San Diego Politicians Buried Bad Financial News to get Ballpark Funding Through
14th August 2006
In 2002 San Diego officials buried a report that was unfavorable of the economic aspects of the new ballpark for the San Diego Padres until 13 days after the bond sale closed. The news reported today by the San Diego Union-Tribune shows that the actions by politicians were done “for fear that ‘disclosure of the truth would derail’ the sale.”
As Matthew T. Hall of the Union Tribune reports (Report delayed to protect bond sale, consultants find):
That finding last week by consultants, including former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Arthur Levitt, offered the sharpest rebuke yet of an effort embraced amid much fanfare by then-Mayor Dick Murphy five years ago.
In hindsight, it seems obvious that Murphy could never simultaneously produce an X-ray image of San Diego’s fiscal health and breathe new life into the ballpark. There are signs city officials knew that from the start.
Levitt found that the report on the city’s fiscal health apparently was drafted by the September deadline, but city officials then began rewriting it.
“The City was plainly concerned that a public report highlighting serious problems . . . would make the bond offering more difficult or impossible,” Levitt and two co-authors wrote in the Kroll report.
Dennis Gibson, a former Murphy aide, told Kroll investigators that there had been a general concern about how the blue-ribbon report might affect the city’s credit rating and that a negative rating could “implicate” the ballpark bonds.
One might speculate that it’s far too late to do anything about this as the stadium is now built. But, it was certainly dirty pool and will be interesting to see if the stadium turns into a boon or a bust.