund with $155,000, the Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters Political Action Fund Small Contributor Committee, which came up with $100,000, and the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce PAC, contributing $99,963.

The Committee to Expand the Middle Class, Supported by Airbnb, Inc., gave $80,000, per the ethics commission's list. At the next level down $50,000 each came from John G. Thompson, the Laborers' Int'l. Union of North America Local 89 PAC Fund, the Laborers Pacific Southwest Regional Organizing Coalition PAC Small Contributor Committee, the Southern California District Council of Laborers PAC Small Contributor Committee, and the San Diego Works! PAC.

Another pro-Gloria mailer, this one featuring pro-Bry Republicans. In fact Holly Smithson backed Biden over Trump this year.

$20,000 each was raised from SeaBreeze Vacation Rentals, LLC, the Downtown San Diego Partnership PAC, and Share San Diego, a political committee run by the short-term rental lobby.

Anheuser-Busch Companies gave $10,000, as did HNTB Corporation, Campland's Michael Gelfand, Service Employees International Union Local 221 Independent Expenditure PAC, Westfield Property Management, LLC, Evan Low for Assembly 2020, and ex-San Diego Unified Port commission member Robert Nelson.

In their take-no-prisoners campaign against Gloria's opponent, his fellow Democrat Barbara Bry, Neighbors for Housing Solutions rained a volley of direct mail hits on the city councilwoman from La Jolla, including one that charged that Bry was "tied to Donald Trump."

Said one of the committee's two-sided hit pieces, dispatched October 7 according to the website PoliticalPropaganda.org, "Barbara Bry will drain the swamp and run San Diego like a business."

Another mailer pictured Bry with an offshore oil derrick and linked her to Big Oil through her stock ownership. Another, sent to Democrats and headlined "Barbara Bry, The Republican Choice for Mayor," carried endorsement-style praise for Bry from Republican county supervisor Dianne Jacob and GOP Coronado Mayor Richard Bailey.

"As a Republican, I know I can work with Barbara," said Bailey's quotation. "Barbara Bry shares the same principles that have guided me as an elected official," Jacob was said to have proclaimed.

A quote from Holly Smithson, identified in the piece as a "Republican, Technology Leader," said: "We need a proven job creator and that's Barbara Bry."

A onetime U.S. Environmental Protection Agency spokeswoman under 43rd President George W. Bush, Smithson backed Biden over Trump this year as part of a Biden-sponsored effort called 43 Alumni for America.

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

Operatic Gender Wars

Are there any operas with all-female choruses?
Next Article

Born & Raised offers a less decadent Holiday Punch

Cognac serves to lighten the mood
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