Reader Jean Froning e-mailed me last night to tell me that the big Jan Goldsmith banner wasn’t restricted to flying over Qualcomm Stadium but also flew over the city’s beaches on Sunday.
Froning told me the plane flew over San Diego’s beaches at about 4 p.m. on Sunday.
I’m still trying to find out who paid for the banner. One reader suggested calling the companies in town that do aerial banners. Another said an idea would be to get the tail number of the plane that flew it.
We don’t have a photo that’s tight enough on the plane to see the tail number. If any enterprising readers out there want to help me out and make some calls to the companies and report back, we’d like to hear what you can find. I’m cranking away on another story on deadline.
Political consultant T.J. Zane, who organizes and fundraises for local Republicans and is the executive director of the Lincoln Club, a conservative-leaning political group, e-mailed me giving me some more background on what is and isn’t allowed for political contributions.
I had called Zane to see if he knew who paid for the banner. He didn’t give any hints in his e-mail.
He writes:
There are really only two (legal) possibilities:
– a single individuals paid for the whole thing (no limit on how much a single individual can spend on an IE)
– a group of individuals formed an independent expenditure committee to pay for it, with each individual contributing no more than $320 each to pay for it (in this scenario, individuals are held to the same maximum contribution amount — $320 — they are held to when they make a contribution directly to the candidate’s campaign)
Write me with any theories or extra information.