Is DeMaio hiding meetings with the UT's new owner?

The U-T's connections to Carl DeMaio and the Lincoln Club

SD CityBeat

by Dave Maass

January 4, 2012

 

Last month, the San Diego Daily Transcript reported that City Councilmember and mayor candidate Carl DeMaio has a history with the new owners of the city’s main daily newspaper, hotelier Doug Manchester and broadcaster John Lynch. In 2005, Manchester donated $100,000 to a DeMaio-run political committee, while Lynch’s radio station provided the committee with $38,400 in free air time.

 

On Dec. 14, we received a tip that DeMaio was spotted scheming with Manchester and Lynch—so we filed a records request for DeMaio’s schedule. After all, on the eve of being sworn in three years ago, DeMaio sent out a statement promising that he would post his official calendar each month, “documenting who he has met with and for what purpose.”

 

He has honored part of the pledge, posting every calendar online, but over the years, the pages have been increasingly filled with notes saying simply “Hold for Carl.” The page for Dec. 14, for example, has four hours in the morning and four-and-a-half in the afternoon reserved without any description.