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Why would Viejas finance campaign of Silicon Valley's Evan Low?
It's about the card rooms, stupid
Todd Gloria picked up major cash support on September 10 in the form of $40,000 in donations from a government-backed nonprofit outfit called the Balboa Park Cultural Partnership, set up as a so-called 501(c)(3) in July, 2023.
Taxing charity
The well-monied effort by city hall Democrats, led by incumbent mayor Todd Gloria, to hike San Diego sales taxes picked up major cash support on September 10 in the form of $40,000 in donations from a government-backed nonprofit outfit called the Balboa Park Cultural Partnership, set up as a so-called 501(c)(3) in July, 2023. A January 28 federal filing this year shows that the group, which claims it exists to “achieve greater organizational efficiency, innovation and excellence” for 25 member institutions, including the San Diego Zoo, took in $4,419,067 during the twelve months ending June 30, 2023. Grants from government agencies totaled $787,521, per the document, with sales of annual museum and other institution passes amounting to $1,877,691, along with $667,785 in limited one-day passes, $542,846 in park-wide one day passes, and group sales of $87,456. Executive Director Peter Comisky got a $201,283 salary, with total compensation including benefits bringing that to $225,091; Michael Warburton, director of “Parkwide Communications” for the group, received pay of $104,479. Total expenses for the group, according to the filing, were $3,969,978, leaving a net income of $449,089. At the end of the year, the organization claimed to have $2,287,267 of cash and other net assets.
Was Stephen Whitburn inspired to put an encampment on Inspiration Point?
Comsikey and the partnership he leads once battled with City Councilman Stephen Whitburn over a short-lived plan to install a so-called safe homeless campground at Balboa Park’s Inspiration Point. “The campground is a central piece of Whitburn’s broader proposal to also bar camping on public property when shelter options are available, and to ban homeless camps at all times within two blocks of schools and shelters, in parks including Balboa Park and along trolley tracks,” according to a March 21, 2023 Voice of San Diego account. “Inspiration Point is really the front door to Balboa Park, and we always want to make sure that Balboa Park is a safe and welcoming environment for the guests who come to the park, for the volunteers and the paid staff and the schoolchildren who visit the park every day,” Comiskey was quoted as saying. “In a separate statement, the Cultural Partnership said it could not support ‘the vague proposals being discussed’ and that it believes park organizations, visitors and other stakeholders should get a chance to participate in a public process surrounding the proposal,” the Voice dispatch added.
As for financing the ballot campaign for the city council’s current drive to raise sales taxes, that’s considered lobbying, a permissible activity with a few limits. “An [Internal Revenue Code] Section 501(c)(3) organization may engage in some lobbying, but too much lobbying activity risks loss of tax-exempt status,” notes The IRS online Tax Guide for Churches & Religious Organizations. “Legislation includes action by Congress, any state legislature, any local council or similar governing body, with respect to acts, bills, resolutions or similar items (such as legislative confirmation of appointive offices), or by the public in a referendum, ballot initiative, constitutional amendment or similar procedure.”
New Viejas Low
One of San Diego’s biggest political big money players and casino owners, the Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians, has weighed in on the fate of a controversial California gambling bill by dumping $60,000 into an Internet radio buy for the Congressional campaign of Silicon Valley Assembly Democrat Evan Low, according to a September 6 account by the non-profit news site CalMatters. “Assemblymember Evan Low represents a Silicon Valley district that could lose tens of millions of dollars in local tax revenues if Gov. Gavin Newsom signs a bill that would allow casino-owning tribes to sue their competitors, [which are ] private card rooms,” says CalMatters. “So it was surprising that Low, a Democrat who’s running for Congress, twice voted this summer for the measure and against the card rooms.”
Evan Low is betting political capital against card rooms and for casinos.
Intrigue mounted, according to the account, when Viejas, a key backer of the legislation, “bought $60,000 in radio ads supporting Low’s campaign for a congressional race that’ll be decided by voters almost 500 miles from the tribe’s reservation and its large casino in San Diego County. It’s illegal for lawmakers to pledge a vote in exchange for a campaign donation, and there’s no evidence that happened in this case. But Sean McMorris, a program manager for California Common Cause, said the Viejas ads appear to be political payback for Low’s votes in the Assembly. ‘Even though there was probably no coordination between Evan Low and this [political action committee],’ McMorris said, ‘I can probably guarantee you they wouldn’t have spent that money if Assemblymember Low didn’t vote for their interests.’” Not so, Viejas lawyer Tauri Bigknife was quoted as saying. “It’s not payback. It’s not buying a vote. It’s none of those things. There’s no there there, OK? It’s supporting someone that we’ve had a longstanding relationship with.”
Maybe so, but skepticism remains. “Low’s vote also exposed him to negative advertising,” continued the account. “The card rooms paid for a billboard near the San Jose airport slamming him for siding with tribes at the potential expense of tax revenue for the community he represents. The bill, which is awaiting Newsom’s signature or veto, would allow tribal governments to sue private card rooms over the tribes’ longstanding allegation that the gambling halls are illegally offering card games including blackjack and pai gow poker. Low sits on the committee, which was where he first voted against the wishes of the city of San Jose, one of the cities that stands to lose millions of dollars in revenue should the tribes prevail in their fight against the card rooms. Low’s campaigns received at least $18,100 from tribes and $12,000 from card rooms since 2023, though a full accounting of any additional gambling donations Low may have received to his congressional account since July won’t be available until October.”
Kevin’s minions
A political action committee of the Downtown San Diego Partnership, a pro-Republican leaning business improvement group, came with $25,000 for an independent political committee backing GOP ex-San Diego mayor Kevin Faulconer over incumbent Democrat Terra Lawson-Remer for county supervisor on September 13. A few days before, on September 10, the partnership’s PAC kicked in $5000 for the 2026 gubernatorial bid of state Senate Democrat Toni Atkins. On September 9, the pro-Faulconer committee came up with $107,000 to finance an anti-Lawson-Remer hit piece, county disclosure records show. Meanwhile, on August 31, the largely GOP Lincoln Club of San Diego County spent $28,124 for a poll on behalf of Larry Turner, the San Diego cop taking on incumbent Democrat Todd Gloria in San Diego’s mayoral race. Meanwhile Affirmed Housing (and two companies associated with Affirmed) owner James Silverwood of ritzy Rancho Santa Fe, big builders of taxpayer subsidized housing, anted up a total $30,000 on September 4 to promote Mayor Todd Gloria’s proposed sales tax hike on November’s ballot.
— Matt Potter
The Reader offers $25 for news tips published in this column. Call our voice mail at 619-235-3000, ext. 440, or sandiegoreader.com/staff/matt-potter/contact/.
Here's something you might be interested in.
Why would Viejas finance campaign of Silicon Valley's Evan Low?
It's about the card rooms, stupid
Why would Viejas finance campaign of Silicon Valley's Evan Low?
It's about the card rooms, stupid
Todd Gloria picked up major cash support on September 10 in the form of $40,000 in donations from a government-backed nonprofit outfit called the Balboa Park Cultural Partnership, set up as a so-called 501(c)(3) in July, 2023.
Taxing charity
The well-monied effort by city hall Democrats, led by incumbent mayor Todd Gloria, to hike San Diego sales taxes picked up major cash support on September 10 in the form of $40,000 in donations from a government-backed nonprofit outfit called the Balboa Park Cultural Partnership, set up as a so-called 501(c)(3) in July, 2023. A January 28 federal filing this year shows that the group, which claims it exists to “achieve greater organizational efficiency, innovation and excellence” for 25 member institutions, including the San Diego Zoo, took in $4,419,067 during the twelve months ending June 30, 2023. Grants from government agencies totaled $787,521, per the document, with sales of annual museum and other institution passes amounting to $1,877,691, along with $667,785 in limited one-day passes, $542,846 in park-wide one day passes, and group sales of $87,456. Executive Director Peter Comisky got a $201,283 salary, with total compensation including benefits bringing that to $225,091; Michael Warburton, director of “Parkwide Communications” for the group, received pay of $104,479. Total expenses for the group, according to the filing, were $3,969,978, leaving a net income of $449,089. At the end of the year, the organization claimed to have $2,287,267 of cash and other net assets.
Was Stephen Whitburn inspired to put an encampment on Inspiration Point?
Comsikey and the partnership he leads once battled with City Councilman Stephen Whitburn over a short-lived plan to install a so-called safe homeless campground at Balboa Park’s Inspiration Point. “The campground is a central piece of Whitburn’s broader proposal to also bar camping on public property when shelter options are available, and to ban homeless camps at all times within two blocks of schools and shelters, in parks including Balboa Park and along trolley tracks,” according to a March 21, 2023 Voice of San Diego account. “Inspiration Point is really the front door to Balboa Park, and we always want to make sure that Balboa Park is a safe and welcoming environment for the guests who come to the park, for the volunteers and the paid staff and the schoolchildren who visit the park every day,” Comiskey was quoted as saying. “In a separate statement, the Cultural Partnership said it could not support ‘the vague proposals being discussed’ and that it believes park organizations, visitors and other stakeholders should get a chance to participate in a public process surrounding the proposal,” the Voice dispatch added.
As for financing the ballot campaign for the city council’s current drive to raise sales taxes, that’s considered lobbying, a permissible activity with a few limits. “An [Internal Revenue Code] Section 501(c)(3) organization may engage in some lobbying, but too much lobbying activity risks loss of tax-exempt status,” notes The IRS online Tax Guide for Churches & Religious Organizations. “Legislation includes action by Congress, any state legislature, any local council or similar governing body, with respect to acts, bills, resolutions or similar items (such as legislative confirmation of appointive offices), or by the public in a referendum, ballot initiative, constitutional amendment or similar procedure.”
New Viejas Low
One of San Diego’s biggest political big money players and casino owners, the Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians, has weighed in on the fate of a controversial California gambling bill by dumping $60,000 into an Internet radio buy for the Congressional campaign of Silicon Valley Assembly Democrat Evan Low, according to a September 6 account by the non-profit news site CalMatters. “Assemblymember Evan Low represents a Silicon Valley district that could lose tens of millions of dollars in local tax revenues if Gov. Gavin Newsom signs a bill that would allow casino-owning tribes to sue their competitors, [which are ] private card rooms,” says CalMatters. “So it was surprising that Low, a Democrat who’s running for Congress, twice voted this summer for the measure and against the card rooms.”
Evan Low is betting political capital against card rooms and for casinos.
Intrigue mounted, according to the account, when Viejas, a key backer of the legislation, “bought $60,000 in radio ads supporting Low’s campaign for a congressional race that’ll be decided by voters almost 500 miles from the tribe’s reservation and its large casino in San Diego County. It’s illegal for lawmakers to pledge a vote in exchange for a campaign donation, and there’s no evidence that happened in this case. But Sean McMorris, a program manager for California Common Cause, said the Viejas ads appear to be political payback for Low’s votes in the Assembly. ‘Even though there was probably no coordination between Evan Low and this [political action committee],’ McMorris said, ‘I can probably guarantee you they wouldn’t have spent that money if Assemblymember Low didn’t vote for their interests.’” Not so, Viejas lawyer Tauri Bigknife was quoted as saying. “It’s not payback. It’s not buying a vote. It’s none of those things. There’s no there there, OK? It’s supporting someone that we’ve had a longstanding relationship with.”
Maybe so, but skepticism remains. “Low’s vote also exposed him to negative advertising,” continued the account. “The card rooms paid for a billboard near the San Jose airport slamming him for siding with tribes at the potential expense of tax revenue for the community he represents. The bill, which is awaiting Newsom’s signature or veto, would allow tribal governments to sue private card rooms over the tribes’ longstanding allegation that the gambling halls are illegally offering card games including blackjack and pai gow poker. Low sits on the committee, which was where he first voted against the wishes of the city of San Jose, one of the cities that stands to lose millions of dollars in revenue should the tribes prevail in their fight against the card rooms. Low’s campaigns received at least $18,100 from tribes and $12,000 from card rooms since 2023, though a full accounting of any additional gambling donations Low may have received to his congressional account since July won’t be available until October.”
Kevin’s minions
A political action committee of the Downtown San Diego Partnership, a pro-Republican leaning business improvement group, came with $25,000 for an independent political committee backing GOP ex-San Diego mayor Kevin Faulconer over incumbent Democrat Terra Lawson-Remer for county supervisor on September 13. A few days before, on September 10, the partnership’s PAC kicked in $5000 for the 2026 gubernatorial bid of state Senate Democrat Toni Atkins. On September 9, the pro-Faulconer committee came up with $107,000 to finance an anti-Lawson-Remer hit piece, county disclosure records show. Meanwhile, on August 31, the largely GOP Lincoln Club of San Diego County spent $28,124 for a poll on behalf of Larry Turner, the San Diego cop taking on incumbent Democrat Todd Gloria in San Diego’s mayoral race. Meanwhile Affirmed Housing (and two companies associated with Affirmed) owner James Silverwood of ritzy Rancho Santa Fe, big builders of taxpayer subsidized housing, anted up a total $30,000 on September 4 to promote Mayor Todd Gloria’s proposed sales tax hike on November’s ballot.
— Matt Potter
The Reader offers $25 for news tips published in this column. Call our voice mail at 619-235-3000, ext. 440, or sandiegoreader.com/staff/matt-potter/contact/.
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