San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders has been busy handing out CALA (Californians Against Law Suit Abuse) awards; maybe that's why he didn't have time to pay attention to waste of taxpayer money by the City of San Diego. It's okay with Jerry for insiders to milk the taxpayers, but he and his CALA friends don't want the city to reimburse ordinary people who have been harmed by city wrongdoing.

The following story from Voice of San Diego addresses the question of Mayor Sanders' lack of interest:

How City Hall Ignored Warning Signs on SEDC
By ANDREW DONOHUE and WILL CARLESS
Aug. 21, 2008

After a voiceofsandiego.org investigation revealed last month that officials at the Southeastern Economic Development Corp. had paid themselves hundreds of thousands of dollars in hidden, non-budgeted bonuses and extra compensation, the Mayor's Office was quick to act.

Jumping ahead of the potential public relations nightmare, the mayor issued stern rebukes of SEDC compensation practices, cut the redevelopment agency's funding and called for its president's resignation.

When Mayor Jerry Sanders was told about expired board terms at SEDC, he said his office had higher priorities to deal with before addressing the issue.

Other city officials have been quick to jump on the bandwagon. Three members of the City Council joined the mayor's call for Smith to resign and City Attorney Mike Aguirre quickly stepped in with his own bombshell: An opinion that SEDC's board chairman had violated California's conflict of interest laws.

The rapid response displayed this summer belies the lack of pace and seriousness with which officials in City Hall, from the mayor and city attorney to the auditor and independent budget analyst, dealt with bubbling questions surrounding SEDC pay and other practices over the past two years...

Diane Crosier and Rodger Hartnett: No one but us should be allowed to sue


Diane Crosier, executive director of SDCOE-JPA

After years of successful opposition to the claims of those who have been injured by unlawful actions of teachers and school officials, Diane Crosier and Rodger Hartnett, bigshots in the San Diego County Office of Education-Joint Powers Authority, suddenly think that the courts should switch sides, and listen to the complaints of victims.

No, not all victims. Just Diane and Rodger.

What was that you were saying about lawsuit abuse, Diane? You fall off a horse and want someone else to pay, right? Yes, I know it hurts. I've fallen off a horse, and I've broken my back. But I never sued anybody over it.

In what way are you different from all the people whose claims you turned down, Rodger? They don't deserve accomodations for disabilities, but you do? How do you figure that? I do salute you, however, for the public service you have done by exposing a small part of the wrongdoing at SDCOE-JPA.

Why don't the two of you admit the truth: those who are illegally harmed deserve the protection of the law?

And those who have done the harm, such as the two of you, should pay.

Gawker.com wants us to appreciate Sam Zell's patriotism:

Stop Defaming Sam Zell's Trailer Park Company!
2:49 PM on Thu Apr 17 2008
By Pareene

Sam Zell, the crazy old man who bought some newspapers recently, is a champion of free speech, which is why he swears so much. So it's odd that he is suing some lady for defamation, right? Especially because the lady is not associated with us, and we have called him all sorts of things! Oh, the lady is Dianne Jacob, who represents the Second District on the San Diego County Board of Supervisors. Sam Zell also owns a trailer park company that has four parks in her district. Recently, they started raising rents. Dianne Jacob said some very mildly defamatory things about them!

Ms. Jacob learned that Zell's Manufacured Home Communities (which is now called "Equity Lifestyle Properties, Inc.") has a history of suing cities to make them repeal rent control laws and also they enjoy "running people out of older mobile home parks," just for the kicks. So she said as much, and then they sued her for defamation, and they lost, but now they're appealing, even though their case seems pretty thin.

So now she's writing an editorial about it. She submitted it to the Zell-owned L.A. Times, but they rejected it for some reason!

All we have to say is listen up, old people—you can whine about that 25% rent hike but you're subsidizing quality journalism. If you want to save the newspaper industry and keep that DC bureau open, you're gonna have to suck it up. It's the patriotic thing to do.

I Won't Be Sued Into Silence [Voice of San Diego]

http://gawker.com/381068/stop-defaming-sam-zells-trailer-park-company

Insurance company lawyers should have settled instead of continuing harrassment

Goodrich Employee Wins Harassment Lawsuit.
Chula Vista, Calif.
February, 2003
By Michael Kinsman,
The San Diego Union-Tribune Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Feb. 8--Goodrich Aerostructures in Chula Vista just took a half-million-dollar hit just because it didn't listen to one of its employees.

The aerospace manufacturer recently was on the losing end of a lawsuit filed by maintenance technician Bob Haist, who said he was slandered by his manager.

A San Diego Superior Court jury awarded Haist $165,000 for the slander and another $335,000 for malice.