San Diego Jews in the News: May 23, 2014

susan davis - head shot
Susan Davis

SAN DIEGO (SDJW) — U.S. Rep. Susan Davis (D-San Diego) cast two newsworthy votes in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, May 22.   The U-T and Associated Press reported that the House of Representatives had rejected Pentagon and White House pleas for spending cuts, with Davis among those voting for a $601 billion defense authorization …. The Times of San Diego meanwhile reported that Davis voted with the House majority in approving a bill that will limit the federal government’s ability to collect mass telephone records data.

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U-T columnist Logan Jenkins, in a remembrance of Gerald Edelman, said to understand the man one should “imagine Socrates, Einstein, P.T. Barnum and Groucho Marx channeled into a Nobel laureate, poet, and violin virtuoso.”

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U-T reporter Karen Pearlman, covering the Harvey Milk breakfast on his birthday, Thursday, May 22, at the Hilton Bayfront Hotel, noted that Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins was the keynote speaker and recipient of the Harvey Milk Equality Award. Atkins, a lesbian, on receiving the honor named for slain San Francisco County Supervisor Harvey Milk, who in 1977 became the nation’s most visible gay elected official: “(T)his award is not mine alone. It’s a testament to all of you here who have worked tirelessly to bring us to this point in history and to all of the pioneers on whose shoulders we have stood.”

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District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis is the subject of a complaint brought by former Chula Vista employee Jason Moore, who was prosecuted successfully on a misdemeanor charge that he collected city wages while attending a campaign event in 2007. The U-T’s Kristina Davis reported that Moore is contending that Dumanis began investigating then-Mayor Steve Padilla after Padilla declined in 2005 to appoint an aide of hers to a City Council vacancy. Dumanis’ spokesperson said Moore pleaded guilty to the charge. In a hearing on Thursday, May 22, Superior Court Judge Louis Hanoian instructed both sides to file arguments in the matter, and said he expected to rule June 18.

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Angela Carone of KPBS reported that Ian Campbell, the former general director of the San Diego Opera, did not stand to profit as much from his proposed shutdown of the opera as some have speculated.  The TV station said his amended contract enabled him to be terminated with 30 days notice and be paid through the end of the calendar year in which such termination occurred.  Campbell and the reconstituted San Diego Opera board are currently negotiating financial terms of his departure, with litigation a possibility.

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Preceding compiled by San Diego Jewish World staff