District Two Candidate Lorie Zapf Has Friends in the Building and Hotel Industries

by on August 2, 2013 · 6 comments

in Economy, Election, Ocean Beach, Politics, San Diego

lori zapf reversedCouncilmember Lorie Zapf – who now sits representing District 6 in the City Council of San Diego – is running for re-election in District 2, the district that encompasses Ocean Beach, Point Loma and the Peninsula – as well as the rest of the district.

Recently district boundary lines were changed and Zafp now resides in District 2. Zapf – a Republican – wants to keep Kevin Faulconer’s seat – also a Republican – in the Party’s fold.

And apparently, Zafp is well on her way to carry the GOP banner, as she has collected $130,000 for her warchest in the last six months, so reports Dorian Hargrove at The San Diego Reader. His headline: Zapf collects big-time cash from building and hotel industries

A good chuck, $36,000, came from fundraisers hosted by Sudberry Properties.

While Sunroad is on the scandal sheet, Hargrove reports:

Recent campaign disclosures show that the developer of the 4,780-unit Civita mixed-use development in Mission Valley raised a total of $36,000 for Zapf’s campaign to fill Kevin Faulconer’s council seat in next year’s election. Executives from Sudberry are currently lobbying city employees for a “reimbursement agreement regarding the Quarry Falls (Civita) Community in Mission Valley,” and are also pushing to establish a maintenance assessment district, despite the fact that construction has yet to start on much of the project.

 The San Diego-based developer held two fundraisers for Zapf in the same week, one on June 19 and the other on June 24.

 The first was arranged by Vice President of Development Marco Sessa. At his function, Sessa managed to raise a total of $13,500 for Zapf. Just five days later Sessa’s boss, Thomas Sudberry, stepped up bringing in an additional $22,340.   In all, Sudberry’s executives and their significant others contributed $3,600 to the councilmember.

Zapf also has other friends in the building and hotel sectors of San Diego.  Hargrove tells us:

From January 1 to June 30, Zapf collected a total of $129,952. Donors to the District 2 hopeful include $1,750 from executives from Rick Engineering, the surveying firm who signed on with the Irwin Jacobs’ Plaza de Panama project, $250 from Sunroad executive Thomas Story – not a big surprise considering the close working relationship the two forged on the Sunroad Centrum project, and over $2,700 from the Bartell hotelier family.

Other contributors include lawyer and downtown lobbyist Paul Robinson ($550), developer Sherm Harmer ($550), and Jeffrey Loya from Phil’s BBQ.

Totally unknown before she ran in District 6, Zapf was a Republican Party invention; they threw organizational support and money at her, and now represents the Sixth.  But the Second is more problematic for her; District 2 has a majority of Democratic Party registrants and GOP’ers are in third place behind “fail to state” voters.

{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }

Sean m August 2, 2013 at 9:41 am

Thanks for the heads up. Private property development isn’t as much of a problem as taxpayer bond funded development.
They are probably hoping she wont extort developers like the FBI is investigating filner for: issuing permits then imposing admintrative holds after construction starts, until the developer makes a ‘donation.’

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JEC August 3, 2013 at 12:26 pm

Sean M’s on to something – millions of taxpayers dollars are spent on excessive and inflated cost of issuance. The Jacob’s Balboa Park plan and $45 million in bonds compared to Filner’s $400,000 remodel. Billions in local government debt and not a dime was voter approved.

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Debbie August 2, 2013 at 10:43 am

I will be interested to see what Ms. Frye says about Ms. Zapf in the upcoming election or who she will endorse…..the one who will have their focus on the City of San Diego and its residents. Don’t be shy in sharing!!!!! We got an earful on Filner :-)

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judi curry August 3, 2013 at 8:46 pm

My suggestion is that we “zap” Zapf.

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want2surf August 4, 2013 at 8:29 pm

What on earth is OB ever doing having a Republican representative…?
Who’s the Democratic candidate likely to be?

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Frank Gormlie August 6, 2013 at 9:12 am

OB has been part of a larger district that included parts of downtown as well, of course, traditionally-conservative Point Loma. The boundaries were changed, removing much of downtown from District 2, and demographics have been changing throughout the city – including the Peninsula.

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