Supervisor Pam Slater-Price Generous With Other People's Money, Turns Profit Gail Heriot

I went to the opera Friday night.  It was Tannhauser.  (Yes, of course I cried at the end.  Didn't you?)  The only irritating aspect of the evening was a conspicuous mention in the program that "Supervisor Pam Slater-Price and the County of San Diego" had donated over $200,000 to the San Diego Opera.  No, no, no, no, no.  Supervisor Slater-Price did not contribute $200,000 to the opera.  San Diego taxpayers did.  Maybe that's a good thing or maybe that's a bad thing.  But it has nothing to do with the generosity of Ms. Slater-Price.  And I was very surprised annoyed that she would have the poor taste to allow the San Diego Opera to suggest otherwise.

This morning I googled Ms. Slater-Price and discovered that the story is worse than I had realized.  Ms. Slater-Price showers public funds on quite a few cultural and artistic non-profits.  In return, their leaders are asked to contribute significant time and money to her re-election.  Ah!  Now I see how that works.

Comments

[R. Ford Mashburn]

Of course she would, and why shouldn't she? After all, Bill Clinton did this sort of thing in the White House, but because he has the "correct" sort of values, the Guardians of the Public Trust, our ever vigilant press corps, gives him a pass. Riaddy's coal deposits became much more valuable when Clinton declared a National Wildlife Preserve in Utah' coal region. As a double-bonus, he also received millions in donations from the Sierra Club, plus the "assistance" of Sierra Club "volunteers" for his re-election campaign. Not to mention his expansion of ANWR to deprive the oil companies of valuable oilfields. Plus all those donations from Enron and Ken Lay sure made his re-election all the more "comfortable".

Did you expect politicians to shy away from a proven successful tactic and relinquish control of scarce public funds to those truly in need? Nah, I didn't think so......

[Labamigo]

I have lived by this credo for 40 years: "All politicians are crooks."

Do this, and you will seldom be disappointed during nights at the opera.

[Dave]

If Supervisor Slater-Price and San Diego Counties' contribution to a non-profit in exchange for less than two thousand dollars of campaign contributions, either directly or indirectly, bothers you, don't even look at San Francisco Counties' non-profit grants and hirings. The City/County outsources more than $900 million of work to non-profits and ideologically affinitied entities who, in return, provide votes, contributions and volunteers to self interested supervisors.

[Paul A' Barge]

don't ever vote for women with a hyphen in their name.

[Vail Beach]

The sick thing is, if the opera were to take a stand and say, "Thanks, San Diego County, for the grant, but we don't think it's appropriate to associate a politician's name with it," the money would disappear.

Politicians really believe it is their money. I worked with them, and the only time they considered whether taxpayers should have to pay for something was when it was something they themselves were opposed to.