The Shrinking Expanding Mayor's Race
Carl DeMaio, Todd Gloria and Ron Roberts are out.
Nathan Fletcher, Kevin Faulconer and now Councilman David Alvarez are in, along with more than a dozen other hopefuls including former City Attorney Mike Aguirre.
The entry of Alvarez changes the dynamic of the race, with one well-known Republican (Faulconer) now up against three prominent Democrats. A run-off is practically assured.
Not yet in or out is former Assembly Member Lori Saldana, also a Democrat and the only woman still mentioned as a possibility after Democratic legislators Christine Kehoe and Toni Atkins bowed out.
DeMaio's announcement that he was sticking to his campaign to unseat Scott Peters in the 52nd Congressional District came as a surprise to some. But if he had entered the mayor’s race, he would have had to return a substantial portion of the nearly $500,000 he had raised for his congressional campaign because of differing campaign finance regulations. And he would have alienated local and national Republican party leadership, who believe they can retake the 52nd.
Looking For Lobbyists
One of Bob Filner’s first acts as mayor was to end the city’s contracts with its lobbyists in Sacramento and Washington, D.C. He said there was no evidence they provided services of any value.
San Diego paid its two outside lobbying firms nearly $1 million in 2012 to lobby for the city’s interests. The City council has been, well, lobbying ever since to get new firms on board. Interim Mayor Todd Gloria has made this a priority and is preparing RFPs for both jobs.
Many other political entities in San Diego County use lobbyists. The biggest spender is San Diego County, which spent $1.5 million in 2012 on three firms which, officials said, helped the county get or keep federal funds for nutrition and food and grants for border-related crime.
CBS, Time Warner Kiss And Make Up
After a month of being unable to watch reruns of “The Good Wife” or first-runs of “Ray Donovan,” Time Warner cable subscribers again have access to CBS and Showtime programs.
The dispute between the two ended Monday, just in time for the last week of the U.S. Open, for which CBS has the rights, and the beginning of the NFL and fall TV seasons.
The battle was over the fees to re-transmit CBS’s programs. CBS wanted Time Warner to increase its payment from $1 to $2 per subscriber. Although details were not immediately available, reporters parsing statements released by both sides after the stand-off concluded that CBS got close to what it wanted.
Other questions have observers scratching their heads. Why were these two media giants, whose core business is slowly being eaten away by alternative ways to access programming (Netflix, Apple TV, HULU) fighting like a coupie of eighth graders, instead of banding together? How much will this school-yard stand-off cost subscribers? And finally (and much less relevantly), will Time Warner subscribers ever be able to see Padres games?
