$100,000 campaign from select sports arena developer to mayor was news when he gave it

This post originally appeared in the Political Report on September 10th. A weekly newsletter dedicated to his VOSD members. Become a member now.

Last week, news broke for the second time that developer Brad Termini and his wife donated $100,000 to a committee to help campaign Mayor Todd Gloria when he ran for mayor for the first time in 2020. I was.

La Prensa reported the donation as part of Gloria’s support for the team Termini is leading the redevelopment of approximately 50 acres of land at the sports arena site. Termini is his CEO of Zephyr, a company that, along with his Chelsea Investments and other partners, is one step closer to an exclusive negotiated deal with the city to build on land that could span decades. doing.

But La Prensa wasn’t the first to report the donation. Terminis’ donation to the Independent Committee in support of Gloria actually made news and caused controversy when they did. Barbara Bly, who was targeted by an attack ad paid by donations while running for mayor, issued a press release tearing the ad as hypocritical and sarcastic. , had to change. No one tried to tell the political report exactly why, but they closed the independent spending committee.

A new committee was eventually set up, led by lawyer Gil Cabrera, former chairman of the Ethics Committee.

“I’m here to redirect independence spending to be more effective in the general election,” Cabrera said.

what happened: Termini declined to comment as he was traveling, but the political report was able to piece together a piece of history.

LiUNA, the international union of North America Local 89, formed a committee to support Gloria’s election well before the March 2020 primary. They hired consultants Nancy Chase and Larry Reamer to run it. It has collected donations and you can see the major ones listed here.

They created an ad attacking Bligh, who was at odds not only with Gloria at the time, but also with former City Councilman Scott Sherman. It was widely assumed that Gloria would make it through the primary, but Sherman and Brie were in a very close race for second place.

“Bry also says she’ll stand up to developers, but big developers are funding her campaign,” part of the ad said.

This was nasty. Termini is a donor. Termini also contributed so much that his name was required in the disclosure column of the advertisement.

“Given the claims in the ad, the most ironic contributions are Brad and Stephanie Termini, developers of the controversial Marisol development in Del Mar and business partners of one of the largest developers in downtown San Diego. and donated $100,000,” Bly wrote to the press. The ad-blasting release eventually fell prey to Union-Tribune columns, but it also failed to put Termini on record at the time.

Again, I didn’t get a chance to get in touch with him about this, but he was probably pretty upset about the ad.

“A lot of people weren’t happy with that ad,” said Nancy Chase. , that’s why we made it better. We changed it.”

Bligh survived the primary and advanced to the general election, much to the chagrin of Gloria’s allies who believed it would have been much easier for the Republican Sherman to win with General.

LiUNA has closed its commission and contributed to Neighbors of Housing Solutions in support of 2020 San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, raising significantly more funding than its predecessor group. You can see these key contributors here.

Why this matters: All of this has shifted to a more openly political battle. Not only is the winning team’s rivalry and the media digging in, but an actual ballot measure is moving forward: Bill C. This would increase the height limit in his area of ​​Midway, not just the land of the sports arena. Second attempt.

But the 2022 election will attract a minority of voters. Those who oppose measures are more ambitious than those who support them mildly. Now they’ve already killed off their previous version, and will likely attract stronger allies if the situation gets worse.

Come see the discussion: At Politifest, Alderman Chris Kate, who advocates removing the height limit, and Dyke Aniwo, chairman of the Midway Pacific Highway Community Planning Group, spoke to aldermen who advocate removing the height limit. Debate with Linda Lucatis and former Congressman Lori Saldanha.

This year’s Politifest is going to be really good. check it out.