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Your Week — Daily event picks
UCSD cancer center blasted for trip, meal, and event spending
Much of what the auditors flagged in this report were small in dollar value. An event like that one, costing nearly a quarter million, seems wildly excessive. That said, these revelations don't approach the kind of abuses that were recently uncovered at Cal State, San Marcos, where three administrators including the recently-retired president seemed to think state funds were for their taking and wasting. (I'm still waiting for criminal charges to come out of that one, but not holding my breath.) The UC has been, until recently at least, lax on financial controls and has had a batch of scandals to deal with. Whether a report like this one is typical I don't know. But it would appear that they are trying to get such abuses under control and eliminate them. However, with all the money sloshing around the biggest UC campuses, especially those with medical centers, keeping everyone honest and careful with spending will be an ongoing challenge. Let's all hope for the best.— May 5, 2020 8:40 a.m.
Will Covid-19 turn San Diego’s water plan into Toilet to Grave?
Huh?— May 2, 2020 8:11 p.m.
Sara Jacobs self-funds House campaign to the tune of $2.74 million
Yeah, I judge political candidates all the time. This one is particularly egregious because she has a personal fortune that seems bottomless and is using it to buy her way into the House. We had another rich candidate who managed to win a House seat and hold it for many terms, largely because he had the funds to make it happen. He got his comeuppance recently--although he's now trying for a comeback in a different district--due to changing political trends. There are parallels on both sides of the aisle. As to whether the Koch brothers make the Jacobs clan and their Qualcomm billions "look poor", you may know more than I do. The record of the Jacobs clan in buying politicians and influence to roll over local decisions isn't anything to be proud of.— April 23, 2020 10:49 p.m.
Sara Jacobs self-funds House campaign to the tune of $2.74 million
There is a long and unfortunate history of rich people buying themselves election victories. You would hope that those days are over, but, guess what? Those days are these days, and money rules the process. If I were a Dem (I'm not) and lived in that congressional district (I don't) I think I would be outraged that this rich girl with her thin resume and lack of political experience would aspire to become a US representative, i.e. a congresswoman. But then plenty of others have pulled that off here and everywhere in the nation. They can also buy senate seats with money. But there's a bigger matter here, and that is how Sara's billionaire family seems to think they can dictate to the city and county many decisions with their wealth and influence. What was once philanthropy from old Irwin and his offspring is now turning into buying politicians who will dance their tunes. Think of Mayor Sunny and also Nate Fletcher. Both have sold their souls to the Jacobs clan. Do you residents of that district want her and her rich girl attitudes representing you in congress? If you do and vote for her, that's what you're gonna get. And it will be just what you deserve.— April 23, 2020 7:55 p.m.
Will furloughs haunt Faulconer's city-paid political staff?
Those publicity hound hacks/flacks are a luxury the slobberin' city should have never put on the public (i.e. taxpayer funded) payroll. And as a luxury for Mayor Sunny, they should be the first to go when times get tough. Tough times? If these times aren't tough, what would be? Six figure salaries, even in the slobberin' city, should be closely scrutinized every year. Heh, heh! We know they aren't scrutinized at all. Yet the revolving door of these flacks has kept spinning for years now, and years before when Sanders was the mayor. They need to go away, now!— April 15, 2020 5:52 p.m.
San Diego city council quietly greenlights $525,000 harassment deal
Huh?— April 13, 2020 7:26 p.m.
In face of Covid, San Diego city council dreams of bigger conventions
The tourism cabal just never gives up; their ballot proposal failed to pass, and now they grasp at a straw that the state supreme court might decide it didn't need 2/3 approval. Rather than admit that conventions were becoming less popular and that those that were still held had fewer attendees, they want to expand the operation in some sort of hope that big ones might come. The smart thing to do now is to try to salvage as much as they can and keep the existing facility viable for a few more years. Tourism can and will remain a draw here regardless. Swimming against the current and building more space in a shrinking market is madness, yet that's what the power structure wants to do. Sad that Todd Gloria is now in their pocket. Bry looks better to me--although I don't live in or vote in the City of San Diego--all the time.— April 10, 2020 10:53 a.m.
San Diego city council quietly greenlights $525,000 harassment deal
If you were even semi-serious I'd be most surprised. LA has city hall corruption like no other city in the western US. Its department of water and power is just one long-running scandal. You can fix incompetence with competence, and although that has escaped San Diego for decades, might still work. Corruption takes root and is much, much more difficult to root out. If the voters in SD wanted city government to work, they could get that, but the first thing they would need to do is wake up and then get informed. Will that ever happen? Very unlikely.— April 8, 2020 2:37 p.m.
San Diego city council quietly greenlights $525,000 harassment deal
Here's what I fail to understand: she is a fire captain and has or had 18 years of service. Why is she now settling a lawsuit over things that happened years ago? While it's not a sure thing, it could be claimed that whatever went on didn't hurt her career because, after al,l she is now a captain. It is hard to identify retribution. But I do find it unusual that these claims don't make accusations against unnamed miscreants. This captain Perkins is referred to at least twice. Don't you wonder what the story is about him? I do. Don't get me wrong; the things that she describes are quite likely, and her claim that the FD is a boy's club is quite apt. In fact, firehouses are one last bastion of society for misogynists and chauvinists. This is just another case, like so many that have preceded it, of how the slobberin' city managed to botch employee complaints and end up on the hook for a fat settlement. Every time you slam through a pothole in the street or read of a water main break and wonder why the city underfunds its infrastructure and maintenance, think of this and other settlements that could have funded proper care. But now she can head into retirement with a nice not-so-little nest egg, courtesy of the long-suffering city taxpayers.— April 8, 2020 8:46 a.m.
Oceanside anguishes over its businesses
While in times like these it is hard to decide what do do, this has all the appearances of a grandstand play by Rodriguez to head off his recall and make himself the hero. With all the assistance that will flow from the feds, such a program could quickly become redundant. Having him announce these measures before they had even been made known to the rest of the council was most out-of-line and to also publicize them prior to any sort of approval just compounded that. But then again, what have Oceansiders come to expect from him? He's been out-of-line on many issues.— April 7, 2020 8:39 p.m.