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A QUESTION OF ETHICS:
IRS cancels controversial benefit in city's pension plan
By ELIZABETH MALLOY, The Daily Transcript, Friday, December 21, 2007
 On Friday, the Internal Revenue Service shut down a special retirement benefit given by the San Diego City Employees‚ Retirement System to past and current municipal union presidents that were not allowed under the IRS tax code, according to the city attorney's office.
 Union presidents impacted by the IRS order include retired former Municipal Employees Association President Judi Italiano and Firefighter Union President Ron Saathoff, who will not be entitled to receive city employee retirement benefits based on their union salary and years served as union president.
 The IRS is requiring that their retirement benefits be retroactively recalculated, and that any benefits already paid be returned to the pension plan. The change is expected to save taxpayers several hundred thousand dollars each year, according to the city attorney‚s office. The municipal unions affected by the order include the San Diego Municipal Employees Association, the San Diego Police Officer's Association and San Diego City Firefighters Local 145.
 "The presidential union benefit was a pay-off to each union president in 2002 to get them to go along with the scheme to increase employee pension benefits in exchange for allowing the city to under-fund the retirement system," said San Diego City Attorney Michael Aguirre. "These matters are currently being investigated by the U.S. Attorney's Office and the county District Attorney."
 In Friday's action the IRS cited 14 "failures" of SDCERS that were in violation of IRS regulations, including the payment of retiree benefits that exceeded IRS limits. By correcting the 14 violations, the pension plan will maintain its ualified tax status.
 “Today’s news of the compliance statement from the Internal Revenue Service is very good news for the city of San Diego and San Diego City Employees Retirement System as we work together to improve the fiscal discipline and financial health of our city and its retirement system,” said City Council President Scott Peters in a written statement. “SDCERS" management and board members should be commended for proactively approaching the IRS to identify and resolve any federal tax violations and to agree on corrections under the IRS‚ voluntary correction program.”
 Send your comments to Elizabeth.Malloy@sddt.com

In the interest of balance: Sanders and Aguirre's political contributions.
08/26/07by Pat Flannery, Blog of San Diego
Excerpt: The "Voice of San Diego" ran two articles recently on the thorny issue of politicians accepting political contributions while in office, especially from people who have business before the City.  It is a real concern to us all, so I decided to dig a little deeper. FULL ARTICLE

"Of Vu and Seiler's hiring, Cummings said, "It would be difficult to select two more controversial figures." (The smell tests says this is as dirty as it gets, read below articles)
'And that's it'
County dismisses critics of elections—office hiresby
Kelly Davis, City Beat, 5-30-07
http://www.sdcitybeat.com/article.php?id=5798
  In the eyes of voting-integrity activists, San Diego County hit the trifecta this spring.
  It all started in April with the hiring of Michael Vu as San Diego County's new assistant registrar of voters. Vu's most recent job was head of elections for Ohio's Cuyahoga County, where, this past January, two of his deputies were found guilty of tampering with a vote recount in the 2004 presidential election; both received jail time. A year ago, an audit by an independent elections review board described Vu's handling of Cuyahoga County's May 2006 primary as an "across-the-board failure." A follow-up audit of the November 2006 general election found far fewer problems, but both Vu and assistant registrar Gwen Dillingham resigned in February.
  Vu's new boss is Deborah Seiler, hired by the county in May to replace Registrar Mikel Haas, who was promoted to the department that oversees the registrar's office. Haas was criticized for allowing poll workers to take electronic-voting machines home with them.
  It was Seiler who, as the West Coast sales rep for Diebold Election Systems, sold the county 10,200 touch-screen voting machines for $31 million that had yet to be certified for use by the state. Diebold's also come under fire for the ease with which computer programmers have been able to hack into its machines.
  The Help America Vote Act, passed in 2002 under the auspices of making voting easier for the elderly and disabled, required at least one electronic-voting machine at each polling place by 2006, leading to what journalist Andrew Gumbel (who contributes regularly to CityBeat's sister paper in L.A.) describes in his book Steal This Vote as "a largely unregulated business free-for-all in which the major vendors… ingratiated themselves with local and state elections officials in every way they could think of." In his book, Gumbel details the "revolving door" of elections officials who went to work for these vendors.Rounding out the registrar trio is Mischelle Townsend, who's serving as interim registrar until Seiler starts on June 4. Townsend was Riverside County's registrar of voters until three years ago, when she announced her retirement amid, among other things, controversy about a trip she took to Florida, paid for by Sequoia Voting Systems, where she appeared in a promotional video for the company. Before she retired, Townsend sued former Secretary of State Kevin Shelley after he cracked down on electronic voting, mandating that all e-voting machines produce a voter-verifiable paper trail, a costly addition and something Townsend didn't think was necessary.
  Townsend's time in San Diego hasn't received much attention, likely since no elections have happened under her watch. It was Seiler's appointment that sent an angry crowd to a May 22 Board of Supervisors meeting to protest administrative chief Walt Ekard's decision to bring in Seiler and Vu to run the county's elections.
  "Is San Diego the next Ohio?" one protestor wanted to know.Samuel Popkin, a UC San Diego professor of political science who's studied voter behavior and who served on the National Research Commission on Elections and Voting—a group of scholars charged with examining issues such as voter trust, access and election administration—found fault with the way Ekard and the Board of Supervisors (Ekard's bosses) have handled public concern about the hirings, especially Vu's."
  I have no idea whether Vu is a good man or a bad man," Popkin said, "but I am stunned that the board presented no evidence of an investigation of the situation [in Ohio]."
  If two of the top people in a corporation are convicted of felonies involving the corporation, before you hire the CEO, you would expect people to explain to you either how this happened on his watch or whether he was part of it," Popkin said. "
  These days, voting is a very touchy subject because of Florida, really, and the idea that you would work in a less-than-transparent manner, it's just hard to understand."
  Shortly after Vu's hiring, Michael Workman, spokesperson for the county, released a statement to the media, saying, "There is no evidence whatsoever from Ohio or anywhere else to suggest Michael Vu has acted in anything other than an honorable and professional fashion." In the one-paragraph statement, Workman referenced media reports that said Vu's two deputies were offered plea deals in exchange for providing evidence that Vu was involved; neither could offer any information.
  When CityBeat tried to contact Ekard to find out how deeply the hiring committee looked into problems with elections in Cuyahoga County, a reporter was directed back to Workman, who said in an e-mail that Ekard's statement at the May 22 meeting would be the final word on the matter: "
 I understand there are those of you who disagree with my hires," Ekard said. "
  I have heard you. I have listened to you. I disagree with you, and that's it."
  Workman said that the majority of San Diego County voters have no problems with the election system here."A handful of very vocal activists are raising the same issues over and over," he said. "
  We care about running successful elections in 2008, not the perception of a handful of outspoken critics." Plus, Workman added, no one with any experience running elections is free from activists' criticism these days.Barbara Cummings, who attended the board meeting last week, said the 2006 election of Debra Bowen as California secretary of state is proof of voters' dissatisfaction with how elections are run. Bowen's currently conducting a full review of the state's electronic-voting machines to make sure they're secure and reliable prior to the February 2008 presidential primary. Some registrars are afraid that she could decertify the machines entirely.
  Of Vu and Seiler's hiring, Cummings said," It would be difficult to select two more controversial figures."
  Kim Alexander, who heads the California Voter Foundation, a nonpartisan organization that follows electronic-voting issues, said that although Seiler is controversial, "she's also one of the most experienced people in California when it comes to election administration."
  Prior to working for Diebold, Seiler was chief of elections under former Secretary of State March Fong Eu. When Eu left office, Seiler went to work for Sequoia Systems before being hired by Diebold as head of West Coast sales. In 2004, Solano County hired Seiler as its elections manager, second in command under the registrar. Like San Diego County, in 2003, Seiler sold Diebold machines to Solano County that had yet to be federally tested or state certified.
 Other counties purchased their electronic-voting machines from other vendors, like Sequoia Systems, which haven't been without problems, either, though Diebold's name is perhaps the most recognized.Secretary of State Shelley ultimately banned the Diebold machines prior to the November 2004 presidential election but not before San Diego County used them in the March 2004 primary. In that election, poll workers at some locations had trouble with the device that activates the cards voters must insert into e-voting machines to call up a ballot. This glitch resulted in just over one-third of polling places opening late."
  You cannot discount the impact of Diebold in all of this," Alexander said. "San Diego selected a vendor that has a troubling history and that has bolstered the critics' concerns and their fears."

New registrar of voters already coming under fire
Ties to vote-machine makers questioned
By Craig Gustafson, Union tribune STAFF WRITER, May 12, 2007
  A former sales representative for Diebold Election Systems – maker of San Diego County's electronic voting machines – has been hired to run elections countywide.
  Deborah Seiler, 57, who is assistant registrar of voters in Solano County, will take over as San Diego County's registrar starting June 4. She will make $150,000 annually.
  Walt Ekard, the county's chief administrative officer, said Seiler's experience will be invaluable as the registrar's office prepares for perhaps its busiest year ever in 2008.
  But Paul Lehto, co-founder of Psephos, a nonprofit group that focuses on election integrity, questioned the hiring of Seiler based on her work with Diebold and Sequoia Pacific Systems, which also makes voting machines.
  “Seiler is known as one of the best PR people or apologists for secret vote-counting that exists in the nation, and she's coming to San Diego County,” Lehto said.
  Seiler's hiring is the second in as many months to raise concern among voting-rights activists who believe electronic voting machines threaten the integrity of the election process.
  Last month, the county hired Michael Vu as assistant registrar of voters.Vu had recently resigned as executive director of elections for Ohio's Cuyahoga County, which includes Cleveland, after a tumultuous, 31⁄2-year tenure that included a disastrous May 2006 primary in which the county began using new electronic voting machines.
  Media reports said many poll workers failed to show up or were ill-prepared to deal with the machines. They also lost dozens of memory cards containing vote counts.Seiler has nearly 30 years of elections experience. She worked for Diebold from 1999 to 2004.
  “I would just hope and trust that people would look at the full extent of my background in elections. . . . I have a good, broad understanding of various voting systems and some of the strengths and weakness of all of those systems,” Seiler said.Seiler also served as a commissioner for the state Fair Political Practices Commission and held various posts in the California Secretary of State's Office.Seiler replaces Mikel Haas, who county officials promoted to deputy chief administrative officer of the Community Services Group in March. He will be Seiler's direct supervisor.

The big news this month is San Diego's hiring of Micheal Vu as the Assistant SD-ROV. Vu is the former Elections Director for Cuyahoga County, Ohio--a county frought with election woes under Vu's leadership.
Also of note:
* Secretary of State Debra Bowen responds to Bruce Sims' complaint against the San Diego ROV
* Attorneys Paul Lehto and Ken Simpkins form a new election integrity group, Psephos
Voting Integrity News The View on Vu On February 6, 2007, Michael Vu resigned his post as Elections Director of Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, amidst a cloud of scandal resulting from a mishandled primary election and more than $12 million in budgetary overruns.
  Two BOE workers have been given 18-month prison sentences for felony convictions stemming from what a government prosecutor called the "rigging" of an officially mandated recount for the 2004 presidential election.
  And now Vu has turned up as the Assistant Registrar of Voters for San Diego. Secure Accurate Elections has devoted an entire page to this hiring debacle on their website, entitled "The View on Vu" , click here for more information, links, and activism. Or cut and paste the following URL into your browser: http://www.secureelections.org/vu.htm Sec'y of State responds to Bruce Sims' complaint against SD-ROV Bruce Sims filed a complaint against the SD-ROV's office in early March of this year. The complaint focuses on the lack of proper logic and accuracy testing, the failure to follow NASED procedures, and breeching the security of the GEMS system, among other serious allegations. A few days ago, Bruce was copied on a letter that Debra Bowen, Secretary of State, sent to Mischelle Townsend (Interim Registrar of Voters for San Diego.) In the letter, Bowen states that the "allegations..are quite serious," then outlines several of the allegations leveled against the SD-ROV and asks Townsend to "provide any information...related to the...allegations." Bowen strongly requests that Townsend respond by May 15. Download a PDF copy of Bowen's letter here , or copy and paste this URL into your browser: http://www.secureelections.org/response.pdf Bruce says he's satisfied with the Secretary of State's actions so far. In a follow-up note to Ms. Bowen, Bruce states that with Vu in the Assistant ROV's position, he's even more concerned about the issues raised in his complaint. Further, he urges Bowen "... to provide clarification regarding why a response from Mischelle Townsend for ‘item 1’ of my complaint was not made...it would seem logical that failure to follow the addendum for ‘ALL voting systems,etc.’ would invalidate the California certification." SAE will keep its readership posted of new information as it develops.
 New voting integrity group, Psephos According to the website for Psephos, created by attorneys Paul Lehto and Ken Simpkins, the group "advocates a return to transparent, secure, verifiable elections where paper ballots are counted by the people." From a recent press release: "Psephos founders include highly acclaimed elections attorney Paul Lehto and Ken Simpkins, a familiar face to those of us following related developments in San Diego. Together, Lehto and Simpkins will champion a range of educational, policy development and litigation efforts related to the procedural integrity of elections, constitutional law and the law & values of democracy. As a nonpartisan organization, Psephos does not support political parties but defends the rights and infrastructures of democracy that make political parties possible. Please join us in this important work to make the infrastructure of democracy strong." Psephos website: http://www.psephos-us.org 
Secure-Accurate-Elections

Judge unseals contested Sunroad warrant
 By ELIZABETH MALLOY, San Diego Daily Transcript, March 29, 2007
A judge agreed Thursday morning to unseal a warrant to search a local developer‚s office after the San Diego Police Department refused to sign it.
 The warrant, issued by the city attorney‚s office, is linked to an investigation of Sunroad Enterprises. City Attorney Michael Aguirre claims the company has been illegally attempting to construct an office building near Montgomery Field that is too high, violating Federal Aviation Authority standards.
 The city attorney‚s office argued against unsealing the warrant, but ultimately Judge George W. Woody Clark agreed with attorneys for Sunroad, company President Tom Story and Copley News, the company that owns The San Diego Union-Tribune. Those attorneys argued it was in the public interest to unseal the warrant.
 After the warrant was unsealed, Aguirre told reporters that he is investigating alleged illegal lobbying by Story. A former chief of staff for Mayor Dick Murphy, Story went to work for Sunroad in November of 2005, several months after leaving City Hall, according to Aguirre. Municipal lobbying laws prevent any government official from lobbying for a year after leaving his or her job with the government.
 Aguirre said he has e-mails, memos and interviews that prove Story lobbied the Department of Development Services (DDS), of which he was once in charge, to get permits approved for the Sunrise office building.
The warrant is scheduled to be released at some point Thursday afternoon. Aguirre said it implicates several members of the DDS. In court Thursday morning, Assistant City Attorney Christopher Morris argued that the warrant should remain sealed in part to protect those employees‚ identities. When meeting with reporters, Aguirre specifically mentioned DDS Director Marcela Escobar Eck, Assistant Director Kelly Broughton and staff member John Cruz as having been lobbied by Story.
 In court, Sunroad‚s attorney Michael Attanasio, of the firm Cooley Godward Kronish, LLP, said that Sunroad found about the warrant when a reporter called the office asking for comment. Aguirre alleged that someone from the Police Department alerted the press about the warrant, after deciding not to serve it, in order to indirectly warn Sunroad.
Police Chief William Lansdowne is out of town until next week, according to an employee in the police department‚s media relations office, and the department had no comment until he returns.
The Daily Transcript will continue to follow this story as it progresses.

A very ineresting, enlightening conversation on  KOGO this date between Hedgecock and Sanders.
  Roger questioned Sanders about the warrant issue between the City Attorney and the Chief of Police.
  If you recall, Lansdowne refused to execute a Search Warrant for the purpose of searching records of Sunroad Construction. 
  Sunroad, in constructing a building at Montgomery Airfield are alleged by Aguirreto have violated San Diego building code and FAA instructions byconstructing such building two stories higher than permitted.
  Aguirre presented the Warrant to Lansdowne for service.  Lansdowne refused to serve the warrant stating that there was no probable cause to do so. Sanders, as you know, a prior Police Chief, agreed with Lansdowne's decision to not serve Sunroad. This, now a moot point because Sunroad voluntarily presented Aguirre with the documents Aguirre wanted.
  The point is, however, that Sanders should brush up on requirements of the law, as should Lansdowne (if he did indeed make the negative decision on his own).
  The Warrant in question was legally signed by a Superior Court Judge who did not question the probable cause required by the fourth amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America. By placing his signature on the Warrant he was also DIRECTING that the document be SERVED BY A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER.,
  It is apparent that by refusing to serve a legitimate Warrant, Lansdowne refused and questioned the directions of a Superior Court Judge and deliberately disobeyed the instructions of the San Diego City Attorney. 
 I find it strange that Sanders always speaks for the Police Department.Where is Lansdowne?  He is the Chief of Police, not Sanders and even though Lansdowne serves at the will of the Mayor, the Mayor seems no to trust Lansdowne to speak for himself and his department.
  The statement supra reinforces the information that City employees are not permitted to discuss City matters without Sanders' permission.  —Peter DiRenza, MS, MA

Young's Fine Affords Glimpse Into Campaign Dollars
By EVAN McLAUGHLIN, Voice Staff Writer, March 15, 2007
 Drive north through the cluttered heart of Mission Valley's shopping malls, condos and big-box retailers and discover an expansive 224-acre quarry where Vulcan Materials Co. mines sand and gravel. There, Sudberry Properties wants to develop the rock mines into Quarry Falls, a 3,000-home neighborhood equipped with parklands, offices and shops.
 Ethics EnforcementThe Issue: City Councilman Tony Young was fined $10,000 last week for failing to timely pay "win bonuses" promised to two campaign staffers after the 2005 election and for raising money for more than a year after the election.
  What it Means: The election law Young broke was created to draw a line between donations used to elect a candidate and those that are used to curry favor with a sitting official.
The Bigger Picture: The Ethics Commission's ruling insinuates that post-deadline donors could be seen as having gained an advantage because they helped a politician out of a bind.
 To lay the foundations at Quarry Falls, the developer will need more than just the concrete that is mined in places like Mission Valley. It must also win the City Council's approval to rezone the area for residential use before minivans can replace the dump trucks that currently flow in an out of the area.
  To do so, Sudberry has taken a traditional route for navigating policy at City Hall: Hiring a cache of lobbyists to advocate to city officials on behalf the project, and writing the occasional check to an elected official's campaign.But when the Ethics Commission slapped City Councilman Tony Young with a $10,000 fine last week, the panel decided the campaign checks Sudberry and scores of other political donors penned for Young broke city election laws that forbade fundraising beyond 90 days after an election. The purpose of the law: to ensure that campaign contributions are more about aiding a candidacy and less about currying favor from an elected official.
  Young solicited and accepted contributions for up to 18 months after his January 2005 election to rid himself of an expensive bind.Young's fine came as a result of his inability to pay $30,000 in "win bonuses" owed to two former campaign staffers within 90 days of that election. With the bulk of that tab remaining when the April 4, 2005 deadline arrived, Young continued to raise $47,635 up through June 2006. At some point, the commission believes, the money that flowed into Young's coffers after the election couldn't have helped him reach voters who filed into neighborhood polling places several months earlier. Full Story

Exploring the Liberty Station deal, the city and the developer
Letter to Editor Union-Tribune, Regarding “Watchdog report/Who profits from Liberty Station” (A1, March 3-4):
  Kudos to Brooke Williams, Agustin Armendariz and Maureen Magee for their excellent reporting on the Liberty Station story.
  Liberty Station is just another story of corporate leaders violating the public's trust in their efforts to “get to the grave in style.”
 The conduct of the McMillin Cos. is both shocking and sickening. Based upon what I read, I hope that prosecutors, at all levels of government, initiate grand jury investigations of the developer and public officials involved in this exploitation of “free” federal property.
  To quote singer/songwriter Don Henley: “A man with a briefcase can steal millions more than any man with a gun.
—ROBERT ZITSMAN, San Diego

WATCHDOG REPORT
WHO PROFITS FROM LIBERTY STATION
Boom for McMillin, bust for city
By Brooke Williams, Agustin Armendariz & Maureen Magee
Union-Tribune STAFF WRITERS, March 3, 2007
Excerpt: Nearly seven years ago, San Diego turned over 235 acres in Point Loma to The Corky McMillin Cos. in exchange for a split of profits and the commitment to transform an old Navy boot camp into a new community.
  Homes, shops, schools, a 46-acre park and the start of an arts district have sprouted at the former Naval Training Center, but the city doesn't expect to see a dime from a 50-50 split the late Corky McMillin promised.
Excerpt: “The contract did not protect the city's interests,” Aguirre said earlier this week. “McMillin got all the profits, we got the liability.”
Excerpt: Corky McMillin had gained clout with council members from working on public projects in their districts. His company's executives together were among the top contributors to mayoral and City Council campaigns in the previous seven years. Five months earlier the council had declared a “McMillin Companies Day.” As the vote neared, then-Mayor Susan Golding grilled executives of both companies on their ability to influence Congress to change federal law that could kill the project. The cash-strapped city needed one last push in Washington to make sure it wouldn't have to pay the Navy for the land.
  One of the city's lobbyists in Washington, D.C., former Rep. Bill Lowery of San Diego, already was fighting to get a provision in a spending bill that would allow local governments to get surplus military land for free if it was used to create new jobs and fill the economic gap caused by a base closure.
Excerpt: I have made a career out of being very well-connected with the local representatives in Washington, D.C.,” he told council members. “It's going to be relatively simple to get that through the process.” McMillin didn't mention that his company's vice president of acquisitions was James Hunter, whose brother, local Rep. Duncan Hunter, had co-authored a letter to council members several weeks earlier, urging them to keep McMillin Cos. in the running for the NTC project. Hunter and two other congressmen sent the letter on the same day the city was poised to begin exclusive negotiations with Lennar. Duncan Hunter, who was chairman of the military procurement subcommittee, helped to draft the bill that carried the no-cost provision for military land. The legislation was controversial because the Defense Department stood to make billions of dollars selling surplus land. It opened a window of time during which San Diego and 20 other municipalities got land for free from the Navy.
Rep. Brian Bilbray, then representing South County and also a co-author of the letter, sent his district director, Greg Stein, to the City Council meeting that day to support McMillin Cos. and to thank council members for giving “due consideration to the local developer.”
Excerpt: Former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham was also a co-author of the letter.
  Hunter could not return calls seeking an explanation because he was busy campaigning for the presidency, his spokesman said.
  As the council prepared to vote, the mayor and council members' questions turned from influence to money: Would taxpayers be on the hook for the project? And would the city share in any of the profits?
  Only McMillin would commit to not using tax dollars and to a formula for splitting the profits down the middle. Lennar's Santos told the council Lennar was willing to share profits with the city but couldn't say how much.The council, which has turned over completely since then, voted 7-2 to go with McMillin Cos.
Excerpt: “The whole profit thing, that really wasn't the focus or the point,” said Marcela Escobar-Eck, director of the Development Services Department. “It was to redevelop it from a closed base to a vibrant center, and that's what it has become.”  FULL ARTICLE
More on NTC: http://www.ntcsd.org
So, James and Duncan Hunter crafted the NTC deal. Duncan is now working on the Navy Broadway Complex giveaway. Below article is a profile on the many other questionable legal activities of Duncan Hunter. How far is he going to be allowed to go?
— Watchdog
TOP 10 Reasons to Go Dunkin' with Duncan 
WORLD EXCLUSIVE, Nov 1 2006--Venice FL., by Daniel Hopsicker
Excerpts: Not since Richard Nixon has a man matched the zeitgeist of the times as perfectly as does Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter, who just announced a run for the White House in 2008.
  The knee-jerk ‘pooh-pooh birds’ in the ‘negative nabob crowd’ are missing some good reasons--and some good laughs as well--for paying close attention to this Republican Representative from a suburb of San Diego.
  Actually, they may be missing ten good reasons...No kidding... He could teach us all... a lot.Top 10 Reasons To Go Dunkin’ with Duncan: ...
7. Can Teach Us “Chutzpah for Gentiles
  ”He’s currently under investigation by the FBI for helping loot the U.S. Treasury of as much as $190 million for Defense contracts the Pentagon never asked for, and didn’t want.The money went to ADCS instead of projects for the Army's UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter, Air Force bases, and a parts center in Oklahoma, according to the report by the Pentagon inspector general, prompted by a request from a Defense official.So, what’s he do? Announce that he's... resigning?
No way, Jose... he’s running for President!..
6. Helped San Diego become Corruption Capital of America... from Scratch!
  Anyone can excel at semi-organized crime in a place like Brooklyn or Detroit. But San Diego has long been known as “Iowa with a beach.”
  To go from there to its current lofty status as a place with Congressman on the take from Defense Contractors on the loose in a bankrupt city that can’t seem to elect a Mayor that can remain un-indicted...
 A billion dollar pension shortfall...Rogue contractors like Titan Corp bribing everything that moves... no wonder it's a place where Bobby Inman’s SAIC can feel right at home!Sure he had help… but Duncan was there!
5. Could help laid-off American workers retrain for white collar crime.
  Unless you count the hookers in Brent Wilke’s hospitality suite, Duncan Hunter’s coziest relationship has long been with his biggest campaign contributor, defense contractor Titan Corp., which issued a press release in 2004 announcing they were purchasing a half-billion dollars worth of a product that didn't exist from a company about to go bankrupt, whose excited investors were soon left holding the bag.
  That's genius!
  “SkyWay Communications Holdings Corp Announces New Business Strategy as the Result of Agreement with Major US Defense Contractor,” read the press release headline.
  "We are excited about the possibilities Sky Way Aircraft System technology offers," said Titan's David Stinson.”But here's the beauty part...Before signing on with Titan the excited Mr. Stinson was the executive vice president of Intergraph in Annapolis Maryland, which had an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) deal with Brent Wilke’s ADCS Inc. that first opened the money spigot now being investigated by the FBI.
  Why this is important is our no. 4 reason we like Duncan...
4. Can help ordinary Americans get shot at big bucks in drug trafficking.Titan officials have never explained why a billion dollar defense contractor with sensitive government defense and intelligence contracts loaned its name and prestige to a soon-to-be-bankrupt firm whose owners were at that moment stripping it of everything not nailed down, and painting DC9’s to impersonate U.S. Homeland Security planes.
  Skyway Aircraft, the shadowy St. Petersburg FL company whose investors Titan Corporation helped defraud with a press release announcing the purchase of as much as a half billion dollars worth of the company’s non-existent product…just before it went under… also owned a DC9 dubbed "Cocaine One" which was busted in Mexico in April of this year with 5.5 tons of cocaine onboard!
Criminal diversification! Duncan knows how its done.
3.Can’t Say "You Don’t Know Jack"...And Dana!
  A Lear jet used by Cunningham and DeLay was paid for using money "passed through" to San Diego "businessman" Wilkes. DeLay flew from Dulles Airport in Washington D.C., to John Wayne Airport in Orange County, for example, to appear at a campaign dinner for Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach.Dana Rohrabacher gave a sterling personal recommendation, to Adam Kidan, the "dunsky (John Gotti's phrase) about to be indicted for paying for the brutal murder of Sun Cruz Casino Line owner Gus Boulis... with a check.
  Rohrabacher was there when the cult first began to do business as The Enterprise, in Angola, for example, with Jack Abramoff... and Oliver North.
  And Duncan's on a first name basis with them all!
2. Won’t Rest on His LaurelsThe allegations of corporate lawlessness being leveled against Titan Corp. are unprecedented for a mid-sized defense contractor, on a scale not seen since the Lockheed bribery scandals of the 1970’s.
 Now Titan Corp has been purchased by even-larger Defense firm L3 Corporation, a leading provider of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance systems to the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, selected U.S. Government intelligence agencies and aerospace prime contractors.
  With Duncan Hunter leading the way… there’s room for growth!
  And the Number One Reason to Go Dunkin with Duncan...
1. "Knows How to Play the Game."In a deal with Brent Wilke’s ADCS Inc. currently being “investigated” (until the heat dies down) by the FBI, Duncan taught a naive contractor how to inflate the price of software that cost $6000 per copy and charge the Pentagon more than five times more than the vendor was asking!
 The deal Hunter brokered resulted--not just in massive mark-ups--but massive mark-ups on a product the Pentagon never even wanted or asked for!“
˜  John Karpovich, who helped run the document conversion program at the Defense Department before his retirement, said Wilkes infuriated Pentagon staff by claiming that the document conversion money belonged to him,” reported the Washington Post."Brent came in and said, 'That's our money,"
' Karpovich recalled. "He said, 'The congressmen put the money in there for us."
  'Karpovich told us he’d watched the deal being put together by Bent Wilkes, House Armed Services Chairman Duncan Hunter, and the just-deposed No. 3 man at the CIA, Dusty Foggo.
  “Brent called me said he heard the product was great, and asked me to meet him in Washington. He had a suite at the Watergate. We met there and went to dinner with Dusty Foggo. He seemed like a sharp guy, at least he knew the inside of the government pretty well. We went to dinner with Dusty, and he and Brent talked about old times.”
  Karpovich was castigated by Duncan Hunter, he told us, for trying to sell the software to the Pentagon too cheaply.
  “In the meeting Duncan Hunter pointed to me and said to Wilkes, "Your boy doesn’t know how to play the game,'" said Karpovich.“They took a $6000 product, gave it another name, and sold it to the defense department for $32000 a pop.”
"Later on we began to get calls from military bases around the country," said Karpovich.“They were saying, hey, we just got this expensive software. What are we supposed to do with it?”
What a resourceful guy like Duncan would say: “Use it to armor your humvees!”.. Full Article: http://www.madcowprod.com/11012006.htm

GOING TO BABYLON BY CADILLAC
Was San Diego US Attorney fired for knowing too much?
WORLD EXCLUSIVE, March 8 2007, by Daniel Hopsicker        
  The Randy Cunningham "Hookergate" Scandal is not the first prostitution scandal involving close relatives of indicted defense contractor Brent Wilkes, The MadCowMorningNews has learned. Brent Wilkes brother, Gregory Wilkes, managed the finances of The Wilkes Foundation, which was suspended by the State of California after failing to file financial statements for three years in a row.
 (NOTE: The Wilkes Foundation link above, to the Wayback machine archived page on Gregory Wilkes, was removed less than 24 hours after this story was published. If only they worked this fast taking care of soldiers with traumatic brain injuries. DH)
  When Greg Wilkes wasn't busy failing to file required documents with the state on his brother's charitable foundation, he was the Controller for an unfortunate "Bush Pioneer" named R.D. Hubbard, busted flying almost a dozen hookers by private jet in June of 2001 to a casino he owned to service men government documents have only identified as “48 wealthy guests.”
Full Article: http://www.madcowprod.com/03082007.html

Legal Bills Total $2.3M
<http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/articles/2007/03/08/this_just_in/788legalbills.txt> Members of the City Council have billed the city more than $2.3 million since 2005 for their legal representation through the course of federal investigations and pension litigation, according to city records.
Here's how it breaks down:
Councilman Jim Madaffer: $461,746.15 (through January)
Councilwoman Toni Atkins: $555,769.31 (through December)
Councilman Brian Maienschein: $475,094 (through December)
Former Mayor Dick Murphy: $395,376.73
(through August, plus $5,324.26 for blacking out the bills)
Councilman Scott Peters: $397,368.28
(through August, plus $3,899.37 for blacking out the bills)
Former Councilman Ralph Inzunza: $10,649.92
Former Councilman Michael Zucchet: $6,650
 The release of bills for Peters for September through January has been delayed. Councilwoman Donna Frye -- the remaining council member who sat on the council in 2002 and 2003, when the actions under investigation took place -- has paid for her own legal representation.
 The Department of Justice's investigation into City Hall culminated with the indictment of five pension officials in early 2006.
 According to previously released invoices, attorneys for the council members have made a number of presentations to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC has settled with the city of San Diego, but has said that investigations into individuals continue.
Click here for the latest story on the details found in the bills: <http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/articles/2007/03/07/government/789bills022407.txt>  —ANDREW DONOHUE <mailto:andrew.donohue@voiceofsandiego.org>

White-Collar is In
  District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis is scheduled tomorrow to announce the creation of a Public Integrity Unit "aimed at reducing political corruption in San Diego County.
  "The announcement comes a day after the FBI set up an anti-corruption hotline (877-NO BRIBE).
  All these efforts come after a prolific couple of years of corruption-related prosecution in the county, an effort led by Carol Lam, who was forced out earlier this month.
-- ANDREW DONOHUE, February 28 -- 5:20 pm

Time to Cut the Economic Development Corp.
Jan. 24, 2007,voiceofsandiego.org
 Ask the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corp.'s what its best recent accomplishment was and its representatives will tell you about the campaign they ran to attract the headquarters of the agency created by California's $3 billion stem cell initiative.
  They'll describe with any number of superlatives how wonderful of an operation it was and how it was an example of the "power of collaboration" among San Diego's wealthiest citizens and corporations.
  It would seem to have been a great success.
  Unfortunately, however, it wasn't.The committee that made the decision on where to site the headquarters for the potentially powerful institution chose the Bay Area."It was unsuccessful, but many people thought of it as a win," CEO Julie Meier Wright told us.
  Ironically, in their own operations, businesspeople rarely see such results as "wins."
  The Economic Development Corp., or EDC, received just more than $1 million last year from the city of San Diego. While gripes about the taxpayer funding of the agency -- and the bloated salary of its CEO -- have come up in the past, the city's troubling financial position and the lack of valuable production from EDC makes this the time for real change.
  The effort to attract new jobs and enterprises to the region may indeed be worthy of an investment from taxpayers, but only if it is administered in the most efficient way possible.
  It is not clear that this is the case now. Not only is the city facing a financial crisis, but EDC has not had much success -- nor placed much emphasis on -- luring new businesses to San Diego.
  At the same time, the city is paying other employees to itself lure businesses to the city. The mayor's Business Expansion, Attraction and Retention team was created, it seems, to fill the void EDC left when it decided long ago that it would focus on influencing local policy debates instead of bringing new jobs to the region.
  Businesses can and should influence local government decisions. But they don't need more than $1 million in taxpayer funds every year to help with their efforts.Finally, when the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce hired its new CEO just a few weeks ago, it sent a number of different signals that it was going to be engaging in the kinds of efforts that has defined the work of EDC for the past several years.
  Chamber CEO Ruben Barrales told us something important recently: "In a place like California or San Diego specifically you need to have constant attention on growing the economy and attracting businesses."
  The chamber's board members described Barrales' mandate to "create jobs" locally and lobby Sacramento and Washington D.C. -- the two efforts that are supposed to be at the core of EDC's mission.
  In short, the private sector prides itself on its ability to recognize economies of scale and enforce efficiency on operations. Yet the city, the chamber and EDC's efforts are clearly overlapping. The chamber and EDC, for example, both have set up task forces to look into issues regarding the Chargers' search for a new stadium. It's certainly not a coincidence that neither has produced anything.
  This overlap would not be worrisome if EDC had strong list of accomplishments to which it could point.
  Unfortunately, EDC's list is aging and many of the achievements it highlights are questionable.EDC claims it was instrumental in protecting local military bases from the federal government's base closure process.  That is, it says, its most important accomplishment in the last several years. Many people in the city, even EDC's harshest critics, do give the agency credit for the effort. But the bulk of those activities took place in 2004. And they were undermined when EDC, after begging the military to recognize the value of Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, bizarrely and meekly endorsed a plan to try to force the Marines to dramatically alter their activities at the base to make room for a commercial airport.
  The last supposedly successful project to which EDC representatives point as evidence of the organization's continuing benefit to the region is an ad campaign launched last year dubbed "San Diego Works." Designed to combat the negative headlines that the city's financial crisis had provoked around the nation, the EDC campaign took cheery slogans to the country's largest newspapers and magazines along with pictures of happy business people. Though nothing, in effect, had changed about the city's financial condition -- in fact, the mayor says he sees things are worse now -- the agency saw spin and damage control as its job.The list of accomplishments for an agency like EDC should be more simple and obvious.
  But it's not.The mayor and City Council should move to eliminate the $1 million EDC receives each year.
  There have been murmurings of such an effort in the past, when the salary of EDC's Meier Wright became the subject of local news reports.
  Many bemoaned the spike in her compensation package that had earned her more than $515,000 in 2001 -- an exorbitant amount, critics thought, for an official of an organization that received so many tax dollars.
 Since then, the taxpayer contribution to the agency has been cut and EDC has tried to demonstrate that her salary no longer comes from public funds.
  Like the agency's public relations initiatives, that argument is not very substantive. An agency's board makes salary determinations based on its entire budget. It's hard to imagine that without the city's investment, the board would still decide to pay its executive so high a proportion of its budget. Meier Wright recently refused to disclose her compensation, saying it is no longer public information and nowhere near the previously reported levels. But a quick search of the latest available public records show that she earned nearly than $455,000 in salary and retirement contributions in the 2005 fiscal year. If this were a private organization funded with private contributions, this information would not be a subject of public concern. But if an organization needs substantial public dollars to continue its work, as EDC argues it does, it must also face the scrutiny that all city departments are under right now.
  The mayor has been investigating all city departments to ensure that there is no overlap in responsibilities and that the job can't be done more efficiently. EDC's positioning and list of accomplishments over the last two years wouldn't look very good under such scrutiny.
  The city will need to solve an $87 million budget deficit this year. As the City Council and mayor search for savings, they'll find an easy target for cuts in EDC.With the mayor investing other city funds in the effort to attract businesses to San Diego, it seems time to remove the generous public subsidy and let the market shape EDC as it may. Cutting it off from public funds would force local businesses to decide whether they want to keep paying hefty dues into both EDC and the chamber, whose efforts overlap, or produce a more efficient way to not only advocate for the interests of businesses locally but attract new ones to town as well.
  The chamber should consider re-branding itself into a new broad-based advocacy group that had the economic development of the region as one of its missions.
  But only after cutting the taxpayer contributions, and provoking a near-total reorganization of the business community's efforts, should the city consider reinvesting in them. Right now it is putting scarce taxpayer dollars into EDC for economic development and getting little more in return than another lobbyist at its door.

SEC: San Diego Committed Fraud
Voiceofsandiego, ANDREW DONOHUE, Nov. 14, 2006
  The Securities and Exchange Commission today sanctioned the city of San Diego on securities fraud violations for failing in 2002 and 2003 to disclose important information to investors regarding its looming pension and retiree health care obligations.
 I n a settlement, reached by City Attorney Mike Aguirre and approved by the City Council, the city agreed to cease and desist its past practices and be monitored by an outside consultant for three years "to foster compliance with its disclosure obligations under federal securities laws," according to an SEC statement.
 The announcement draws to a close one facet of the SEC's two-and-a-half year investigation into the veracity of City Hall's financial reporting. However, in its statement, the SEC indicated that its investigation into San Diego's municipal meltdown is continuing.
 "The Commission's investigation is ongoing as to individuals and other entities that may have violated the federal securities laws," the statement reads.
 The order issued by the SEC found that the city failed to disclose that its pension deficit was projected to increase dramatically to $2 billion by 2009 and that its retiree health care liability was projected at $1.1 million. The SEC found that the city also failed to disclose that it had been intentionally underfunding its pension system "so that it could increase pension benefits but defer the costs" and that it "would face severe difficulty funding its future ... obligations unless new revenues were obtained, pension and health care benefits were reduced, or city services were cut."
 The order found the city, through its officials, committed securities fraud by knowingly or recklessly allowing the release of materially misleading information.
 City officials have scheduled a press conference this morning to address the settlement. 
"San Diego's misconduct jeopardized the interests of its citizens, its current and future retirees, and those who placed their trust in the City's bonds as an investment," said Randall R. Less, the SEC's regional director.
Read the SEC order here <http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/pdf/SECsandiego.pdf> . Check back soon for an expanded version of this story & continual updates.

2006 VOTE
After $50,000 donation, waterfront deal advanced
Sanders, developer say no favors traded
By Matthew T. Hall, , Union-Tribune, October 28, 2006
 Anxious from the start about resistance from organized labor, business backers have pumped nearly $1 million into Mayor Jerry Sanders' ballot measure campaign to let private contractors compete for everyday city work.  
  The largest donation so far is from developer Doug Manchester, whose $50,000 to a local political action committee this month was redirected as part of a $70,000 check to the Yes on Propositions B and C campaign.The developer made the donation a week before Sanders' staff removed a big hurdle for Manchester's controversial Navy waterfront deal.
  Yesterday, Sanders and Manchester both said there was “absolutely not” any favor trading going on between them, and they bristled at questions about the appearance of it.
  Civic activist Norma Damashek said it “sure looks like” a quid pro quo although she doesn't know for sure.
  The Proposition C critic's chief concern is outsiders landing city contracts after giving money to political campaigns.“If something looks bad, if something has all the characteristics of quid pro quo, then it's something the mayor should be avoiding,” said Damashek, vice president of public policy for the local League of Women Voters.
  Sanders has coated a pair of San Diego ballot measures in his political capital and calls them crucial. Proposition B would require voter approval for certain future pension benefit increases for the next 15 years.
  Proposition C would allow city civil service jobs to be outsourced to private contractors.
  On Oct. 13, Manchester Resorts gave $50,000 to a fundraising committee of the Lincoln Club of San Diego County, a Republican business organization that has long been active in politics. It was Manchester's second large contribution to the committee this year, after a $10,000 donation a month earlier, and it was the largest contribution to the club in 2006 by far.
  Then on Oct. 17, the Lincoln Club contributed $70,000 to Sanders' campaign for Propositions B and C.
  Two days later, one of Sanders' development services directors issued a report that concluded that no further environmental review was needed before Manchester's Navy Broadway Complex deal could proceed.
 Critics have said that the existing studies, dating to 1990, are out of date and that more review should be done. Manchester's redevelopment deal with the Navy seemed in jeopardy until it got recent boosts from the city and its redevelopment arm, the Centre City Development Corp., which allowed a lease to be executed between the developer and the government.In dismissing the issue yesterday, Sanders distanced himself from the contribution. The mayor acknowledged he is the public face of the campaign in mail and TV commercials. But he said he has zero control over the campaign, which is run by Tom Shepard, who managed Sanders' mayoral campaign last year.
  Sanders and Manchester also brushed off questions about appearances.“I don't think anyone can draw an inference on that,” Sanders said. “He gave the money to the Lincoln Club. It is what it is.”Manchester said he gave the money to a third party on an understanding that it “would contribute heavily to this proposal” while knowing that “they were free to make the decision.”
  “I certainly did not have any discussions whatsoever about any support on the Navy project in lieu of the contribution,” Manchester said.University of San Diego School of Law ethics expert Robert Fellmeth, an advocate for public financing of political campaigns, said there would be nothing subtle about any quid pro quo here because the timing of the transfers can be tracked so easily.
  “The best argument they have that they're telling the truth is that if we wanted to do it deceitfully we'd arrange this thing and have the money change hands after the election,” he said.Manchester supported businessman Steve Francis in last year's mayoral election. Now, Francis and Sanders are allies in the mayor's push to pass Propositions B and C.
  Francis is one of the effort's most active contributors.
  He has donated nearly $64,000, most of it this month for radio advertising. Francis and another businessman, Carl DeMaio, pushed hard to get the outsourcing measure on the ballot, threatening a signature drive to go around Sanders until the mayor took up the cause on his own earlier this year.DeMaio, president of The Performance Institute, a business that advocates government efficiency, established a campaign committee that has contributed nearly $22,000 to Sanders' effort, mostly for mail.
  The largest donors are political action committees. The San Diego Lodging Industry PAC gave nearly $50,000; the Builders, Associates, Contractors PAC, $45,000; and the San Diego Restaurant and Beverage PAC, $35,000.While the pro side's contributions and campaign costs will surpass $1 million any day now, opponents are waiting until the campaign's final days to show their hand financially. Records show they have amassed about $100,000.
  Led mainly by local union leaders, opponents are ramping up a fundraising drive of their own to defeat Proposition C, even as they concede that a challenge to Proposition B would likely fail.Opponents' largest contributions to date are $44,000 from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Union; $30,000 from the San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council's fundraising committee; and $5,000 from the city firefighters union. An effort is under way to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars from one or more labor groups outside San Diego to fund a competing TV campaign.
  Sanders has packaged the propositions together and is telling voters they will allow him to “reform City Hall.” The local police and firefighter unions have led a late charge against Proposition C, in recent weeks, challenging it on the grounds that the measure doesn't exempt sworn public safety personnel.
  As the opposition grew emboldened by what they saw as a vulnerability, Sanders sought to reassure voters that those jobs were safe. He has gone as far as proposing a related ballot measure for June 2008 – the city's next general election – to specifically exempt those positions from Proposition C.

An outrageous denial of the public's rights.
by Pat Flannery, 10/22/06
 This letter was sent out to all members of the CPC (Community Planners Committee) i.e. all the 40 odd CPG Chairs - (Community Planning Groups), canceling the regularly scheduled monthly meeting on Tuesday October 24, 2006.
  The writer, Betsy McCullough, Deputy Planning Director, says: "After consulting with the CPC Chair, therefore, we are canceling the October meeting". She can't do that.
  Not according to the CPC ByLaws:"ARTICLE VII MEETINGS
Section 1 Regular monthly meetings, except in August and December, shall be held at a location within the City of San Diego. CPC shall establish a regular monthly meeting date. A majority of the representatives or alternates present at a CPC meeting may vote to cancel the following month’s meeting."

The Only Thing Strong About Sanders is the SMELL!
Sanders Hands Over the PRIME City Real Estate Assets Dept. to the brokerage firm of Grubb & Ellis... Who were fined for Ethics Violations!
Now lets get this right… Grubb & Ellis in charge of the Cities Real Estate Holdings and is designing the plans for how the cities development oversight, permiting and redevelopment agencies should be run?
 At the same time Sanders is going to appoint a new group of Housing/Building Interests to re-do the housing element plan?
Gee, do you think Sanders and our City are owned by the Building Industry?
Breaking Stories: Jerry's Brokers
By Matt Potter, Reader City Lights, Sept. 14, 2006
  San Diego mayor Jerry Sanders has finally picked a long-awaited high-dollar consultant to help him restructure the city's Real Estate Assets Department. And the winner is: the brokerage firm of Grubb & Ellis.
  That's according to the City's Jim Anthony, who says he expects G&E to dig right into the trouble-filled department and come up with a report by sometime around Thanksgiving. According to city documents, the so-called Real Estate Service Provider will "provide the review and analysis required to recommend improvements to the Real Estate Asset Department's organizational structure, management practices, business processes, and operations.
  The RESP shall provide recommendations to maintain or improve upon the transparency, professionalism and sound business practices of READ while enabling the achievement of fiscal and community policy goals." Whatever. Taxpayers will fork over $250,000 to the company.
  Losing applicants for the job, says Anthony, were Chicago-based Equis, CB Richard Ellis, and Gensler. Insiders say the contract is only the first step toward outsourcing most or all municipal real estate management to local real estate dealers, many of whom contributed heavily to the mayor's campaign kitty.- The "Union-Tribune" gives Sanders cover by ignoring Grubb & Ellis the cities Real Estate Assets Mega-Conflict deal by focusing on other violations!
Mayor's backers are fined, Ethics panel finds no evidence that Sanders knew of activity
By Craig Gustafson, Union-Tribune STAFF WRITER, Sept.19, 2006
  San Diego's Ethics Commission levied $25,000 in fines yesterday, including the largest penalty in its history, against supporters of Jerry Sanders' bid for mayor last year.
  The city commission found two businesses laundered money to contribute to his campaign, and a Republican fundraiser illegally distributed a mailer on Sanders' behalf to about 39,000 residents.
  The commission found no evidence that Sanders or his campaign knew about the illegal activity.Combined, the fines represent the single-largest enforcement action the commission has taken and monetarily equals nearly one-fourth of the total penalties issued in the agency's five-year history.
  Those fined yesterday: Scott Hart, treasurer of Continuing the Republican Revolution, who was fined $17,000 for collecting money from some of Sanders' key supporters so his group could send a slate mailer to residents just four days before the July 26 special mayoral election. He accepted 12 contributions ranging from $1,000 to $5,000.Under state law, slate mailers are required to show support or opposition for at least four ballot measures or candidates. Hart's mailer supported three, with Sanders prominently featured on 75 percent of the brochure.
  Since it wasn't legally a slate mailer, he could only accept $300 from each company or individual under city law.Santa Ana-based Sukut Construction, which has an office in Oceanside, and its division president, Mike Zanaboni, were fined a total of $5,000 for reimbursing three employees for contributing $900 to Sanders' campaign.Grubb & Ellis/BRE Commercial, a San Diego brokerage firm, and its chief executive, John Frager, were fined a total of $3,000 for the company's reimbursement of $900 that Frager and his wife gave to Sanders' campaign.
  Stacey Fulhorst, executive director of the Ethics Commission, said the fine against Zanaboni's company was higher because he actively persuaded employees to donate.
  The commission made its decision in closed session about 5 p.m. yesterday.
  Frager, who called himself a political neophyte, said he didn't know he was doing anything wrong and quickly moved to correct his mistake once notified. Zanaboni could not be reached for comment.
 Hart's $17,000 fine surpasses the previous high for the commission, which levied a $15,000 fine against county Supervisor Ron Roberts last year for misidentifying the occupations of contributors in his 2004 mayoral bid.Fulhorst said Hart's violation was particularly egregious because his company works heavily on slate mailers.
  “It's not as though a grass-roots group of people got together and maybe didn't understand what they were doing,” she said.Hart, who lives in Orange County, also wasn't as cooperative as the two companies, which quickly acknowledged the wrongdoing. The Ethics Commission had to file a subpoena against Hart to obtain documents.
  Hart said he believed the commission fined him over a “very technical” issue, but he acknowledged he made a business decision to pay the fine and move on.
  Hart's biggest contributor was OliverMcMillan, a San Diego-based developer. Five divisions of the company and an executive, Morgan Dene Oliver, contributed $6,000 of the $18,000 Hart raised.At least one of the companies fined has a strong connection with the city.
  Sukut Construction, a pre-qualified contractor for the city, does landfill work for San Diego, according to the company's Web site.Sanders' spokesman, Fred Sainz, said, “It's the mayor's belief that the Ethics Committee exists to do its job, and he entrusts that they charged individuals who broke the law with the appropriate charges.” When the Community Planners Committee voted 22-4 to oppose the housing element draft (plans that were heavilyinfluenced by the Chamber of Commerce and the Building Industry Association) Sanders then used the old pack the hoc committee method to push through insider's agendas.

Enough! Where and when does it end?
  Have we no elected officials with morals? How could the Alpine residence of Duncan Hunter have been so huge, along with guest house, pool and tennis court, and been taxed as though it was a small house? How could the county assess it as 2,946 square feet with no amenities, without a correction by the congressman? How could his insurance company know from day one, and correctly charge for a 6,200-square-foot home plus amenities, without the congressman challenging that it was only 2,946 square feet, since he had “accepted” the county number as correct?
  How could a very large bank sell a foreclosed property for the exact price that it paid for it, knowing that shareholders expect the bank to profit from all of its transactions? How can we keep accepting the rancid personal actions of public officials who should be expected to set examples of propriety? It is no wonder that so many people now believe that honesty has become a lost trait in many of the people elected to represent us.
—DAVID L. BROWN, Escondido, Letter Union-Tribune Editor 10/10/06

Madaffer Overbudget
  City Councilman Jim Madaffer's office has overspent its budget by $176,000 this fiscal year, creating a 21-percent deficit in its $850,000 budget, according to city documents.
  The city of San Diego today released its year-end adjustments for fiscal year 2006, which ends June 30, and Madaffer's extra spending is among the unforeseen expenses to be covered an additional $27.5 million in revenues that came in above schedule.
  Madaffer spokeswoman Leslie Webb said she believed the deficit to be only $30,000. She said she didn't know the source of the deficit. Attempts to reach Madaffer and his chief of staff Thursday evening were unsuccessful.
  Two City Hall sources confirmed the $176,000 deficit.
  Each council office was allotted $850,000 for the fiscal year. A report released by city staff today detailing year-end budget adjustments recommends that $30,000 in increased revenues go toward the deficit. It also recommends $120,000 be taken from the District 7 infrastructure fund and $26,000 be taken from the district's "PC Replacement Fund." Madaffer represents District 7.
  As the City Council debated another in a long line of tight budgets this year, Madaffer often lamented the lack of funds to hire or retain police officers and complained about the mayor's new $1.4 million Office of Integrity and Ethics.
  The councilman, a Republican, has also run into personal financial problems while at City Hall, including having his water cut off three times for failing to pay his bills.
ANDREW DONOHUE, Voice of San Diego, 6/8/06

The FBI is Watching
Voice of San Diego, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2006 -- 6:06 p.m.
  The local branch of the FBI is currently investigating 10 cases of alleged real estate fraud in San Diego.
  Real estate fraud has been named by the FBI as one of the most serious financial crimes facing citizens of the United States. FBI Assistant Director Bill Swecker said he considers Southern California and San Diego to be particularly susceptible to real estate fraud because of the region's high home prices and booming real estate market.
  An FBI spokeswoman said the number of investigations is high considering the relative stability of San Diego's real estate market recently. Volitile markets are said to foster increased real estate fraud.
  The spokeswoman said investigators in the bureau expect to see an increase in criminal activity as the market starts to sink, as many analysts have predicted. — Will Carless

Free the Auditor!
By MEL SHAPIRO, Voice of San Diego, Feb. 7, 2006
 A Jan. 1 report by City Auditor John Torell says "the concept of checks and balances and the controls inherent therein, are diminished at least perceptively, and often in reality, when the auditor is hired by and reports to the chief operating officer of the organization. This will happen with the advent of the strong mayor form of government."
 Isurfed the Web to find how other cities appoint their auditor.
 Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda County, Long Beach and Los Angeles elect theirs, Palo Alto, San Jose and Stockton auditors are appointed by city council. Outside of California, the Seattle, Honolulu and Phoenix auditors are chosen by city council. The only California city I found where the mayor hired the auditor was San Francisco -- where the auditor is hired for a 10-year term.
 The San Diego charter change is unique and lends itself to mischief. The mayor is empowered to fire the auditor without citing any cause and the proviso that the council can rehire him is far fetched since no auditor would want to work with a mayor who fired him, nor would a city council open the door to confrontation between these two officials.
 On Jan. 23, Chief Operating Officer Ronne Froman told the city council that Mayor Sanders doesn't want any changes in his powers over the auditor. At the same meeting Council President Scott Peters called a proposal to give the auditor more independence "rash." Torell's response was predictability timid, saying he could "live within the environment we have here."
 Is the auditor in a position to refuse requests from the mayor or Froman to tone down a report that criticizes top management? Hardly, knowing that he can be fired immediately.
 The mayor's unlimited power to fire the city auditor gives him the power to disgrace the auditor and permanently ruin his career. Coercion and intimidation by the mayor has already begun.
 Assistant Auditor Larry Tomanek was scheduled to testify at the Rules Committee in favor of amending the charter to take away the mayor's absolute power over the auditor. But at the last minute, Tomanek was a "no show."
 Councilman Jim Madaffer said his absence 'speaks volumes."
 Nevertheless, only Councilwoman Donna Frye voted in favor of having a ballot measure that would amend the charter. Of course, the mayor and council know that the city's previous financial statements were falsified and are being investigated by the FBI and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
 You would think that they would want a truly independent auditor so that this practice would not repeat itself. You would be wrong.
 Shapiro, a longtime City Hall watchdog, has won two Brown Act cases against the city of San Diego and Centre City Development Corp., which found certain closed sessions illegal.

Ethical Conflicts Loom for CCDC
By Don Bauder, San Diego Reader, December 15, 2005
Centre City Development Corporation's board members -- all connected with the real estate industry in their professional lives -- are constantly running into potential conflicts of interest. But there is a broader issue: this developer-friendly board has not shown itself capable of grappling with the question of whether the corporation itself has outlived its usefulness, if it ever had any.
  Most San Diegans think the nonprofit Centre City Development Corporation (CCDC), formed by ex-mayor Pete Wilson in 1975, is the city's redevelopment agency. Not so. The city council has that task. CCDC supposedly has an advisory role. It says its job is to "staff and implement downtown redevelopment" and be a "catalyst for public-private partnerships.
  "The term "public-private partnership" is merely a euphemism for corporate welfare -- the steering of taxpayer funds to the pockets of developers and their cronies. But with the city broke, is it sound policy to subsidize luxury condos and the developers who build them?
  Late last month, CCDC director Gina Champion-Cain resigned because of a so-called "potential" conflict: she sells residential real estate downtown. On Friday, chairman Hal Sadler resigned. In July, activist Mel Shapiro had filed a complaint with the Ethics Commission, noting that Sadler's architectural firm, Tucker Sadler, had a feasibility contract for a pedestrian bridge over Harbor Drive, and he had voted on matters regarding it. Sadler has already been fined $6000 by the commission for voting in 2003 and 2004 on issues regarding the proposed downtown library. CCDC is committed to pouring $80 million into the library.
  Robert Ito and Reese Jarrett resigned in 2003 because they voted to give land to the Housing Commission. Both were with firms that did business with that commission, as Shapiro pointed out at the time.
  Shapiro notes that other board members, such as real estate financier Jennifer LeSar and banker Robert McNeely, occasionally disqualify themselves from certain votes. But city attorney Mike Aguirre says, "Disqualification is not enough if you're regularly handling business that is before CCDC. You should be resigning from the board."CCDC attorney Helen Holmes Peak says that's true in many cases, but directors also abstain from votes to "avoid an appearance of impropriety."CCDC's board "is basically made up of people of special interests," says Aguirre. And those special interests trample project-area committees, comprising elected citizens from the community who are supposed to join in planning efforts.Indeed, Shapiro believes CCDC "was set up to take away the power of project-area committees." Reason? "Redevelopment is a subsidy for the developers." For example, the ballpark is a redevelopment project that is a classic case of redistributing funds from poor and moderate-income folks to the rich and super-rich.
  The mentality is woven into the city's fabric, says Shapiro. Prior to Friday's resignation, the last three major pieces the Union-Tribune did about CCDC's involvement in the proposed downtown library did not mention Sadler and his obvious conflicts. "They have been covering up for Sadler," says Shapiro.The city doesn't need CCDC, he avers. The board should be abolished, and staff members who have some value should work directly for the city bureaucracy. The power of project-area committees should be restored. "I would rather see a citizens' group make these decisions than seven rich people appointed by the city council.
  "Former councilmember Bruce Henderson takes it a step further: why have government-subsidized redevelopment at all? "The time for government priming the development pump downtown is long past," says Henderson, noting that the concept is based on the untruth that downtown is blighted. "Years ago the whole downtown was declared blighted," he says. "So when they brag how wonderful downtown is, it's a bit of a hypocrisy, because at the same time they claim it is blighted." (Peak says that areas in which there has already been redevelopment would no longer be considered blighted. But she concedes that most of downtown is classified as blighted.)
  Remy Bermúdez worked for CCDC for six years and for its cousin, Southeastern Economic Development Corporation, for two. Bermúdez, a council candidate from the Eighth District in the last election, agrees that monies now going to CCDC and Southeastern "should be administered internally through the City."Citing her own Sherman Heights, she says that citizens refuse to be designated a redevelopment area for fear that homes will be seized through eminent domain. Redevelopment bureaucrats then neglect to provide the area other services. She would like to see "commercial corridors for redevelopment -- leave residential areas out of it. Give our businesses a chance to get grants and loans like they give to major developers.
  "So-called gentrification harms those with low and moderate incomes. As luxury condos shot up like mushrooms in the ballpark district, gentrification started moving east. Property values soared in those low-income areas. So did rents. Condo conversions exacerbated the problem. Some people sold their homes to real estate sharks, then realized that they could not buy another home with the proceeds. "Property taxes also went up," Bermúdez says.
  The ballpark district was "earmarked for low- and moderate-income housing," she says. CCDC "let it deteriorate, and lo and behold here comes a ballpark. So there is a ballpark but not low- and moderate-income housing. We're still waiting to reap the benefits of that ballpark. Do they want working people? No."She thinks the CCDC staff is capable of taking an enlightened approach, "but the board may not be capable of accepting such recommendations because they may not be lucrative.
  "Councilmember Donna Frye would like to see CCDC begin paying back the $100 million it owes the city and direct more funds to "affordable housing in the downtown area for very low income people and for seniors.
  "Like Henderson, she notes that more than half of the tax money collected in redevelopment districts goes back into redevelopment, and other political jurisdictions such as the county and state are shorted. This leads to economic distortions. She, too, is upset at the abuse of blight designations. For example, the county, worried that it will be shortchanged in tax revenue, is suing the city over its attempt to name Grantville a redevelopment area.Nationwide, redevelopment reform is in the air. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the seizure of homes in New London, Connecticut, for a development that would theoretically generate more tax revenue. The decision set off a firestorm. At least 35 states have moved to restrict eminent domain seizures. Says Frye, "In the ballpark district, people had moved in and invested their life savings in the community, then were told to move out. I'm also concerned about the cost of providing police and fire services to these redevelopment areas," which are billowing and gobbling up funds that should be going to essential services.
  Says Aguirre, "We're repeating mistakes of the past -- building more and more without providing infrastructure.
  We have to have significant improvement of the transportation system.
  "However, "there is not an interest in reform" on the CCDC board, says Frye.Some would even extend the CCDC approach. One idea for overhauling the city's Redevelopment Division, which handles projects in several neighborhoods, is to make it a nonprofit consultant like CCDC. "I am going to be asking a lot of questions," says Frye. "I am in no big hurry to set up a lot of agencies using CCDC as the model."

This Just In, Get the city's nitty-gritty as it breaks
E-mail: Mayor's Office Helped Pension PR Push
ANDREW DONOHUE, Voice of San Diego, Nov. 22, 2005
 Former Mayor Dick Murphy's office worked with a key pension official in 2003 to downplay early warnings that the pension system's finances were headed for a freefall, according to an internal e-mail obtained by the Voice of San Diego.
 In an e-mail to an official at the pension system's paid public relations firm, former pension board President Fred Pierce sent along the final copy of an opinion article that would later run as an ad in The San Diego Union-Tribune, a local newspaper.
 The ad, entitled "The Facts, Ma'am, Just the Facts," started off with the line "Chicken Little would be proud" and sought to dispel the "sensationalism, false accusations and basic inaccuracies regarding the San Diego City Employees' retirement system," according to a draft.
 In the body of the e-mail, Pierce wrote: "You will notice that the style has changed slightly and the article is shorter -- both inputs from David Hicks in the Mayor's office."
 Hicks was Murphy's deputy press secretary.
 The ad blamed the pension system's burgeoning financial problems on a drop in the stock market, something he said, in part, was caused by the "9/11 tragedy."
 Later studies debunked the theory that the city's pension problems were caused mostly by the stock market. Instead, studies showed that the pension deficit, then estimated at $720 million and now thought to be more than $1.37 billion, was caused by benefit increases and the city's intentional underfunding.
 A deal made in 2002 while Pierce oversaw the pension system and Murphy oversaw the city continued the city's practice of annually paying less into the pension system and granted city employees a series of pension benefit enhancements.

"Interim Report No. 2 Regarding Possible Abuse, Illegal Acts or Fraud by City of San Diego Officials"
Pension report by the San Diego City Attorney's Office:
http://genesis.sannet.gov/infospc/templates/attorney/index.jsp

A wave of scandals roils the city's leadership ranks.
By Jamie Renol, Newsweek, Aug. 1, 2005 issue
  San Diegans like to call their seaside paradise "America's Finest City." What else to name a place where city councilmen accept illegal campaign contributions on behalf of a strip-club owner looking to make the town safe for nude lap dancing? Last week a federal jury here convicted Acting Mayor Michael Zucchet and City Councilman Ralph Inzunza in a case that's come to be known as "Strippergate." The verdict came just days after Zucchet replaced Mayor Dick Murphy, who resigned July 15 amid controversy over the city's ailing pension fund. "Simply put, I am devastated," Zucchet said, adding that he would resign immediately because "the city of San Diego needs to get on with its business."
 These days, San Diego's business seems to be controversy˜from extortion to conspiracy to alleged war profiteering to exotic dancing. The city's municipal bonds have been downgraded to junk status because of the $1.7 billion pension shortfall, city services have been slashed, and there's even talk that San Diego might have to file for bankruptcy protection. The U.S. attorney and the Securities and Exchange Commission are looking into possible indictments related to the pension crisis, and the San Diego district attorney has filed criminal conflict-of-interest charges against six former pension-board members. Meantime, Rep. Randy (Duke) Cunningham, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, is under investigation by a federal grand jury for selling his house at an allegedly inflated price to a defense contractor˜whose share of government contracts has increased in recent years. Cunningham says he's cooperating fully with the grand-jury probe˜and won't run again.
 And then there's Cheetah's. That's the name of the strip club for which Inzunza, Zucchet and a now deceased city councilman, Charles Lewis, went to bat by trying to repeal the city's "no touch" ordinance between strippers and patrons, enacted in 2000. They failed. Cheetah's is owned by Michael Galardi, a Las Vegas strip-joint proprietor who hired a former Clark County, Nev., commissioner and cop named Lance Malone to ply the San Diego councilmen with some $34,000 in campaign contributions. Galardi pleaded guilty and became a witness for the prosecution, and Malone was convicted of conspiracy, extortion and 33 counts of wire fraud. The jury deliberated just 16 hours before convicting Zucchet and Inzunza, both 35. The two men are expected to request a retrial before their Nov. 9 sentencing. Zucchet's attorney, Jerry Coughlan, insists the contacts between the council members and Malone were strictly legit. "There isn't a single public official in the country that hasn't done the same thing," he said. That should come as good news to pole dancers everywhereSan Diego Daily Transcript

Ethics panel delays decision
San Diego Daily Transcript, June 10, 2005
 The city of San Diego Ethics Commission postponed its decision regarding the release of investigative records to other law enforcement agencies until its August meeting. The commission discussed the matter at its June gathering Thursday night but agreed more time was needed to review the issue.
  One of the concerns voiced by the commission was the effect such a release would have on the targets of its inquiries. "Respondents and witnesses might not readily cooperate with our administrative process if they believed that the information and documents they provided would be shared with another law enforcement agency and potentially used for criminal prosecution," executive director Stacey Fulhorst wrote in a June 9 memo to the commission. "People are not threatened by an Ethics Commission investigation," commission chair Dorothy Smith said at the meeting, adding that attitude would change if records were routinely turned over.
  The City Attorney's office and the Office of the Attorney General have requested the release of documents from the commission's investigation files. While the commission has the power to issue subpoenas and pursue hearings to get respondents to cooperate,
  Fulhorst said her staff can't afford to spend much time in court proceedings. "The commission employs one investigator, one attorney and one director, making it difficult," she said. "The prospect of releasing records would cause us to grind to a halt.

The Road to Riches Is Called K Street, Lobbying Firms Hire More, Pay More, Charge More to Influence Government
By Jeffrey H. BirnbaumWashington Post Staff Writer, June 22, 2005;
Excerpt: To the great growth industries of America such as health care and home building add one more: influence peddling.
 The number of registered lobbyists in Washington has more than doubled since 2000 to more than 34,750 while the amount that lobbyists charge their new clients has increased by as much as 100 percent. Only a few other businesses have enjoyed greater prosperity in an otherwise fitful economy. (for full artyicle click) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/21/AR2005062101632.html

Hit-Piece Cowards— Matt Potter in last week's "City Lights" (June 2, below) described the decision by the impotent ethics commission on the Donna Frye hit pieces delivered to voters the weekend before the mayoral election last year, and I thank him for bringing the issue to the public's attention. One piece had a picture of little boys crying and an unflattering photo of Ms. Frye while accusing her of voting against the 6-to-6 child-care program. Virtually all the money ($130,000) donated to pay for these pieces was raised in the week before the election, and the donors went to great lengths to remain anonymous. According to the ethics commission, who wrote the city's campaign-control ordinance, these mailings were not related to the mayoral election and were merely public-service pieces, so that the slimeballs who anted up the dough were not subject to the reporting requirements for last-minute campaign mailers. The cowards who hid behind the flawed law include the inestimable C. Terry Brown (fatcat owner of Altas Hotels), San Diego Realtors, and San Diego Builders. You might ask yourself when these groups have ever advocated for children before their hit piece. As a result of the decision by the Murphy-appointed ethics commission (entrance fee a $250 donation to Murphy), these groups can again engage in their sleazy campaign tactics in the upcoming mayoral primary with impunity. No one but lawyers could possibly conclude the hit pieces were not intended to influence the previous election by representing Ms. Frye as an uncaring Grinch. But then, lawyers run this town. —Ian Trowbridge, Mission Hills
Ian Trowbridge fired off a complaint to the city's ethics commission, charging that the mailing's sponsors broke city law when they failed to make a late contribution report disclosing who had paid for the mailer. But last week, commission executive director Stacey Fulhorst ruled otherwise. In a letter to Trowbridge, she wrote that the commission had decided that KEEP's mailings "did not expressly support or oppose the election or defeat of a City candidate," and thus city disclosure rules did not apply. (After the campaign was over, KEEP made its regular year-end filing under state law, revealing that $112,000 to pay for the mailings had come from Mission Valley hotel magnate Terry Brown, the building industry, and real estate brokers.) Fulhorst added that the commission would "recommend the addition of an 'election communications' provision that would regulate any advertisements that mention a City candidate within a certain time period before a City election." Of course, the new law isn't expected to be ready in time for this July's mayoral election.Cox was defendant in suit led by Aguirre

By Dean Calbreath, UNION-TRIBUNE, June 3, 2005
Rep. Christopher Cox, President Bush's choice to head the Securities and Exchange Commission, has firsthand experience with securities lawsuits, having been named a defendant in 1995 in an Orange County investment scam.
  Although Cox was dropped from the case, he said the experience confirmed his belief in the need to severely limit shareholder lawsuits.
 But San Diego City Attorney Michael Aguirre – who filed the case against Cox when Aguirre was in private practice – said Cox's onetime role as an attorney for Orange County's First Pension Corp. raises questions about whether he's the right person to head the SEC.
"Three of Cox's clients went to prison regarding the matters he was advising them on," Aguirre said. "There are a lot of questions that need to be asked of Mr. Cox about his actions in the First Pension case. A careful examination of the record should be made."
  Officials in Cox's office were asked about the case but declined to comment.
 The First Pension case dates to the mid-1980s, when Cox was an attorney working in the Irvine office of the Latham & Watkins law firm. As part of his duties, he prepared legal papers and conducted other work for First Pension Corp. in Irvine.
  Apparently unbeknown to Cox, First Pension was running a large pyramid scheme, selling investments in fictitious properties and then using money from new investors to pay back old investors.
 When First Pension collapsed in 1994, its founder, William Cooper, was sentenced to 10 years in jail and ordered to repay investors $73 million. Two other First Pension executives, Valerie Jensen and Robert Lindley, also received prison terms.
  Aguirre filed a class-action lawsuit against First Pension, hoping to recoup money for 350 mostly elderly investors. Aguirre also sued First Pension's accounting firm, Coopers & Lybrand, and legal firm, Latham & Watkins, as well as Cox, for allegedly concealing information from investors.
  Cox has long maintained that his activities for First Pension were legal and that he was not aware of the company's fraud.
  "First Pension concealed the fraud," he said at the time, adding that the allegations that he was involved were "defamatory and false."
  After three years of litigation, Aguirre dropped Cox from the suit, although he says he used Cox's papers in his case against Latham & Watkins, which later settled out of court.
  The suit was filed just after Cox had authored the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which among other things limited the ability of shareholders to sue accountants and lawyers who unwittingly work for fraudulent schemes.
  "This type of case has everything to do with the need for my legislation," he said at the time.
  But Aguirre insisted there was nothing frivolous about the First Pension case.
  "This case resulted in a major finding of fraud by Coopers & Lybrand and a settlement by Cox's own law firm," he said. "If he thinks this is the type of case that shouldn't be brought to the courts, that means he doesn't want to see cases brought that actually have merit."

2 ex-Data Processing execs already charged
By Ronald W. Powell, Union Tribune, April 30, 2005
For the second time in a month San Diego City Attorney Michael Aguirre is butting heads with District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis.
 A day after Dumanis' office charged two former officials of a San Diego city agency with crimes, Aguirre said he will launch his own investigation into the agency's activities.
 Aguirre said yesterday that he wants his own staff to review the district attorney's probe into the dealings of former executives of the San Diego Data Processing Corp., a city-owned nonprofit computer and telecommunications agency.
 The District Attorney's Office Thursday charged Roger Talamantez, the agency's former president and chief executive officer, with three misdemeanors. The corporation's former vice president, Charles LaPack, was charged with one.
 Aguirre said he will send a written request Monday to Dumanis for materials her office gathered during a nearly 16-month investigation.
 "I've asked the head of our criminal division to take a look at the evidence and see if there are other violations in the case," Aguirre said.
 The inquiry sets up a possible showdown between two of the region's top law enforcement officials.
 Aguirre was angered by Dumanis early this month when she made an unscheduled appearance before the City Council and unveiled a plan to take over misdemeanor cases handled by Aguirre's office.
 Dumanis said it would save the city $2 million a year, but Aguirre called the proposal a "political assassination attempt."
 Aguirre said his planned review of the data corporation case is unrelated to the dust-up with Dumanis. He said he hopes she will cooperate with him.
 "I hope people don't think that is the reason," Aguirre said. "What's important is that we end the nonprosecution of corruption in San Diego."
 Dumanis, through her spokeswoman, said she would reserve comment until she receives Aguirre's written request.
'Serious violations'At a news conference yesterday, Dumanis said the investigation is over and her office thoroughly reviewed voluminous documents and other evidence, interviewed 20 people, and filed the appropriate charges, which she called "serious violations of the public trust."
 "Anyone who violates the law will be prosecuted," Dumanis said. "There was no felony culpability, so we looked to misdemeanors. No one will be let off the hook."
 San Diego Data Processing Corp. has 264 employees and a $60 million annual budget. It was created by the city in 1979 to provide computer and telecommunications services to 25 city departments.
 A city audit of the corporation in January 2004 revealed that Talamantez and other executives spent lavishly on meals, alcoholic beverages, holiday parties, executive retreats, dining club memberships and other activities unrelated to Data Processing's role with the city.
 Talamantez resigned from his $241,284-a-year job within a week of the audit's release. He left with $117,985 in severance pay.
Probe soughtSeveral City Council members still wondered whether the spending was illegal, and on Jan. 15, 2004, then-City Attorney Casey Gwinn asked the district attorney to investigate.
 After Talamantez's departure, the corporation's board of directors adopted stringent rules for meal expenditures and banned the purchase of alcohol and the payment of spousal travel at company expense.
 Dumanis' office charged Talamantez over his stock ownership in Viador Inc., a software company doing business with the corporation while he was chief executive.
 LaPack is accused of failing to report his ownership of Viador stock on his 2002 financial disclosure statement.
 Each charge carries a maximum sentence of six months in jail and/or a $10,000 fine. Their arraignment in San Diego Superior Court is scheduled for Friday. Neither is required to appear because the charges are misdemeanors(Watchdog Coments)
  After a 16 month investigation of the San Diego Data Processing Corp. (SDPC), the DA"s office uncovers three misdemeanors by Roger Talamantez, former president and CEO of SDPC and one misdemeanor by Charles LaPack, former vice president ,SDPC.
  The DA stated she filed "appropriate charges" against these two, for which she called "serious violations of the public trust" but stated" there was no felony culpability."
  Believe it or not, the DA did not charge these men for larceny but for "Conflicts of Interest and underreporting" stock holdings.
  These executives spent thousands of dollars of SDPC money as their own for booze, meals, trips, resorts, etc., which included family members. Yet the DA finds no felony culpability??  I believe the crime of larceny is a felony and that being an
accessory before or after the fact is a felony.
  The referenced article identifies the punishment for the cited "misdemeanors" as a maximum sentence of "six months in jail and or a $10,000. fine"(sic).  Actually, it is only a $1,000. fine.  
  So after living the good life on the high road, with money not their own, these folks are being given a "slap on the hand" by the DA.
  Does it never cease.  We need a new DA!
—Peter J. DiRenza, Anti-corruption in Govt

(Watchdog Coments) Dear Editor: I thank Nicole for his apparently insightful thoughts on District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis in his social column. But the the truth is she is violating her oath of office when she refuses to bring charges against the miscreants at the old San Diego Data Processing Corporation.
  She is covering up Council Member Madaffer's involvement in scams that cost the city hundreds of thousands of dollars. The data are there and it's time the DA acted as a prosecutor.—Ian Trowbridg

Pricey conversations, Zucchet's lawyer is quick to bill
UNION-TRIBUNE EDITORIAL , March 12, 2005
  Taxpayers are shelling out enormous sums to outside lawyers to represent a raft of city officials – Mayor Dick Murphy, City Council members, City Manager Lamont Ewell and many others – in the federal probes of financial irregularities at City Hall. Yet there has been scant oversight of the bills being submitted by lawyers for taxpayer reimbursement.
 Consider, for example, defense attorney Jerry Coughlan's $562.50 bill for phone conversations he had with Union-Tribune editor Karin Winner and two others last July. Coughlan was calling about a planned editorial critical of his client, Councilman Michael Zucchet. At the time, Zucchet was attempting to rewrite a ballot measure in order to prohibit whistle-blower Diann Shipione from serving on the city's troubled retirement board.
 Zucchet is set to go on trial May 3 in U.S. District Court on multiple felony charges. The federal grand jury's indictment accuses Zucchet, along with Councilman Ralph Inzunza, of taking illegal payments from Las Vegas strip club operators in exchange for repealing San Diego's no-touch rule in adult establishments. Zucchet has pleaded not guilty to the charges. Coughlan represents Zucchet in this criminal case, at  Zucchet's expense. But Coughlan also represents Zucchet in civil proceedings related to the city's financial crisis, and this work is being done at taxpayer expense.
 Thus Coughlan submitted a hefty bill to taxpayers for his conversations with the Union-Tribune editor, even though the matter was not legal work at all, but rather pure public relations – a bid to shield Zucchet from more bad publicity. Coughlan asserts with a straight face that public relations is part of his lawyer's job, because it "could have legal consequences." Even more galling, then-City Attorney Casey paid the oversized bill, with no questions asked.
To his credit, new City Attorney Mike Aguirre demanded that Coughlan reimburse the taxpayers for the inappropriate bill. Coughlan has done so. An audit of the blizzard of bills being submitted by Coughlan and other private lawyers is clearly needed to ensure that taxpayers are not footing the bill for other public relations work on behalf of San Diego's politicians.

Nonprofit's lobbying efforts raise eyebrows of City Hall watchers
By KEVIN CHRISTENSEN, The Daily Transcript, March 18, 2005
A pending policy position on a controversial apartment complex and an executive-level e-mail has raised some ethical concerns about a local nonprofit organization's ability to weigh in on political matters.
 The San Diego Regional Economic Development Corp., or EDC, is a private nonprofit organization tasked with marketing the city as a business destination and championing business goals. The agency received $1.2 million from the city of San Diego in fiscal year 2004, and received about $1.2 million in fiscal year 2005.
Because the agency is partially taxpayer-subsidized, there are questions regarding the agency's lobbying power.
Julie Meier Wright, president and chief executive officer for the corporation, said the agency now receives two-thirds of its budget from private membership sources.
 The e-mail causing a stir in some City Hall circles is from an EDC vice president member to a local labor advocate, saying that supporting a project could lead to potential conflict and political pressure on other public policy issues.
 Councilwoman Donna Frye said it's these kinds of questions that will bring agencies, such as EDC, under increased scrutiny this year as the budget discussions become more intense.
Frye spoke of requiring the agency to undergo regular audits.
"It's good public policy to make sure that the money being provided to anyone -- that it's adequately audited," Frye said. "We have to make sure that it's being spent in the best interest of the taxpayers."
The e-mail, sent by EDC Vice President Erik Bruvold to Donald Cohen, executive director of local labor think tank the Center for Policy Initiatives, discussed supporting a new residential project in Sorrento Mesa.
 "We have been in such a good place recently with either being unified (pro marine terminal) or at least not going head to head," Bruvold wrote. "Would be a shame to go back into a bad place."
Bruvold said that Cohen's support for the project could bring intensified opposition to the living wage.
"CPI supporting this project could really irritate people who seem to have been nice and silent on the living wage debate," Bruvold wrote. "My board will formally either oppose, support, or stay out of the rezone on April 12 but I thought I would give you a heads up and a 'we should talk' prior to anything precipitous."
 Cohen, who did not distribute the e-mail, would not comment.
The housing project is a contentious issue at City Hall concerning whether to allow residential projects next to light industrial and manufacturing business centers.
In a recent interview, Bruvold said that the e-mail was to keep Cohen in the loop.
 "All I was trying to indicate is that people whose interest runs high have been disengaged and would be unhappy to see CPI get involved," Bruvold said. "It was not a threat."
 Others did not see it as a collegial heads up.
 "That was unprofessional and unethical," said Lisa Briggs, executive director of the San Diego County Taxpayers' Association.
Briggs pointed out that the mission statement of the development corporation is to lure businesses to San Diego.
"Where they get into trouble is when they lobby on situations in their own back yard," Briggs said. "And if they are lobbying, who is paying for it? They should not be lobbying city issues on the city's dime."
Briggs said the core issue is the appropriateness of EDC supporting a specific policy before the city, a certain project or perhaps seemingly trading policy stances with lobbyist that don't receive city funding.
Meier Wright said influencing public policy is central to the agency's core mission. On issues where there are private interests, the corporation is "scrupulous" about ensuring the use of its private membership monies, she said.
 "With our private sector funds, we have the flexibility to work on a range of public policy issues," Meier Wright said. "We are really scrupulous about those things. I understand why people would want to know that we are not using public funds to lobby."
Councilwoman Toni Atkins said there is no problem with the development corporation weighing in on an issue like industrial co-location.
 "I don't think it's inappropriate," Atkins said. "If there is an issue where they are lobbying against a city position, that would be problematic."
Regarding private lobbying issues, Atkins noted that it is imperative that