She’s made the rounds in Washington D.C. Now, our sources tell us, a background check appears to be all that stands between veteran federal prosecutor Laura Duffy and a nomination by the Obama Administration to be San Diego’s next U.S. attorney.
We report, and “the recent events suggest the 11-month selection process has shifted to Washington, with an end in sight.”
From Alan Bersin to Carol Lam, the U.S. attorney in San Diego has been a very high profile position. If Duffy gets the job, she’ll oversee many border enforcement efforts and, like her predecessor, have the potential to prosecute some of the most interesting corruption cases. We have more details about Duffy, including her background as a prosecutor in narcotics cases, the top complaint about her experience and why someone she prosecuted called her “the lady from the sky.”
In other news:
- As we report, “former San Diego City Council candidate Phil Thalheimer has filed a federal lawsuit against the city of San Diego alleging the city’s campaign finance rules violate his constitutional rights to free speech.”
In essence, the plaintiffs want the right to raise and contribute campaign money earlier than the city allows.
- We’re continuing to press San Diego City Council members about their promises to cut the budgets of their own offices. So far, several have responded and re-pledged $116,486 in budget cuts.
- A recent report by a couple sociologists says media coverage can play a major role in helping or hurting a publicly funded stadium’s bid to be built.
San Diego gets a mention, and the local press gets a drubbing as being uncritical of a stadium project, presumably Petco Park. An uncritical media? Here? Really? (I will now assume an expression of shock, horror and disbelief.) Get outta town!
- Our Photo of the Day shows the sun peeking out of dark clouds over downtown. You won’t see this photo soundtrack coming: it’s courtesy of The Velvet Underground.
Elsewhere:
- Three women involved in last summer’s infamous deputy sheriff vs. congressional-candidate-supporters fracas have filed a federal lawsuit. Two say they are afraid to call 911. (It seems likely that after all this, they’d be treated more carefully than anyone else in town if they did call for help. But I digress.) (U-T)
- CityBeat editorializes against public money for a new football stadium: “But look – they’re better than 28 other teams and worse than only two. And they play in crappy old Qualcomm Stadium without those sweet suites. Something’s working.”
There’s an idea to consider: Is the existing, supposedly dumpy stadium giving good mojo to the team? Let’s see a city staff report on that.
- Speaking of stadiums, the WSJ wonders if San Diego’s decrepit, 95-year-old Balboa Stadium might make a good holiday gift. (Earlier this year, we remembered when a 20th-century president filled the stadium with the largest crowd of his career, shortly before his presidency went off the rails. The Beatles dropped by the stadium too.)
- When longtime U-T editor Karin Winner announced her pending resignation, the paper gushingly paraphrased her fans as saying she’s a “quiet yet effective leader” who provided “unwavering leadership.” Can you fill those shoes? Check out the paper’s new job listing for its top newsroom job to see if you qualify. (Hey, U-T! I’m right here. Have your people call my people. Note to self: Get some people.)
- Finally, you’re going to be seeing a bit less of us over the rest of the month.
We, of course, will be thinking about you every waking moment. And if you believe that, the delivery guy wants to know where to put that bridge you ordered.