January 29, 1999
By Melvin Shiparo
San Diego Alliance for Clean Elections
It is time that the truth about the San Diego Taxpayers Association be made public.
A computer search shows that Scott Barnett, the executive director of the Taxpayers Association was quoted in 72 San Diego Union articles last year. Practically all of the quotes reflected opinions on City of San Diego issues. The Association calls itself the "watchdog" over city spending, and its stationery shows a fierce looking dog on the letterhead. Let's take a closer look at this doggie.
The board of directors is made up of 47 people, 46 representing a business. They are not elected by the members. In fact, the seats on the board are purchased for a price ranging from $2000 to $5000, according to an article in the San Diego Union.
Although the group is supposed to be a watchdog over local government, two of its directors are part of the government.
Board member Peter Davis is president of Centre City Development, the redevelopment arm of the City. Board member Steve Cushman is on the board of the Convention Center and the Port Authority. Both were appointed by the city council.
Watchdogs can get contracts from the people they're allegedly watching.
Douglas Perkins is First Vice-President of the Association. His firm, Pacific Gateway, just received a contract from the City of San Diego to manage the Low Flush Toilet Rebate program.
Board member Mary Ball is a registered lobbyist and represents Cox Cable, which has the cable franchise for a large portion of San Diego.
Three board members were mentioned in an article about San Diego's waste disposal system. They all testified at a city council committee meeting about raising fees for recycling. But the three were not there as watchdogs, they were there as lobbyists for the three companies they represented. The three board members are James Ambroso, San Diego Landfill, Scott Harvey of the San Diego County Disposal Association and Johnnie Perkins, representing Allied Waste.
Other lobbyists on the board are: Lisa Briggs, representing Pacific Bell and Nikki Clay, who represents San Diego Landfill and AT&T. Board member Mark Nelson represents the interests of SDG&E, which has a franchise from the city council.
The law firm of Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves is on the board. Their web page promotes the firm's "Legislative Advocacy Group." A fancy name for lobbyists.
The other law firms on the Association board are Higgs, Fletcher & Mack-Luce, Forward and Gray, Cary,Ware & Friedenrich. All three have a long history of doing legal work for the San Diego City Council. Both the Procopio firm and the Gray, Cary firm are registered lobbyists.
Remember the ill-fated attempt to "divorce" San Diego gas stations from their oil company owners. The City of San Diego refused to join in this effort after being threatened with a lawsuit by Western States Petroleum Association, the oil company lobby. They just happen to be on the board of the Taxpayers Association. Doing their watchdog job for us taxpayers, no doubt.
And how can we forget the "ticket guarantee" the city council gave to the San Diego Chargers. The Taxpayers Association gave its blessing to the entire Chargers deal, including the ticket guarantee. Not surprisingly, we find the Chargers have a seat on the board of the Taxpayers.
In the same vein, we find Sea World on the board. Sea World leases a large part of Mission Bay from the City. Last November, Sea World won an election to remove the height limit for their planned construction. If you look at the ballot pamphlet, you'll find the Taxpayers Association signing the Yes argument.
It is not generally known that a toll road is planned to be built from downtown to the border which will be called the San Diego Expressway. Since it will be privately owned, it would require city council approval. It is being designed by California Transportation Ventures (CTV), a board member of the Taxpayers Association. CTV is a subsidiary of Parsons, Brinckerhoff, an international engineering firm. Parsons is also on the board.
Last June the Taxpayers endorsed the ballot proposition for expansion of the San Diego Convention Center. They not only endorsed it, they campaigned for it through their Political Action Committee. And where did the money come from for the campaign? City records show them receiving $9000 from the Hyatt Regency Hotel, which is next door to the Convention Center. But the Taxpayers Association campaign mailer makes no mention of this contribution. This is commonly known as "laundering" in the political campaign business.
Hyatt Regency has a seat on the board. So does Manchester Resorts, majority owner of the Regency and the Marriott Hotel which also adjoins the Convention Center.
Two San Diego construction companies are also represented on the Taxpayer board. Roel Construction, builder of hotels, and Rick Engineering, which has the city contract for the redesign of the Naval Training Center.
A short time ago, we were voting on the new ballpark for the Padres. An optimistic report on the financial impact was issued by the national firm of Deloitte & Touche which was paid $400,000 by the City of San Diego. Yes, that's right, Deloitte is on the board of the Taxpayers Association.
Last but not least, board member John Burnham Company, with heavy financial interests in downtown redevelopment. All of the stands taken by the Taxpayers Association coincide with the stands of the Burnham Company.
Needless to say, campaign contributions flow freely from the "watchdogs" to the members of the San Diego City Council. City records show twelve board members gave to the Byron Wear campaign. Eight gave to Susan Golding for Senate.
These are your "watchdogs." The San Diego media just can't wait to get another quote from them, since they claim to represent all the taxpayers. You can tell that from their name. Especially if you don't look any further. But the facts are that the falsely named Taxpayers Association only represents the business interests of its board members. It actively campaigns for the business interests of its board members. The only instance of it opposing city council policy is when that policy increases taxes of the businesses it represents.
Unfortunately, the San Diego media has transformed this lobbying group into a watchdog group, and the general public is the loser.
As Shakespeare said, "what's in a name". In San Diego, quite a lot.
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