Anyone wanting paid-for advice from Marti Emerald better get it soon or hope she doesn’t get elected to San Diego City Council.
The former consumer reporter just told me she will not under any circumstances accept part-time work if she wins the District 7 seat. This is a departure from previous comments she made to a University of San Diego forum, radio host Roger Hedgecock, and to our own Scott Lewis.
Since leaving Channel 10 last year, the on-air Trouble Shooter has done media consulting through her company Emerald Group — her most notable client being Coughlin, Stoia, Geller & Rudman, the law firm that was once home (under a different name) to William Lerach, the class-action litigator who was sentenced to prison earlier this year for paying kickbacks to plaintiffs.
She told Hedgecock on April 11 that while serving on City Council would almost assuredly take up all of her time, she didn’t rule out consulting work while on City Council, saying it was a “possibility down the road.” She said basically the same thing to Lewis later that day. April Boling, her main rival for the seat, jumped on these comments and has sent out e-mail blasts saying Emerald will be a “part-time councilwoman.”
Well, now Emerald has ruled it out.
“It was a big lesson for me to think things through before opening my mouth,” Emerald said.