Re: The San Diego 20. I think this group may have actually existed in the 60s and 70s, in the days of San Diegans Inc., Copley Inc., fewer congressional and state assembly/senate offices and no term limits.
But I remember attempting an article like this in the late 80s at Transcript and there were too many outliers. And at least then, you had UCSD Connect with chief cheerleader Bill Otterson as the umbrella for all things UCSD and tech, Malin, Pete Wilson’s Shadow, Ernie Hahn and a few huge banks/S&Ls (Imperial, HomeFed, SD Trust and Great American) with hyper-active execs who would write a check on a whim.
Now that has fractured and Biocom itself is light years larger and then there is the Jacobs family. Today, perhaps we have pods of 20-leaders in all sorts of sectors, from tech to labor to electeds to whatever. But as far as a San Diego 20 crushing its way to victory, I don’t see it. And you also have chronicled in recent years multiple establishment failures — from the stadium to the ballot box — that these 20 would have been gung ho to have passed.
Anyway, nice touch on the article. Very enjoyable.
Tim McClain is the former editor of San Diego Metropolitan Magazine and is now an aide for Supervisor Ron Roberts.