By Doug Porter
A citizen group represented by Attorney Cory Briggs has announced its intention to file a lawsuit blocking the city’s economic incentives package with Illumina, Inc.
An email sent to Mayor Kevin Faulconer and the City Council this week set a deadline of September 23rd for rescinding the agreement. The communique claims the approval process violated a City Charter provision requiring any deals made by the council lasting more than five years to include a public hearing and a legal notice published 10 days in advance of that hearing.
The Economic Development Assistance Agreement with Illumina, Inc, was approved on August 7th as a “Consent Item.” The ten year deal includes a promise to rebate $1.5 million in sales and use taxes in return for retaining “over 100 middle-wage manufacturing job opportunities” in San Diego.
As the letter notes:
“…no public-hearing notice on the Agreement was published in the official City Newspaper, San Diego Daily Transcript. This contrasts with the notice published there on July 4, 2014, for a similar subsidy provided to Ballast Point Brewing & Spirits Company. In other words, the City knows that this subject matter requires the publication of a public-hearing notice.”
Illumina is in the genomics business, and it is exactly the kind of company the city should be encouraging to put down roots and prosper here.
This deal made by the Faulconer administration, however, is exactly the kind of governance the city doesn’t need.
Faulconer’s False Premises, Fuzzy Math
The July 15th press release from the Faulconer administration included this statement:
The City will provide a tax rebate in exchange for Illumina retaining approximately 300 middle-class manufacturing jobs in San Diego.
The agreement passed by the council uses the “over 100” number. Nor did the agreement address the other 1200 Illumina current employees or the projected addition of 1200 more.
The media campaign surrounding this agreement included unsourced suggestions that Illumina was considering a move to either Poway or Memphis. City Beat followed up with those jurisdictions and got a big “huh?” from their economic development types.
SD Free Press’ John Lawrence dug deeper into this deal a few weeks back, and found it had more holes than Swiss cheese. The dollar amount in question will be greater (it’s plus interest), the company’s signing of long term leases on local properties also calls into question any intention to re-locate and the very idea of the deal (Illumina didn’t ask) came from the Mayor’s office.
Lawrence concluded:
The Illumina rebate is just the beginning, the advent of a new era in San Diego politics, the signal that more is yet to come. The Mayor is sending a message to business. C’mon y’all, line up for your free tax giveaways. Mayor Kevin is open for business!
A Sarah Palin Story Ripped from the Vaults of Jerry Springer
It’s expected to be hot and nasty for a couple of days. So let’s bring you some cool news from Wasilla, Alaska.
Several eyewitnesses have come forward to confirm an account of a street brawl involving the former GOP candidate for Vice President and her family. Ms. Sarah Palin posted on Facebook that she was “traveling” this past Saturday. The Anchorage Police Department isn’t so sure about that excuse..
Here’s the original (and in my opinion the best) account of what happened on Todd Palin’s 50th birthday last weekend.
From the Loose Lips gossip column at AmandaCoyne.com:
The details are a little sketchy, but there’s enough of them, from enough different sources, that a story emerges, a story that according to the gossip Gods, looks kind of like this: There’s some sort of unofficial birthday/Iron Dog-type/snowmachine party in Anchorage. A nice, mellow party, until the Palin’s show up. There’s beer, of course, and maybe other things. Which is all fine, but just about the time when some people might have had one too many, a Track Palin stumbles out of a stretch Hummer, and immediately spots an ex-boyfriend of Willow’s. Track isn’t happy with this guy, the story goes. There’s words, and more.
The owner of the house gets involved, and he probably wished he hadn’t. At this point, he’s up against nearly the whole Palin tribe: Palin women screaming. Palin men thumping their chests.
Word is that Bristol has a particularly strong right hook, which she employed repeatedly, and it’s something to hear when Sarah screams, “Don’t you know who I am!” And it was particularly wonderful when someone in the crowd screamed back, “This isn’t some damned Hillbilly reality show!” No, it’s what happens when the former First Family of Alaska comes knocking.
As people were leaving in a cab, Track was seen on the street, shirtless, flipping people off, with Sarah right behind him, and Todd somewhere in the foreground, tending to his bloody nose.
Have a Good Weekend
I’ll be back Tuesday. I’m taking a day off Monday–unless something big breaks.
On This Day:1866 – “The Black Crook” opened in New York City. It was the first American burlesque show. 1971 – 33 inmates and 11 prison employees died in four days of rioting at New York State’s Attica Prison and the retaking of the prison. The riot caused the nation to take a closer look at prison conditions, for inmates and their guards alike 1992 – Dr. Mae Carol Jemison became the first African-American woman in space. She was the payload specialist aboard the space shuttle Endeavor. Also onboard were Mission Specialist N. Jan Davis and Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Mark C. Lee. They were the first married couple to fly together in space. And, Mamoru Mohri became the first Japanese person to fly into space.
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Doug Porter
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Did you know that Jerry Springer was / is a lefty? His politics are left-wing, even though his shows are raunchy, which just goes to show ya …
And Geraldo Rivera also has a law degree.
Does this matter for anything of is it just fun trivia? Inquiring minds….
Thanks, Cory Briggs, for filing this lawsuit. The whole City Council approval process is fishy given that Mayor Faulconer signed the deal on July 15 while the City Council approval came on August 7. And then there’s the 300 jobs to be retained as told by the media which turned out to be 100 jobs as far as the legal agreement was concerned. Looking forward to your getting to the bottom of this.