Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Donors walking: Democratic billionaire Irwin Jacobs and wife Joan kick in $80,000 to defeat death penalty

Politically speaking, it's been quite a week for Qualcomm founder and La Jolla billionaire Irwin Jacobs.

Fresh from his endorsement of Republican city councilman Carl DeMaio's mayoral candidacy last Thursday, the interview-shy cell phone magnate quickly tacked back to the left.

According to a campaign filing posted online late yesterday by the California Secretary of State's office, on October 1 the elderly Democrat and his wife Joan each gave a cool $40,000 to Proposition 34, the measure on November's ballot to eliminate the state's death penalty.

As previously reported here, Jacobs earlier gave $10,000 to the help qualify the proposal for the ballot.

The billionaire has long been a backer of liberal causes, as well as those of the Democratic party.

This year he’s joined fellow left-leaning billionaire George Soros in making huge contributions to a super PAC supporting president Barack Obama and a committee opposing GOP candidates.

But San Diego political insiders note that Jacobs has also provided financial backing to Republicans long before his DeMaio endorsement, including lame duck mayor Jerry Sanders, who was a stalwart backer of Qualcomm's controversial "Snapdragon stadium" gambit - declared illegal by the city attorney- as well as the contentious plan by Jacobs to make over Balboa Park.

The anti-death penalty drive has been especially popular among wealthy La Jolla Democrats, many of them lawyers, with once-imprisoned super-lawyer Bill Lerach leading a fundraising drive featuring a celebrity-laden party at his palatial La Jolla Farms estate.

And on July 5 the San Diego chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union contributed $100,000.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

San Diego's Uptown Planners challenged by renters from Vibrant Uptown

Two La Jolla planning groups fight for predominance

Politically speaking, it's been quite a week for Qualcomm founder and La Jolla billionaire Irwin Jacobs.

Fresh from his endorsement of Republican city councilman Carl DeMaio's mayoral candidacy last Thursday, the interview-shy cell phone magnate quickly tacked back to the left.

According to a campaign filing posted online late yesterday by the California Secretary of State's office, on October 1 the elderly Democrat and his wife Joan each gave a cool $40,000 to Proposition 34, the measure on November's ballot to eliminate the state's death penalty.

As previously reported here, Jacobs earlier gave $10,000 to the help qualify the proposal for the ballot.

The billionaire has long been a backer of liberal causes, as well as those of the Democratic party.

This year he’s joined fellow left-leaning billionaire George Soros in making huge contributions to a super PAC supporting president Barack Obama and a committee opposing GOP candidates.

But San Diego political insiders note that Jacobs has also provided financial backing to Republicans long before his DeMaio endorsement, including lame duck mayor Jerry Sanders, who was a stalwart backer of Qualcomm's controversial "Snapdragon stadium" gambit - declared illegal by the city attorney- as well as the contentious plan by Jacobs to make over Balboa Park.

The anti-death penalty drive has been especially popular among wealthy La Jolla Democrats, many of them lawyers, with once-imprisoned super-lawyer Bill Lerach leading a fundraising drive featuring a celebrity-laden party at his palatial La Jolla Farms estate.

And on July 5 the San Diego chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union contributed $100,000.

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.