If you visited Mainly Mozart’s website to see who sponsored the nonprofit arts organization, you’d learn that Supervisor Pam Slater-Price has given money to the organization.
She’s listed this way:
But the funding that Slater-Price directed to Mainly Mozart was taxpayers’ — not her own. Slater-Price gave a $50,000 grant to the organization last year. She has often directed taxpayer money to the group, earmarking more than $230,000 since 2001. The organization has returned the favor, sending her on a trip to Austria and the Czech Republic in 2006.
Nancy Laturno Bojanic, Mainly Mozart’s executive director, said the listing was a mistake and would be corrected. The website should recognize the county’s role, she said, using clear wording that the supervisors provide.
“What you’re looking at is the exception,” she said. “That is not the way we’re directed to do it. It’s something we try to be really careful about.”
Other arts organizations have taken a similar approach. The California Ballet Co. lists 2007-2008 sponsors as:
City of San Diego — Mayor Jerry Sanders
Pam Slater-Price, Supervisor, County of San Diego
Ron Roberts, Supervisor, County of San Diego
Maxine Mahon, the ballet’s director, said she may change the reference when the group’s old website is updated. With county and city logos that appear nearby, she said she believed it was clear that the money was from a government grant. She said if the supervisors or mayor had given their own money, they’d be listed in a separate location.
The Old Globe goes a step further toward crediting taxpayers:
The Old Globe is supported in part by Community Projects grants from
Supervisor Pam Slater-Price and The County of San Diego Board of Supervisors
Supervisor Bill Horn and The County of San Diego Board of Supervisors
I’m curious for readers’ takes on this. Should the supervisor who designates your money to a nonprofit be given sole credit? Would you do it the same or differently? What’s your suggested wording? E-mail me at rob.davis@voiceofsandiego.org.