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

Not so forest-friendly

Toni Atkins and multitudinous dollars of special interests

Developer Jennifer LeSar (left) has definitely benefited from governmental decisions made by her spouse, Toni Atkins — “colossal conflict of interest,” say some.
Developer Jennifer LeSar (left) has definitely benefited from governmental decisions made by her spouse, Toni Atkins — “colossal conflict of interest,” say some.

State senator Toni Atkins had plenty of food, drink, and travel in 2016, thanks to the multitudinous dollars of special interests. Her personal financial report filed for last year shows she received greater than $100,000 from an outfit called LeSar Development Consultants, owned by Atkins’s spouse, Jennifer LeSar.

Their relationship has raised frequent conflict-of-interest questions regarding Atkins’s proposals to raise fees to subsidize low-income housing projects that are a major source of LeSar’s income. “(LeSar and Atkins) are just pocket-liners, cut from the Clinton cloth,” the Union-Tribune quoted San Diego homeless advocate Monica Ball as saying in a February 6, 2017, story about the allegations. “Talk about a colossal conflict of interest.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

In addition to LeSar’s main business, she owns half of Estolano LeSar Perez Advisors, for which the disclosure does not provide a valuation or income details. Income sources of greater than $10,000 for the ventures include the Port of San Diego, San Diego city-owned Civic San Diego, the San Diego Housing Commission, the California Department of Community Services, and 61 other governmental and non-profit entities. Senate lawyers have ruled that because Atkins’s legislation doesn’t earmark the proceeds of the proposed new fees and taxes for any particular beneficiary, she is not breaking state conflict laws.

In addition to the big housing money, Atkins also collected $200 in tickets and golf fees from insurance giant Farmers, a $48 meal from the San Diego Housing Federation, and $381 worth of meals and lodging from the Forest Foundation of Sacramento. On the Forest Foundation board sit a bevy of timber industry executives, including those from Mendocino Redwood Company, Sierra Pacific Industries, and Green Diamond Resource Company.

The pro-logging group has faced controversy over its generous payments to former Texas A&M University professor Thomas M. Bonnicksen, who provides favorable legislative testimony. The biggest private payoffs for Atkins came from the Association of California Life & Health Insurance Companies, which anted up $1264 in lodging and meals for a two-day stay at Pebble Beach beginning last October 24. A month before that, the California Dental Association came up with $3002 in lodging, meals, and travel for a three-day Atkins jaunt to New York City.

Last year, Atkins ran fellow Democrat Marty Block out of his seat by dint of superior campaign fundraising as then-speaker of the Assembly. To keep her hold on her lucrative office, Atkins is throwing a high-dollar fundraising lunch for herself at the Catamaran on Mission Bay, Friday, May 12. With a minimum contribution of $250, more ambitious donors can spend as much as $4400 for the “co-chair level,” with ten seats at the table thrown in.

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

Navy solves San Diego homeless crisis by retiring four locally moored ships

Decommision Accomplished
Developer Jennifer LeSar (left) has definitely benefited from governmental decisions made by her spouse, Toni Atkins — “colossal conflict of interest,” say some.
Developer Jennifer LeSar (left) has definitely benefited from governmental decisions made by her spouse, Toni Atkins — “colossal conflict of interest,” say some.

State senator Toni Atkins had plenty of food, drink, and travel in 2016, thanks to the multitudinous dollars of special interests. Her personal financial report filed for last year shows she received greater than $100,000 from an outfit called LeSar Development Consultants, owned by Atkins’s spouse, Jennifer LeSar.

Their relationship has raised frequent conflict-of-interest questions regarding Atkins’s proposals to raise fees to subsidize low-income housing projects that are a major source of LeSar’s income. “(LeSar and Atkins) are just pocket-liners, cut from the Clinton cloth,” the Union-Tribune quoted San Diego homeless advocate Monica Ball as saying in a February 6, 2017, story about the allegations. “Talk about a colossal conflict of interest.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

In addition to LeSar’s main business, she owns half of Estolano LeSar Perez Advisors, for which the disclosure does not provide a valuation or income details. Income sources of greater than $10,000 for the ventures include the Port of San Diego, San Diego city-owned Civic San Diego, the San Diego Housing Commission, the California Department of Community Services, and 61 other governmental and non-profit entities. Senate lawyers have ruled that because Atkins’s legislation doesn’t earmark the proceeds of the proposed new fees and taxes for any particular beneficiary, she is not breaking state conflict laws.

In addition to the big housing money, Atkins also collected $200 in tickets and golf fees from insurance giant Farmers, a $48 meal from the San Diego Housing Federation, and $381 worth of meals and lodging from the Forest Foundation of Sacramento. On the Forest Foundation board sit a bevy of timber industry executives, including those from Mendocino Redwood Company, Sierra Pacific Industries, and Green Diamond Resource Company.

The pro-logging group has faced controversy over its generous payments to former Texas A&M University professor Thomas M. Bonnicksen, who provides favorable legislative testimony. The biggest private payoffs for Atkins came from the Association of California Life & Health Insurance Companies, which anted up $1264 in lodging and meals for a two-day stay at Pebble Beach beginning last October 24. A month before that, the California Dental Association came up with $3002 in lodging, meals, and travel for a three-day Atkins jaunt to New York City.

Last year, Atkins ran fellow Democrat Marty Block out of his seat by dint of superior campaign fundraising as then-speaker of the Assembly. To keep her hold on her lucrative office, Atkins is throwing a high-dollar fundraising lunch for herself at the Catamaran on Mission Bay, Friday, May 12. With a minimum contribution of $250, more ambitious donors can spend as much as $4400 for the “co-chair level,” with ten seats at the table thrown in.

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

Flowering pear trees in Kensington not that nice

Empty dirt plots in front of Ken Cinema
Next Article

Navy solves San Diego homeless crisis by retiring four locally moored ships

Decommision Accomplished
Comments
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.