| Biography of Cheryl Cox Former school board member of Chula Vista Elementary School District Mayor of Chula Vista 2006 |
| At this same time, the district transferred out of Castle Park Elementary the very same teacher who had been accused by Maura Larkins of criminal actions. The district had spent a huge amount of tax money defending this teacher, and probably expected her to go quietly, if not out of remorse for her actions, then out of gratitude for the large amount of money spent to defend her and her co-conspirators. But she did not go quietly. She was a close friend of Chula Vista Educators president Gina Boyd, who raised a ruckus in the press about the transfer of Robin Donlan and four other teachers in the summer of 2004. The issue was covered by the San Diego Union Tribune, the Chula Vista Star-News, and La Prensa, but these newspapers never revealed that the teachers of Castle Park had been involved in a court case and had cost the district hundreds of thousands of dollars. Perhaps this secrecy enabled Cheryl Cox to become mayor of Chula Vista in December 2006. Ironically, she made character an issue during her campaign. Her supporters were extremely critical of the previous mayor, Steve Padilla, who had hired a bodyguard with city funds when he received threats to his safety. His supporters sympathized with his fear for his safety. Cheryl Cox asked for an increase in funding for her office as soon as she became mayor, but her request was turned down by the Chula Vista city council. |
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| Lawsuit Against Chula Vista Educators & former CVE President Gina Boyd (re Cheryl Cox/Robin Donlan coverup) |
| Perjury involving atty. Deborah K. Garvin, Sheriff's deputy Michael Carlson |
| DA unit works as quietly as it began It looks into alleged public corruption By Tanya Mannes STAFF WRITER May 20, 2007 Last year, District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis quietly created a Public Integrity Unit, which uses a criminal grand jury to look into the most serious allegations of government corruption throughout the county. In existence about 14 months, it has filed charges against one person: Jason Moore, a former Chula Vista mayoral aide. Dumanis won't discuss whom or what the unit has investigated, not wanting to tarnish reputations if no charges are filed. Patrick O'Toole, the prosecutor who leads the unit, has said that the Moore case was part of “an ongoing investigation into the possible misuse of government resources, money and time in Chula Vista.” Earlier this month, Chula Vista Councilman Steve Castaneda said the unit investigated him three times in the past year. Castaneda spoke publicly about the investigations because he believes Dumanis is targeting him for political reasons. Dumanis has declined to comment on Castaneda's statements. In a recent interview, she said her office is determined to be nonpolitical. “In the last election cycle, our office was being used as a tool, and that disturbed me,” she said. She promised that in the future, in most cases, “we will not investigate a complaint until after an election.” That wasn't the case last year. The investigation of Moore began in August, while he was an aide to Chula Vista Mayor Steve Padilla and working on his re-election campaign, according to the grand jury transcript unsealed April 12. Castaneda said the investigations of him began in March 2006, as he was campaigning for mayor. The public has been given little information about the unit's work. The investigations that focused on Moore and Castaneda began before Dumanis announced the Public Integrity Unit existed. She did that March 1. Moore was indicted March 27. He has pleaded not guilty to five felony perjury charges. The 732-page grand jury transcript shows the investigation began in August, shortly after The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that Moore was caught spying on an Aug. 3 fundraiser for Padilla's political opponent, Cheryl Cox, who went on to beat the incumbent in the November election. O'Toole was looking into whether Moore was on city time that day. Based on the investigation, O'Toole doesn't dispute that Moore ultimately took the time off but contends he lied in sworn testimony about when he submitted a request for personal leave. “If someone lies to a grand jury, they're going to be charged with perjury,” O'Toole said. In seeking the indictment of Moore, O'Toole questioned witnesses on seven days from March 8-26, according to the transcript. The grand jury considered testimony from Moore; Padilla; Padilla's chief of staff, Tom Oriola; city records custodian Louis Vignapiano; Marcia Raskin, the city Human Resources director; Natalie Flores, the City Council's executive secretary; Chad Blum, Padilla's campaign manager; Don Giaquinto, a Padilla campaign worker; and Mike Goloskie, an investigator with the district attorney's special investigations unit. 'Political witch hunt' Castaneda said the Public Integrity Unit spent 14 months investigating three separate allegations against him. O'Toole subpoenaed Castaneda and other witnesses to testify about an apartment Castaneda rented for his wife; property he purchased as a business venture in 2005 with Chula Vista resident Henry Barros; and his role as a board member of the Chula Vista Redevelopment Corp. He has not been charged with a crime. On May 11, Castaneda issued a public statement accusing Dumanis of leading a “political witch hunt” against him. He alleged that Dumanis conspired with Cox to begin targeting him in March 2006, when he was running against Cox in the mayoral primary. He said Cox's husband, county Supervisor Greg Cox, influences Dumanis because the Board of Supervisors controls the district attorney's budget. Castaneda said Dumanis was using the unit to force him to resign. He said O'Toole recently offered him a deal: Resign immediately, and he would not charge him with a felony. O'Toole has declined to comment on Castaneda's allegations. In a previous interview, O'Toole spoke in general about how he has privately persuaded some public officials to change their behavior without filing charges. “There's no way of measuring that, but it does happen,” O'Toole said. 'We are watching' Dumanis formed the Public Integrity Unit in early 2006, when she assigned O'Toole, a former federal prosecutor who previously served as the U.S. attorney in San Diego, to develop a way to handle the sensitive cases in which public officials are accused of criminal wrongdoing. The unit now comprises two full-time prosecutors and one part-time prosecutor within the Special Operations Division. Dumanis said it's a way to “let people know that we are watching.” O'Toole is using the criminal grand jury in the earliest stages of investigations, a tactic based on the federal model and procedures used in Los Angeles and Santa Clara counties. The grand jury proceedings, in which witnesses testify under oath, take place behind closed doors to protect those accused of crimes, Dumanis said. “We have complex investigations that take months, sometimes years,” she said. “We don't want reputations tarnished before our investigation is finished.” When Dumanis announced the Public Integrity Unit on March 1, she said it had been “a work in progress” for more than a year. She has said she wanted to wait until after last year's November elections to announce the unit. The announcement was further delayed because of the holidays and her busy schedule. Dumanis said she has always placed importance on public integrity work, and the unit centralizes that responsibility. The District Attorney's Office estimates that it has prosecuted 50 cases involving public officials and employees since Dumanis took office in 2003. http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070520/news_1m20piu.html |
| Cheryl Cox is a native of Florida who lived in Virginia before coming to San Diego County. Her father is retired navy officer John Willet. Cox's husband, Greg Cox, became mayor of Chula Vista, and later a supervisor of San Diego County. Mrs. Cox became a principal in Chula Vista Elementary School District in the early 1970's. She was a good principal, with a reputation for being mildly arrogant. Cox moved up to an administrative position in the CVESD district office. At the same time she seems to have worked as an "educational consultant." Eventually she won a seat on the CVESD school board, where she joined a controlling board majority which had a hostile attitude toward teachers. Despite the hostility toward teachers, the board majority got along very well behind closed doors with the leaders of Chula Vista Educators, particularly Gina Boyd, Jim Groth and Tim O'Neill. In 2000, at the time Mrs. Cox joined the board, the fallout from several years of authoritarian rule by Superintendent Libia Gil and her second in command, Richard Werlin, began to disturb the district. Castle Park Elementary, in particular, was the scene of intense conflict. Longtime teachers were hostile toward the bilingual teachers who were added, one year at a time, for four years, from 1994 through 1997. Teachers made allegation against two of the new bilingual teachers, causing them to be dismissed. One of these dismissals, that of third-grade teacher Maura Larkins, resulted in a lawsuit in which Richard Werlin and district lawyers pressured teachers to make false statements during depositions. A large amount of tax money was spent to cover-up criminal actions by one or more Castle Park Elementary teachers against Maura Larkins. During the three-year duration of the case, which involved eight law firms waging battle against an IN PRO PER third-grade teacher, there were countless efforts by lawyers to prevent discovery, to delay discovery, and to get the case thrown out. The case was thrown out when Maura Larkins failed to file a motion quickly enough regarding the defendants' abuse of the discovery process. |
| Out of the Mouths of Babes By Matt Potter Nov. 2, 2006 San Diego — According to an e-mail from Lorena Gonzalez, political director for the San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council, the council's robo-call attacking school board candidate Michael McSweeney as a right- wing extremist and touting the reelection of nominal Democrat incumbent Katherine Nakamura, a big backer of ex- superintendent Alan Bersin, "was done by an actual child in the our San Diego's Public School -- not an Actor using a child's voice. As an AFTRA member, she is a little miffed that she is being misidentified." Gonzalez did not respond to a request for further details as to the identity and age of the child or whether as a member of the actors union she was paid union scale for voicing the call.... Developer Doug Manchester isn't the only one who's been giving big bucks to the GOP's Lincoln Club. On October 13, the day Manchester Resorts chipped in $50,000, Mountain West Properties of Chula Vista gave $10,000 and the Yokohl Ranch Co. contributed $4000. Mountain West is run by Chula Vista developer Jim Pieri, and Yokohl is a subsidiary of the Central Valley's powerful JG Boswell Co., which also is the developer of the mammoth Eastlake project in Chula Vista. That same day, the club gave $70,000 to promote Props B and C, the so- called San Diego city hall reform measures sponsored by Mayor Jerry Sanders. But that hasn't been their only expenditure this campaign season. On October 17, they anted up $10,000 for the Coalition to Preserve the Economy, the group favoring the airport move to Miramar. The same day the club also spent $7245 on a poll in support of Cheryl Cox for Chula Vista mayor. http://www. sandiegoreader. com/news/2006/nov/02/ou t-mouths-babes/ |
Going to extremes
By Matt Potter
April 21, 2005
http://www.sandiegoreader.
com/news/2005/apr/21/going-
extremes/
San Diego — GOP county
supervisor Greg Cox is no
shrinking violet when it comes
to his personal investment
strategy. According to a
recently filed financial
disclosure statement, on
February 20 of last year Cox
and his wife Cheryl
purchased stock in Bluetorch,
which the filing describes as
an "extreme sportswear"
company. Cox reported that
his wife's IRA, the account
through which the stock was
purchased, owned Bluetorch
stock worth less than $2000
as of December 31, 2004,
the end of the annual filing
period. The stock is volatile:
On Tuesday, a quote on
Yahoo said it was up -- 2300
percent from the previous
quote -- to $2.50.
Other Cox investments are
more conventional, including
stock worth between $10,000
and $100,000 in Toll
Brothers, a New Jersey-
based home builder
specializing in so-called
McMansions, those oversized
luxury homes popping up all
over the county. Cox bought
the stock on March 22, 2004.
Property records show that
since then, a partnership run
by Toll has sold 25 homes,
ranging in price from $1
million to $1.7 million, at the
south end of the Encinitas
Ranch Golf Course. The
development was described
in July 2003 by the San
Diego Business Journal:
"Luxury extends throughout
the homes, from grand two-
story foyers and 10-foot first-
floor ceilings in most plans to
such exclusive refinements
as lavish master baths with
private retreats and Jacuzzi
tubs.... Three-car garages
are enclosed by raised-panel
sectional roll-up doors."
Besides that, in February
2004 Cox's wife's IRA picked
up shares valued at between
$2000 and $10,000 in
Cardiac Science, an Irvine-
based maker of defibrillators.
According to the City of San
Diego website, "The County
Board of Supervisors has
dedicated $250,000 for the
distribution of defibrillators in
County facilities" as part of
Project Heart Beat. Maker of
the automatic external
defibrillators is none other
than Cardiac Science. Since
Project Heart Beat started
here in 2001, the company
has expanded the concept to
cities nationwide, including
Minneapolis, Nashville, and
St. Louis. Last week, Cardiac
Science chairman Raymond
W. Cohen issued a news
release hyping the firm's
latest "partnership" in Florida.
"We are working very closely
with city officials in Miami to
ensure their program is as
successful as the San Diego
Project Heartbeat program
where over 1,200 Powerheart
AEDs have been deployed
since 2001 and dozens of
lives have been saved as a
result." Cardiac Science is
currently a penny stock,
having fallen from its
February 2004 peak of about
$5.50 all the way down to
Friday's close of just 93 cents
a share.
A one and a two
Conservative GOP county
supervisor Bill Horn once
hoped that Republican
congressman Darrell Issa
would run for governor in the
2003 recall so that Horn
could run to replace him. "I
think I have a pretty good
handle on what the folks from
that district want," he told
reporters before Issa decided
not to take on the likes of
Arnold Schwarzenegger. In
2000, Horn ran for U.S.
Senate but was badly beaten
in the GOP primary.
Now the 11-year veteran of
North County's District 5 has
decided to stick around for
yet another term at the
county. With more than two
years left on his current term,
Horn launched his fund-
raising drive for the 2006
campaign last October,
picking up big money from a
variety of developer types,
many with business pending
before the board. Leading
the pack are members of the
Welk family, whose late
progenitor Lawrence, the
schmaltzy TV bandleader
from North Dakota, founded a
small mobile home park back
in the 1960s that's since
grown into the sprawling Welk
Resort north of Escondido.
Donors giving the maximum
$500 each to Horn include
Welk Music Group president
Kevin Welk of Manhattan
Beach, Welk Group CEO
Lawrence Welk of Santa
Monica, and Welk Group
executives Marc Luzzatto of
Santa Monica and Ronald
Sharp of Fallbrook.
Other major developer
donations to Horn include a
total of $1500 from four
employees of Pardee and
$1500 from three executives
at Weston Communities of
Los Angeles. Jay McQuillen
Jr. of Granite Construction,
which is trying to develop a
controversial quarry adjacent
to the Santa Margarita
Ecological Preserve in
southern Riverside County,
just west of Interstate 15 near
Temecula, kicked in $500.
The supersized gravel pit
plan is opposed on
environmental grounds by
professors at San Diego
State University. Granite is
also behind another quarry,
called Rosemary's Mountain,
near the Pala Indian
Reservation just south of the
Riverside County line,
approved for construction by
San Diego county
supervisors.
Criminal review Attorney and
lobbyist Louis Wolfsheimer,
who once represented strip
clubs in their efforts to get
more lenient regulations out
of San Diego's city hall, has
been appointed to the
county's Citizens' Law
Enforcement Review Board.
The appointment was made
by county supervisor Ron
Roberts. Current secretary of
the board is Kourosh
Hangafarin, who achieved
brief notoriety as San Diego
mayor Dick Murphy's
appointment to the Board of
Port Commissioners.
By Matt Potter
April 21, 2005
http://www.sandiegoreader.
com/news/2005/apr/21/going-
extremes/
San Diego — GOP county
supervisor Greg Cox is no
shrinking violet when it comes
to his personal investment
strategy. According to a
recently filed financial
disclosure statement, on
February 20 of last year Cox
and his wife Cheryl
purchased stock in Bluetorch,
which the filing describes as
an "extreme sportswear"
company. Cox reported that
his wife's IRA, the account
through which the stock was
purchased, owned Bluetorch
stock worth less than $2000
as of December 31, 2004,
the end of the annual filing
period. The stock is volatile:
On Tuesday, a quote on
Yahoo said it was up -- 2300
percent from the previous
quote -- to $2.50.
Other Cox investments are
more conventional, including
stock worth between $10,000
and $100,000 in Toll
Brothers, a New Jersey-
based home builder
specializing in so-called
McMansions, those oversized
luxury homes popping up all
over the county. Cox bought
the stock on March 22, 2004.
Property records show that
since then, a partnership run
by Toll has sold 25 homes,
ranging in price from $1
million to $1.7 million, at the
south end of the Encinitas
Ranch Golf Course. The
development was described
in July 2003 by the San
Diego Business Journal:
"Luxury extends throughout
the homes, from grand two-
story foyers and 10-foot first-
floor ceilings in most plans to
such exclusive refinements
as lavish master baths with
private retreats and Jacuzzi
tubs.... Three-car garages
are enclosed by raised-panel
sectional roll-up doors."
Besides that, in February
2004 Cox's wife's IRA picked
up shares valued at between
$2000 and $10,000 in
Cardiac Science, an Irvine-
based maker of defibrillators.
According to the City of San
Diego website, "The County
Board of Supervisors has
dedicated $250,000 for the
distribution of defibrillators in
County facilities" as part of
Project Heart Beat. Maker of
the automatic external
defibrillators is none other
than Cardiac Science. Since
Project Heart Beat started
here in 2001, the company
has expanded the concept to
cities nationwide, including
Minneapolis, Nashville, and
St. Louis. Last week, Cardiac
Science chairman Raymond
W. Cohen issued a news
release hyping the firm's
latest "partnership" in Florida.
"We are working very closely
with city officials in Miami to
ensure their program is as
successful as the San Diego
Project Heartbeat program
where over 1,200 Powerheart
AEDs have been deployed
since 2001 and dozens of
lives have been saved as a
result." Cardiac Science is
currently a penny stock,
having fallen from its
February 2004 peak of about
$5.50 all the way down to
Friday's close of just 93 cents
a share.
A one and a two
Conservative GOP county
supervisor Bill Horn once
hoped that Republican
congressman Darrell Issa
would run for governor in the
2003 recall so that Horn
could run to replace him. "I
think I have a pretty good
handle on what the folks from
that district want," he told
reporters before Issa decided
not to take on the likes of
Arnold Schwarzenegger. In
2000, Horn ran for U.S.
Senate but was badly beaten
in the GOP primary.
Now the 11-year veteran of
North County's District 5 has
decided to stick around for
yet another term at the
county. With more than two
years left on his current term,
Horn launched his fund-
raising drive for the 2006
campaign last October,
picking up big money from a
variety of developer types,
many with business pending
before the board. Leading
the pack are members of the
Welk family, whose late
progenitor Lawrence, the
schmaltzy TV bandleader
from North Dakota, founded a
small mobile home park back
in the 1960s that's since
grown into the sprawling Welk
Resort north of Escondido.
Donors giving the maximum
$500 each to Horn include
Welk Music Group president
Kevin Welk of Manhattan
Beach, Welk Group CEO
Lawrence Welk of Santa
Monica, and Welk Group
executives Marc Luzzatto of
Santa Monica and Ronald
Sharp of Fallbrook.
Other major developer
donations to Horn include a
total of $1500 from four
employees of Pardee and
$1500 from three executives
at Weston Communities of
Los Angeles. Jay McQuillen
Jr. of Granite Construction,
which is trying to develop a
controversial quarry adjacent
to the Santa Margarita
Ecological Preserve in
southern Riverside County,
just west of Interstate 15 near
Temecula, kicked in $500.
The supersized gravel pit
plan is opposed on
environmental grounds by
professors at San Diego
State University. Granite is
also behind another quarry,
called Rosemary's Mountain,
near the Pala Indian
Reservation just south of the
Riverside County line,
approved for construction by
San Diego county
supervisors.
Criminal review Attorney and
lobbyist Louis Wolfsheimer,
who once represented strip
clubs in their efforts to get
more lenient regulations out
of San Diego's city hall, has
been appointed to the
county's Citizens' Law
Enforcement Review Board.
The appointment was made
by county supervisor Ron
Roberts. Current secretary of
the board is Kourosh
Hangafarin, who achieved
brief notoriety as San Diego
mayor Dick Murphy's
appointment to the Board of
Port Commissioners.
Media hogs
By Matt Potter
Dec. 16, 2004
http://www.sandiegoreader.
com/news/2004/dec/16/media-
hogs/
San Diego — The county's
coffeehouses and convenience
stores, already awash with just-
started free newspapers that
come and go each month, can
count on one more newbie: The
South Bay Review, operated by
Mike Inzunza, brother of the
clan that includes Democratic
San Diego city councilman
Ralph and National City mayor
Nick. And -- surprise -- the
cover hypes a famous Inzunza
family mentor, GOP county
supervisor Greg Cox, who once
employed Nick and still sits on
the board of Chula Vista-based
Seacoast Commerce Bank with
him. Cox, says the story, has
"an all-encompassing ability to
bring communities and people
together with something called
character." Chula Vista
planning chairman and ex-Cox
staffer Marco Polo Cortes,
another member of the
Inzunzas' extended political
family who golfs regularly with
Ralph, hails Cox as "a true
statesman." Readers also learn
that the supervisor wakes every
morning at 5:30 to feed five pet
cats and take a shower. "He
leads a consistent and stable
life," the story says. "He takes
comfort in getting his monthly
haircut from the same family of
barbers for the last 30 years."
Wife Cheryl's lobbying and
political-consulting business,
which has been raising South
Bay eyebrows for years, is
nowhere mentioned, but both
she and Greg are touted for
higher office. "Political insiders
are rumoring a push for Cheryl
to run for mayor of Chula Vista,
while others see Greg Cox as a
favorable candidate for
Congress." The paper's
advertisers include real estate
woman Pepper Coffey, who was
Ralph's appointment to the
board reviewing taxpayer
financing for a new Chargers
stadium ... It's been another
string of bad news for the Union-
Tribune: hot on the heels of the
walkout of anti-George W. Bush
columnist James O.
Goldsborough, the paper
reported last Thursday that the
Los Angeles Times (and not the
U-T) had been the first to ask
for a recount in the dizzying
Frye-versus-Murphy San Diego
mayoral race, quoting editor
Karin Winner as saying the
paper was consulting its
lawyers about what to do. The
next day the U-T reported it had
finally gone ahead and
submitted a request. But all is
not lost. Local readers of
Newsweek were recently
treated to a full-page ad for the
U-T's Sunday "Currents"
section, which Winner used to
edit, featuring a black-and-
white portrait of an elderly black
man looking skyward,
accompanied by haiku-like
copy: "Sunday morning/ A story
of a hero's life/ That you tape to
your child's mirror/ To remind
her of who she can be/ Sunday
lasts forever." The ad goes on
to urge readers to "Pick yours
up Sunday. From sections A to
J, what you read, see and learn
on Sunday will last forever."
Pickled Herring It's been
revealed that he's gotten
personal legal advice courtesy
of city taxpayers. Now it's also
come to light that deputy San
Diego city manager Bruce
Herring, who has for years
served as a loyal soldier,
stonewalling those who dared
inquire about the financial
foibles of mayors from Maureen
O'Connor (Russian Arts
Festival) to Susan Golding
(1996 GOP convention,
Chargers' Qualcomm-stadium
expansion) to Dick Murphy
(Padres ballpark, new Chargers
stadium, pension debacle), is
looking for an exit strategy.
According to a letter sent to him
two weeks ago by the city's
ethics commission, Herring has
been seeking "advice
concerning the application of
post-employment restrictions to
'terminal' employees." The rule
against employees taking jobs
with private companies doing
business with the city for 12
months after they leave city hall
are, according to the letter,
"designed to prevent former
City Officials from 'switching
sides' after they leave the City
and working against the City's
interests for a private company
concerning a pending municipal
decision." Thus, Herring has to
wait on any city-related private
gigs, the letter said, even if he
uses some of his "terminal
leave" or unused vacation time
to bug out of his city job before
he actually leaves the payroll.
"Because employees who take
terminal annual leave are
entitled to accept new
employment while they are on
terminal leave, it follows that the
post-employment restrictions
must apply." But if Herring gets
a job with another public
agency, the letter said, he won't
have to worry about those
conflict-of-interest rules.
Inside of inside Look out, Union-
Tribune, here comes Neil
Morgan, who was fired by the
paper this spring, and his old
sidekick Bob Witty, who used to
help Morgan run the Copley-
owned, now-defunct San Diego
Tribune. The pair, along with
Barbara Bry, an ex-L.A. Times
reporter and Harvard business
school grad who married and
later divorced millionaire
Democratic La Jolla developer
Pat Kruer, are part of the
nonprofit "Voice of San Diego,"
a new website that sources say
intends to take direct aim at the
U-T's SignOnSanDiego.com
Internet operation. Bankrolling
the venture is said to be a
foundation run by La Jolla
fatcat venture-capital investor
Ralph B. "Buzz" Woolley, owner
of Coronado's Glorietta Bay
Inn, among other concerns.
Woolley last popped onto the
public stage in March, when he
was identified in a San
Francisco Chronicle article
along with Wal-Mart heir John
Walton as financial backers of
Bay Area Democrat Ted
Lempert's 11th district state
senate primary campaign. Both
Woolley and Walton were
reported by the paper to be big
fans of using taxpayer-funded
vouchers to pay for private-
school tuition. Lempert lost his
legislative bid badly. Key
participants in the new website
have close ties to UCSD,
including Morgan, whose wife
Judith, a freelance travel writer,
is a longtime member of the
institution's PR advisory board;
Woolley, whose wife, lawyer
Ann Parode, is university
counsel; and Bry, who once
worked for Connect, UCSD's so-
called tech transfer arm
founded by the late Bill
Otterson and overseen by
UCSD extension dean Mary
Walshok.
By Matt Potter
Dec. 16, 2004
http://www.sandiegoreader.
com/news/2004/dec/16/media-
hogs/
San Diego — The county's
coffeehouses and convenience
stores, already awash with just-
started free newspapers that
come and go each month, can
count on one more newbie: The
South Bay Review, operated by
Mike Inzunza, brother of the
clan that includes Democratic
San Diego city councilman
Ralph and National City mayor
Nick. And -- surprise -- the
cover hypes a famous Inzunza
family mentor, GOP county
supervisor Greg Cox, who once
employed Nick and still sits on
the board of Chula Vista-based
Seacoast Commerce Bank with
him. Cox, says the story, has
"an all-encompassing ability to
bring communities and people
together with something called
character." Chula Vista
planning chairman and ex-Cox
staffer Marco Polo Cortes,
another member of the
Inzunzas' extended political
family who golfs regularly with
Ralph, hails Cox as "a true
statesman." Readers also learn
that the supervisor wakes every
morning at 5:30 to feed five pet
cats and take a shower. "He
leads a consistent and stable
life," the story says. "He takes
comfort in getting his monthly
haircut from the same family of
barbers for the last 30 years."
Wife Cheryl's lobbying and
political-consulting business,
which has been raising South
Bay eyebrows for years, is
nowhere mentioned, but both
she and Greg are touted for
higher office. "Political insiders
are rumoring a push for Cheryl
to run for mayor of Chula Vista,
while others see Greg Cox as a
favorable candidate for
Congress." The paper's
advertisers include real estate
woman Pepper Coffey, who was
Ralph's appointment to the
board reviewing taxpayer
financing for a new Chargers
stadium ... It's been another
string of bad news for the Union-
Tribune: hot on the heels of the
walkout of anti-George W. Bush
columnist James O.
Goldsborough, the paper
reported last Thursday that the
Los Angeles Times (and not the
U-T) had been the first to ask
for a recount in the dizzying
Frye-versus-Murphy San Diego
mayoral race, quoting editor
Karin Winner as saying the
paper was consulting its
lawyers about what to do. The
next day the U-T reported it had
finally gone ahead and
submitted a request. But all is
not lost. Local readers of
Newsweek were recently
treated to a full-page ad for the
U-T's Sunday "Currents"
section, which Winner used to
edit, featuring a black-and-
white portrait of an elderly black
man looking skyward,
accompanied by haiku-like
copy: "Sunday morning/ A story
of a hero's life/ That you tape to
your child's mirror/ To remind
her of who she can be/ Sunday
lasts forever." The ad goes on
to urge readers to "Pick yours
up Sunday. From sections A to
J, what you read, see and learn
on Sunday will last forever."
Pickled Herring It's been
revealed that he's gotten
personal legal advice courtesy
of city taxpayers. Now it's also
come to light that deputy San
Diego city manager Bruce
Herring, who has for years
served as a loyal soldier,
stonewalling those who dared
inquire about the financial
foibles of mayors from Maureen
O'Connor (Russian Arts
Festival) to Susan Golding
(1996 GOP convention,
Chargers' Qualcomm-stadium
expansion) to Dick Murphy
(Padres ballpark, new Chargers
stadium, pension debacle), is
looking for an exit strategy.
According to a letter sent to him
two weeks ago by the city's
ethics commission, Herring has
been seeking "advice
concerning the application of
post-employment restrictions to
'terminal' employees." The rule
against employees taking jobs
with private companies doing
business with the city for 12
months after they leave city hall
are, according to the letter,
"designed to prevent former
City Officials from 'switching
sides' after they leave the City
and working against the City's
interests for a private company
concerning a pending municipal
decision." Thus, Herring has to
wait on any city-related private
gigs, the letter said, even if he
uses some of his "terminal
leave" or unused vacation time
to bug out of his city job before
he actually leaves the payroll.
"Because employees who take
terminal annual leave are
entitled to accept new
employment while they are on
terminal leave, it follows that the
post-employment restrictions
must apply." But if Herring gets
a job with another public
agency, the letter said, he won't
have to worry about those
conflict-of-interest rules.
Inside of inside Look out, Union-
Tribune, here comes Neil
Morgan, who was fired by the
paper this spring, and his old
sidekick Bob Witty, who used to
help Morgan run the Copley-
owned, now-defunct San Diego
Tribune. The pair, along with
Barbara Bry, an ex-L.A. Times
reporter and Harvard business
school grad who married and
later divorced millionaire
Democratic La Jolla developer
Pat Kruer, are part of the
nonprofit "Voice of San Diego,"
a new website that sources say
intends to take direct aim at the
U-T's SignOnSanDiego.com
Internet operation. Bankrolling
the venture is said to be a
foundation run by La Jolla
fatcat venture-capital investor
Ralph B. "Buzz" Woolley, owner
of Coronado's Glorietta Bay
Inn, among other concerns.
Woolley last popped onto the
public stage in March, when he
was identified in a San
Francisco Chronicle article
along with Wal-Mart heir John
Walton as financial backers of
Bay Area Democrat Ted
Lempert's 11th district state
senate primary campaign. Both
Woolley and Walton were
reported by the paper to be big
fans of using taxpayer-funded
vouchers to pay for private-
school tuition. Lempert lost his
legislative bid badly. Key
participants in the new website
have close ties to UCSD,
including Morgan, whose wife
Judith, a freelance travel writer,
is a longtime member of the
institution's PR advisory board;
Woolley, whose wife, lawyer
Ann Parode, is university
counsel; and Bry, who once
worked for Connect, UCSD's so-
called tech transfer arm
founded by the late Bill
Otterson and overseen by
UCSD extension dean Mary
Walshok.
On a Budget
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| Two bizarre prosecutions by Bonnie Dumanis benefit Cheryl Cox |
| San Diego Reader re Cheryl and Greg Cox |
| SAN DIEGO EDUCATION REPORT |
| mauralarkins.com |
| Unit of San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis began prosecuting political opponents of Cheryl Cox. Patrick O'Toole, who had previously been appointed as US Attorney for San Diego by Attorney General John Ashcroft, headed the unit. O'Toole prosecuted a staffer for mayor Steven Padilla who had taken two hours off work in an effort to get a photograph of Cheryl Cox with her disgraced family friend David Malcolm [1] at a twilight yacht party fundraiser for Cox. The staffer was charged with five felony counts of perjury for telling a grand jury that he filled out his leave slip from work before rather than after he took off from his job at the City of Chula Vista. He pled guilty to lesser charges as part of a plea deal. The now-dormant unit ended its active phase with a second and final prosecution, that of Steve Castaneda, who had run against Cheryl Cox for mayor. Castaneda was prosecuted for allegedly lying about whether he planned to buy a condo, even though he never bought the condo in question. According to the San Diego Union Tribune, "Castaneda was a tenant at the complex and was accused of seeking favors, such as free rent, from Sunbow owner Ash Israni, according to the 1,200-page grand jury transcript. The investigation found that Castaneda paid his rent and didn't ask for special treatment. O'Toole told the grand jury the perjury charges are warranted because Castaneda should be held accountable for 'lying about the facts'; even if no crime was uncovered...Castaneda has been vocal about O'Toole's investigations, saying they are politically motivated. He contended that Dumanis conspired with Chula Vista Mayor Cheryl Cox, his political rival in the 2006 mayoral primary." "DA unit works as quietly as it began" http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontri b/20070520/news_1m20piu.html "Trial and Re-election bid could coincide". http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontri b/20070923/news_1m23casta.html |
| Steve Castaneda-- Chula Vista Councilman targeted by D.A. who shielded Cheryl Cox from felony perjury investigation |
| (More below) |
| San Diego's "Public Integrity Unit" operating? It would seem that it's operating on behalf of Cheryl Cox |