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The other side of the San Diego-Reagan airport story
Todd Gloria donors tried to raise our sales tax
![San Diego will now join four other West Coast destinations — Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and Los Angeles — that also have nonstops to Reagan [National airport] via Alaska Airlines.”](https://media.sandiegoreader.com/img/photos/2025/02/03/RADAR_Washington_Metropolitan_Airports_Authority_t670.jpg?b3f6a5d7692ccc373d56e40cf708e3fa67d9af9d)
San Diego will now join four other West Coast destinations — Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and Los Angeles — that also have nonstops to Reagan [National airport] via Alaska Airlines.”
Gate crashers
When San Diego airport officials announced a new non-stop flight to Washington D.C.’s Reagan National Airport last month, the San Diego Union-Tribune greeted the news with a puffy write-up. “The new, highly coveted nonstop when new federal legislation opened up five slots at the tightly regulated Reagan National airport,” according to the December 24, 2024 U-T report. “As a smaller national airport, it is subject to the perimeter rule, which limits nonstop flights in and out of Reagan to 1250 miles from Washington, unless the government grants an exception. According to the Washington Metropolitan Airports Authority, there are 40 flights out of the airport’s more than 800 daily flights that fall under that exception. San Diego will now join four other West Coast destinations — Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and Los Angeles — that also have nonstops to Reagan via Alaska Airlines.”
But the paper missed a troubled backstory. “Over the airport’s objections, Congress last year forced it to add more daily flights, and Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, a Democrat, warned of the consequences,” wrote USA Today in a January 30 account the morning after that Wednesday night’s fatal collision between an Army helicopter and an American Airlines jet from Wichita. “Speaking in Congress last May, Kaine said there had recently been an incident where two planes nearly collided on a runway and criticized efforts to further increase flights.
“The NTSB report on that runway incursion has not yet been released.” The story continued, “In May, airport officials and other experts also warned that adding more daily flights under what’s known as the slot-and-perimeter rule posed concerns. In 2023, Reagan National broke its all-time passenger traffic record with 25.5 million passengers, according to airport managers. Passenger data for 2024 is not yet available. ‘DCA is currently at capacity and at risk of being seriously overburdened should there be changes to the slot and perimeter rules,’ the Coalition to Protect America’s Regional Airports said in April.’” Changes threatened to “increase delays, traffic, congestion, noise, and safety concerns.”
Penalty boxes
The state’s Fair Political Practices Commission is out with its annual summary of fines and penalties for last year, showing San Diego cases resulted in a total of $35,973. The biggest penalty in the county, $13,500, was paid by the Poway Unified School District, which violated the state ban on Mass Mailings at Public Expense, per an online “heat map” posted by the agency last week. As previously reported here, Poway spent $34,506 of taxpayer money on a mailer for a 2020 school bond campaign that ultimately failed to carry, leaving the district woefully short of funds to pay for desperately needed repairs and other expenses, officials have said.
Another notable 2024 fine recipient on the list was the El Cajon Police Officers Association, with a $3324 penalty for a series of late filings.
Politics and money
The ultimately-failed campaign to raise San Diego sales taxes tapped three of the city’s high-dollar political consultants with ties to Democratic Mayor Todd Gloria, a newly filed disclosure statement shows, making the pain of the narrow defeat even more of a blow for local movers and shakers who poured more than a million dollars into the costly effort. The ironically-named Penny for Progress committee raised and spent a total of $1,383,550 in 2024, per the January 24 filing. Big final month donors included BioMed Realty LP ($25,000), the Committee to Expand the Middle Class, Sponsored by Airbnb, Inc. ($10,000), and Waste Management & Affiliated Entities ($5000).
Penny for Progress raised a pretty penny for Gloria’s tax proposal.
Earlier donors included the San Diego Police Officers PAC ($60,000), H.G. Fenton Company ($20,000), engineering behemoth HDR of Omaha ($15,000), the Peace Officers Research Association of CA Issues Committee ($20,000), New York-based engineering firm WSP USA Inc.($30,000), San Diego City Firefighters Local 145 ($129,880), and the Balboa Park Cultural Partnership ($40,000). A committee funded by the Municipal Employees Association kicked in $500,000 on September 16. Top among political consultants listed by the committee was The Gemini Group, run by Jennifer Tierney, which got $55,000 from the committee, the January 24 filing shows. Polant Growth Strategies, owned by Corey Polant, was paid $31,187. Ryan Clumpner’s Public Dynamics received $20,000.
Tierney also acted as campaign manager for incumbent mayor Gloria’s successful reelection bid, per a September 19, 2024 Newsweek account of the race, batting away reports of close poll margins. “As for Survey USA,” Tierney, was quoted as saying, “they showed Todd losing by three at this point in the mayor’s race in 2020 and he won by 12 points, so we don’t put much faith in their polling. Our polling shows Todd with a very comfortable lead.”
According to her company webpage, “Jen splits her time between San Diego and Williamsburg, Virginia.” Adds the profile: “She has helped elect candidates for San Diego City Council, Mayor, District Attorney, Superior Court Judge, California Assembly and Board of Supervisors. She has been named one of the ‘50 people to watch’ in San Diego. When she isn’t working in California, Jen stays busy in Virginia, where she is chair of the Historic Triangle Democrats, a member of the Virginia Democratic Party Central Committee for the 1st Congressional District, and Vice Chair for the Eastern Region of the Virginia Association of Democratic Chairs.
Larry Turner didn’t worry Jennifer Tierney.
She volunteers for many candidates on the Peninsula and has helped guide the campaigns of Monty Mason for Delegate (93rd) and State Senate (1st) and Mike Mullin for Delegate (93rd).” Clumpner, the third consultant to Penny for Progress, is, like Tierney, a Gloria ally. A February 27, 2004 dispatch by the O.B. Rag noted he was among three plaintiffs in an unsuccessful lawsuit to keep Gloria challenger Larry Turner off the mayoral ballot, identifying Clumpner as a “political consultant who also serves as vice chair of the San Diego Housing Commission.” Also like Tierney, Polant has been paid by other Gloria political efforts, including in 2023 during the mayor’s bid for the San Diego Democratic Central Committee.
— 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.
The other side of the San Diego-Reagan airport story
Todd Gloria donors tried to raise our sales tax
The other side of the San Diego-Reagan airport story
Todd Gloria donors tried to raise our sales tax
San Diego will now join four other West Coast destinations — Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and Los Angeles — that also have nonstops to Reagan [National airport] via Alaska Airlines.”
Gate crashers
When San Diego airport officials announced a new non-stop flight to Washington D.C.’s Reagan National Airport last month, the San Diego Union-Tribune greeted the news with a puffy write-up. “The new, highly coveted nonstop when new federal legislation opened up five slots at the tightly regulated Reagan National airport,” according to the December 24, 2024 U-T report. “As a smaller national airport, it is subject to the perimeter rule, which limits nonstop flights in and out of Reagan to 1250 miles from Washington, unless the government grants an exception. According to the Washington Metropolitan Airports Authority, there are 40 flights out of the airport’s more than 800 daily flights that fall under that exception. San Diego will now join four other West Coast destinations — Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and Los Angeles — that also have nonstops to Reagan via Alaska Airlines.”
But the paper missed a troubled backstory. “Over the airport’s objections, Congress last year forced it to add more daily flights, and Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, a Democrat, warned of the consequences,” wrote USA Today in a January 30 account the morning after that Wednesday night’s fatal collision between an Army helicopter and an American Airlines jet from Wichita. “Speaking in Congress last May, Kaine said there had recently been an incident where two planes nearly collided on a runway and criticized efforts to further increase flights.
“The NTSB report on that runway incursion has not yet been released.” The story continued, “In May, airport officials and other experts also warned that adding more daily flights under what’s known as the slot-and-perimeter rule posed concerns. In 2023, Reagan National broke its all-time passenger traffic record with 25.5 million passengers, according to airport managers. Passenger data for 2024 is not yet available. ‘DCA is currently at capacity and at risk of being seriously overburdened should there be changes to the slot and perimeter rules,’ the Coalition to Protect America’s Regional Airports said in April.’” Changes threatened to “increase delays, traffic, congestion, noise, and safety concerns.”
Penalty boxes
The state’s Fair Political Practices Commission is out with its annual summary of fines and penalties for last year, showing San Diego cases resulted in a total of $35,973. The biggest penalty in the county, $13,500, was paid by the Poway Unified School District, which violated the state ban on Mass Mailings at Public Expense, per an online “heat map” posted by the agency last week. As previously reported here, Poway spent $34,506 of taxpayer money on a mailer for a 2020 school bond campaign that ultimately failed to carry, leaving the district woefully short of funds to pay for desperately needed repairs and other expenses, officials have said.
Another notable 2024 fine recipient on the list was the El Cajon Police Officers Association, with a $3324 penalty for a series of late filings.
Politics and money
The ultimately-failed campaign to raise San Diego sales taxes tapped three of the city’s high-dollar political consultants with ties to Democratic Mayor Todd Gloria, a newly filed disclosure statement shows, making the pain of the narrow defeat even more of a blow for local movers and shakers who poured more than a million dollars into the costly effort. The ironically-named Penny for Progress committee raised and spent a total of $1,383,550 in 2024, per the January 24 filing. Big final month donors included BioMed Realty LP ($25,000), the Committee to Expand the Middle Class, Sponsored by Airbnb, Inc. ($10,000), and Waste Management & Affiliated Entities ($5000).
Penny for Progress raised a pretty penny for Gloria’s tax proposal.
Earlier donors included the San Diego Police Officers PAC ($60,000), H.G. Fenton Company ($20,000), engineering behemoth HDR of Omaha ($15,000), the Peace Officers Research Association of CA Issues Committee ($20,000), New York-based engineering firm WSP USA Inc.($30,000), San Diego City Firefighters Local 145 ($129,880), and the Balboa Park Cultural Partnership ($40,000). A committee funded by the Municipal Employees Association kicked in $500,000 on September 16. Top among political consultants listed by the committee was The Gemini Group, run by Jennifer Tierney, which got $55,000 from the committee, the January 24 filing shows. Polant Growth Strategies, owned by Corey Polant, was paid $31,187. Ryan Clumpner’s Public Dynamics received $20,000.
Tierney also acted as campaign manager for incumbent mayor Gloria’s successful reelection bid, per a September 19, 2024 Newsweek account of the race, batting away reports of close poll margins. “As for Survey USA,” Tierney, was quoted as saying, “they showed Todd losing by three at this point in the mayor’s race in 2020 and he won by 12 points, so we don’t put much faith in their polling. Our polling shows Todd with a very comfortable lead.”
According to her company webpage, “Jen splits her time between San Diego and Williamsburg, Virginia.” Adds the profile: “She has helped elect candidates for San Diego City Council, Mayor, District Attorney, Superior Court Judge, California Assembly and Board of Supervisors. She has been named one of the ‘50 people to watch’ in San Diego. When she isn’t working in California, Jen stays busy in Virginia, where she is chair of the Historic Triangle Democrats, a member of the Virginia Democratic Party Central Committee for the 1st Congressional District, and Vice Chair for the Eastern Region of the Virginia Association of Democratic Chairs.
Larry Turner didn’t worry Jennifer Tierney.
She volunteers for many candidates on the Peninsula and has helped guide the campaigns of Monty Mason for Delegate (93rd) and State Senate (1st) and Mike Mullin for Delegate (93rd).” Clumpner, the third consultant to Penny for Progress, is, like Tierney, a Gloria ally. A February 27, 2004 dispatch by the O.B. Rag noted he was among three plaintiffs in an unsuccessful lawsuit to keep Gloria challenger Larry Turner off the mayoral ballot, identifying Clumpner as a “political consultant who also serves as vice chair of the San Diego Housing Commission.” Also like Tierney, Polant has been paid by other Gloria political efforts, including in 2023 during the mayor’s bid for the San Diego Democratic Central Committee.
— 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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