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As we first reported January 5, Mayor Jerry Sanders proceeded with Qualcomm, Inc.'s December "Snapdragon Stadium" promotional gambit despite a memo by San Diego City Attorney Jan Goldsmith stating that the plan was illegal.
The saga started back on December 12, when we made a public records act request to the city regarding the Qualcomm, Inc. promotion.
We didn't get any documents until early this month, when the city attorney furnished us with his memo to Sanders, dated December 7, five days before we made our records request.
Then, on January 6, after our story stirred widespread public interest in the matter, the mayor's office sent us a single page "promotional agreement" between the city and the cell phone giant — signed by the city and Qualcomm on December 19 and 20, respectively, but said to be "effective" December 16.
Now Goldsmith has turned up the heat on fellow Republican Sanders with a memo out earlier today disputing the validity of that document:
"The Agreement is void for lack of proper authority.
"The City Council may choose to adopt a resolution authorizing and thereby ratifying the Agreement, after which the City Attorney will approve the Agreement, making it a valid and binding Agreement that temporarily changed the name of...Qualcomm Stadium to Snapdragon Stadium.
"Alternatively, the City Council may choose to not ratify the Agreement.
"This would mean that the purported name change and installation of signs was unauthorized and in violation of the Naming Rights Agreement between the parties, the City's Charter, and Resolution R-288449 of the City Council."
As we first reported January 5, Mayor Jerry Sanders proceeded with Qualcomm, Inc.'s December "Snapdragon Stadium" promotional gambit despite a memo by San Diego City Attorney Jan Goldsmith stating that the plan was illegal.
The saga started back on December 12, when we made a public records act request to the city regarding the Qualcomm, Inc. promotion.
We didn't get any documents until early this month, when the city attorney furnished us with his memo to Sanders, dated December 7, five days before we made our records request.
Then, on January 6, after our story stirred widespread public interest in the matter, the mayor's office sent us a single page "promotional agreement" between the city and the cell phone giant — signed by the city and Qualcomm on December 19 and 20, respectively, but said to be "effective" December 16.
Now Goldsmith has turned up the heat on fellow Republican Sanders with a memo out earlier today disputing the validity of that document:
"The Agreement is void for lack of proper authority.
"The City Council may choose to adopt a resolution authorizing and thereby ratifying the Agreement, after which the City Attorney will approve the Agreement, making it a valid and binding Agreement that temporarily changed the name of...Qualcomm Stadium to Snapdragon Stadium.
"Alternatively, the City Council may choose to not ratify the Agreement.
"This would mean that the purported name change and installation of signs was unauthorized and in violation of the Naming Rights Agreement between the parties, the City's Charter, and Resolution R-288449 of the City Council."