Copley YMCA Fundraiser Turns Into Aguirre Hate Fest
Even Mike Aguirre haters were rolling their eyes in acute discomfort Saturday night at a fundraiser for Copley YMCA. David Copley was there smiling, seemingly oblivious to the tackiness. Herb Klein, corporate welfare lobbyist, was guest of honor at the …
Former Invitrogen Scientist Hit With Insider Trading Charges
The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed insider trading charges against Harry S. Yim of Vista, a former scientist at Invitrogen, which makes tools for genetic research. The agency charges that at a private employee meeting in 2004, Yim heard …
Blackwater Responds; Journalists Hits Back
Blackwater USA, the mercenary firm that wants to put a training camp in Potrero, has defended itself against charges of bullying the press. Miriam Raftery says that although she had a press pass and permission from a fire official to …
Blackwater Intimidated Press at Potrero Site It Covets
Mercenary firm Blackwater USA has been bullying members of the press at the Potrero site it wants to use as a training camp. On Friday, reporter Miriam Rafferty, who had a press pass and was waved through by a fire …
Two Years Ago, Think Tank Warned of Inadequate Fire Protection
Mayor Jerry Sanders took bows last week from adoring San Diegans and a fawning press that refused to ask tough questions. The mayor should have been asked about a study two years ago by the Center on Policy Initiatives. It …
Four Schwarzenegger Vetoes Worsened San Diego's Fire Defenses
Arnold Schwarzenegger took bows during Sunday's football game and preened for TV cameras when Qualcomm was serving as a shelter. San Diegans and the local press cheered. But the press was not asking him about four vetoes of bills that …
Three RB Neighborhoods Didn't Get Warnings
The Trails, Westwood, and Montelena neighborhoods of Rancho Bernardo lost about 200 homes in the fires. Residents say they got very little warning from the reverse 911 system. Also, Mayor Jerry Sanders went on TV Sunday evening at 11 and …
In June '07, Sanders Said San Diego Had an Anti-Fire Program "That Works"
After the Pines Fire of 2002, a Wildland Fire Task Force issued a report saying that 80 percent of wildland areas in San Diego could burn explosively under typical periods of high fire danger. After the 2003 fires, there were …
Were Rancho Bernardo Residents Warned in Timely Way?
I am learning of Rancho Bernardo residents whose homes, or neighborhoods, went up in flames without a prior warning from the highly-touted reverse 911 system or any other official method, other than friendly neighbors. Also, residents wonder why Mayor Jerry …
"Reporters" Lobbing Softball Questions at FEMA Brass Were Actually FEMA Employees
The Federal Emergency Management Agency hit a new low in journalism during the California fires, according to the Washington Post today (Fri., Oct. 26). While the fires raged Tuesday, the agency's deputy administrator held a news briefing. As the so-called …
Watch for Fire Hoopla at Chargers Game Sunday
There are a couple of things the city and county learned from the 2003 fires, but one stands out: media manipulation. It appears that the City is trying to empty Qualcomm stadium of refugees so that on Sunday, there can …
Aguirre on Emergency Committee; Governor Sought Advice
When Çity Attorney Mike Aguirre wrote a memo suggesting that the City have a plan to evacuate if the air got dangerously bad, he was doing so as a member of a special City committee devoted to handling emergencies. Aguirre …
U-T Uses Fire to Smear Aguirre -- Inaccurately, As Always
When the fires began Sunday morning, I asked my wife, "How long will it be before the U-T blames Aguirre for starting the fire?" It didn't take long for the U-T to use the fire to smear him. This morning …
Frye Requested Bigger Brush Management Staff
On May 31, Councilmember Donna Frye requested that the city council add two code compliance officers and four brush abatement workers to the City payroll. "Anticipation of a high-risk wildfire season mkes these positions critical for public health and safety," …
Reconstruction Will Boost Economy
In the long run, the sagging San Diego economy will get a boost from the fires. Insurance money will come in to the county, and homes will be rebuilt. "Reconstruction in San Diego County will eventually put a floor on …
Wildfire Hits Potrero
Tiny Potrero in East County, the town battling the efforts of the mercenary firm Blackwaterto put a training camp there, has a new problem. A wildfire began at 9:23 Sunday morning. There are 300 firefighters on the sceme, 3 helicopers, …
For City to Stave Off Bankruptcy, There Must Be Sacrifices
There are ways to help solve, or at least alleviate, San Diego's pension crisis. The question is whether greed and politics will stand in the way. For example, current City workers have been purchasing service credits -- buying pension benefits …
Bersin's Brief and Belated Response
On Thursday, I phoned Alan Bersin, and agreed to email him questions about his large investment in a Montgomery Field building close to the controversial Sunroad building. I was interested in whether his loaning of an executive to Mayor Sanders …
Bersin's Building Almost Kisses Sunroad's
On March 12 of this year, Alan Bersin, chairman of the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority, wrote Mayor Jerry Sanders to confirm that the authority would assign a top-level executive "to help resolve issues surrounding the Sunroad Enterprises building …
Francis May Be Edging Closer to a Run
Steve Francis may be thinking more seriously about challenging Mayor Jerry Sanders in next year's election. The San Diego Institute for Policy Research, founded and financed by Francis, has moved its headquarters to La Jolla to separate itself from Francis …
Charlotte Russe Out of Fashion With Wall Street
Stock of San Diego-based Charlotte Russe Holding, a retailer of clothes for young women, has been more than halved this year, even though sales and earnings are up nicely through the first nine months. Wall Street analysts keep saying that …
Flannery Says Sainz May Have Committed Felony
On his well-read blog, www.blogofsandiego.com, Pat Flannery says that Mayor Jerry Sanders's flack Fred Sainz may have committed a felony by ordering Rick Reynolds, who was recently fired as Sanders's assistant chief operating officer, to erase a public record. Fred …
U-T Lets Sanders Off Hook Again
The Union-Tribune published a good story Sunday morning showing how the City was warned of Mount Soledad problems during the summer. The paper commendably expanded on posts two days earlier on this blog and Pat Flannery's blog. But there was …
City Had Many Soledad Warnings During Summer
Mayor Jerry Sanders, upon returning from Washington, D.C., immediately declared that the Mount Soledad landslide was an act of God and that the City had not been involved. Documents released by his own office demonstrably show that Sanders's statement was …
Here's Memo That Got Rick Reynolds Fired
In late September, Rick Reynolds, the City's assistant chief operating officer, was fired, along with Lance Wade, purchasing and contracting director. Wade told me that Reynolds was fired because he warned Mayor Jerry Sanders's spokesperson, Fred Sainz, about the dangers …
Will Congress Tackle Sports Subsidies?
Economists are asking Congress to stop the pro sports subsidies that are one cause of the nation's neglect of infrastructure. A Harvard ecnomists said that since 1990, pro teams have received $18.5 billion in subsidies, and there is no evidence …
Will U-T and Republicans Attack Leslie Devaney?
The U-T editorial page and local Republican Party have made fools of themselves once again by claiming that City Attorney Mike Aguirre broke city laws by permitting 6 employees in his office to donate all of $1,640 to his election …
"We're Taking Over," Says Peters
City councilmember Scott Peters, who purports to represent La Jolla on city council, boasted in council chambers recently, "We are taking over the city attorney's office." By "we" he apparently meant the city council. Although supposedly a lawyer, Peters apparently …
McGrath Says U-T Editorial Was Libelous
Don McGrath, a top deputy in the city attorney's office, says the Union-Tribune committed libel per se against him in its editorial Oct. 10. The editorial, already the laughingstock of campaign finance experts, claimed that City Attorney Mike Aguirre had …
U-T, Republican Party All Wet As Usual
Yesterday, City Attorney Mike Aguirre got an urgent email from Bob Kittle, Union-Tribune editorial writer. Kittle demanded to know if Aguirre had broken city law by taking the whopping sum of $1,640 in campaign donations from 6 of his employees. …
Pension Fund Getting Gamier
At a meeting September 21, the board of the San Diego City Employees' Retireent system approved a program to put 5 percent of assets into private equity -- the pools of capital that raise funds through low quality debt to …
Spring Valley Couple Charged by FTC
The Federal Trade Commission has charged Lawrence and Stephanie Jordan of Spring Valley with making claims for women's health products that were not backed by scientific evidence. The couple's companies, Springboard and Pro Health Labs, sell alternative hormone replacemet products …
Sanders's Charter Committee "Civic Sham"
In an op-ed in the Oct. 7 Los Angeles Times, Prof. Steve Erie of UCSD and Vice President Norma Damashek of the League of Women Voters write that Mayor Jerry Sanders's Charter Reform Committee is a "civic sham." The mayor …
47 Earthquakes in Early September
Katheryn Rhodes, Point Loma engineer, points out that in late August and early September, there were 47 earthquakes in San Diego. All were near Mission Beach in the vicinity of the current landslide at Soledad Mountan Road and Desert View …
State High Court Debates Free Speech Issue with SD Roots
This week, the California Supreme Court debated whether a shopping mall can keep union members and others from passing leaflets to shoppers urging a boycott. The case originated in 1998 when members of a Teamsters affiliate working for the Union-Tribune …
Issa's Foot Lands in Mouth Again
San Diego County Congressman Darrell Issa has managed to expose his cerebral deficiencies in public again. Rep. Henry Waxman's House Committee is investigating the violent activities of Blackwater USA in Iraq. Said Issa, "If Henry Waxman today wants to go …
Blackwater Opponents Energized
The weak defenses of Blackwater USA at the hearings by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform are delighting those battling the company's plans to put a training facility in East County's Potrero. The committee has found that since …
Sanders's Scam Flying Under Radar
Mayor Sanders's scheme to pack a so-called charter review committee with pro-establishment lawyers and lobbyists has thus far not been detected by the San Diego public. A poll by the San Diego Institute for Policy Research reveals that less than …
Wade Says Reynolds Fired for Warning Mayor's Aides of Dangerous, Unethical Conduct
Last week, the Sanders administration's assistant chief operating officer, Rick Renolds, and purchasing and contracting director, Lance Wade, were abruptly fired. This morning, Wade confirmed an extremely disquieting story that is making the rounds. Wade confirmed that Fred Sainz, the …
City Attorney's Office to Probe Computer Unethicality by Mayor's Office
The city's attorney's office has launched an investigation into whether the mayor's office committed an egregiously unethical -- and perhaps illegal -- act, in helping a Union-Tribune blogger. The blogger, the pathetically infantile Chris Reed, had posted an item suggesting …