Morning Report: Inside La Jolla High’s Financial Mess

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Judging by the performance of its students, La Jolla High is one of the best schools in San Diego. But there’s a problem: Its Associated Student Body operation can’t handle numbers. You know, the financial kind.

An audit tells the tale. “Hundreds of thousands of dollars in spending was lacking any supporting documentation like receipts, the audit found. More than $20,000 had essentially gone missing. And fundamental accounting rules had been ignored, so that students were charged for illegitimate costs while the district was short-changed on payments to staff and consultants,” VOSD contributor Will Carless reports in a new story.

There are many lingering questions raised by the audit about the principal’s performance, improper student charges and scholarships that may need to be returned. The district promises reform.

Has Filner’s Chief of Staff Gone Rogue?

The city attorney’s office has sent a letter to Lee Burdick, the mayor’s chief of staff, debunking what it says is her belief that her communications with others in the city — “specifically notes taken in connection with those conversations” — are immune from public record requests because they’re protected by attorney-client privilege. She took this position, the letter says, regarding records connected to accusations against Filner.

No sale, the city attorney’s office declared: She has to cough up the materials immediately. 10News has a copy of the remarkable letter.

Your Daily Filner Jaw-Dropper

U-T San Diego columnist Logan Jenkins has a stunner of a column examining Filner’s political past, present and future.

Jenkins says the Labor Council is “internally conflicted” over what to do.

Meanwhile, he reports, local Democratic Chairwoman Francine Busby says the party won’t support a recall. Also, the party apparently has a “Plan B” if Filner won’t quit: “encourage him to receive help and carry on.”

The Rest of the Weekend in Filner

• 10News finds evidence that the mayor’s office was wrong when it said the Organization of Iranian-American Communities, a group that invited Filner to take a now-controversial trip to Paris, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit group. That could spell trouble regarding gift limits.

• The U-T hears from Filner supporters. Yes, there are still a fair number of them, and some doubt the motives and truthfulness of the women who have come forward.

• Former assemblywoman and general thorn-in-the-side of her own party Lori Saldaña, a Filner harassment whistleblower, is finally calling on the mayor to quit. (10News)

• Filner must quit, says Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a fellow Democrat: “Being the mayor of a big city, you’re a role model for people. You’re either inspirational to people or you aren’t.” (KPBS)

• In the U-T, local professor and uber-pundit Carl Luna raises the prospect of sympathy for the mayor as time goes by: “scandal fatigue on the part of a public weary of allegations du jour.”

• Sexual harassment allegations sunk Filner’s congressional boss back in the day, the U-T remembers.

• Filner dominates our Top 10 list of VOSD’s most popular stories over the past week, but a couple other topics made it in there too.

Witch Hunt and a Recall in SD: 1918 Edition

San Diego schoolteachers, including some essentially accused of disloyalty to the United States during wartime, were infuriated. High school students too: They went on strike. The school board, fed up with attacks on its authority, tried to withhold diplomas.

It was a wild time in San Diego in 1918. It would end with the city’s first successful recall election. There would be more recalls in the county to come.

In a history flashback, I explore the drama surrounding the firing of three school board members, examine the history of the recall and explain why California voters can boot elected officials.

Pop Goes the Tourism Authority

The bloodletting at the Tourism Authority, which led to more than two dozen layoffs plus unfilled jobs, will affect funding for events, the U-T reports. We wrote about the reason for the sharp drop in available tourism marketing dollars last week.

Second Opinion: This Week’s Obamacare Question

We’re continuing to take questions about the final implementation of health care reform. This week, we tackle another one: “Is it cheaper for a company of 50 or more employees to pay the penalty for not offering health coverage than to sponsor a health plan?”

The Agony and the Ecstasy

To borrow a phrase, how do you solve a problem like Bob Filner? Answering that question is above my pay scale. I do have some advice, though: Take the situation seriously but laugh at the absurdity of it all.

The U-T has compiled a few of the funniest reactions to Friday’s botched Filner press conference.

But Washington Post humor columnist Alexandra Petri won the week with a hilarious take on Filner’s upcoming therapy sessions. (“Day 1: Women — They’re just like People!” Day 2: “Actually, not to ruin your fun here, but women are people.”)

But the humor has limits, even for the furriest of wags. The reputations and futures of dozens of people are at stake, not just politicians but City Hall workers, the alleged victims and more. As new allegations fly and vile online commenters dive to new depths, that ain’t no joke.

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