If chance or business finds you in San Diego, and you have some free time, you might want to go to breakfast at Hob Nob, or lunch at Mammas and Papas, dinner at Bullys, or a cocktail at Imperial House with someone worth spending the meal with. After all, how many breakfast have you had where the coffee is better than the conversation?
I recommend the following people as interesting, smart, amusing people to spend an hour with (elected officials have been excluded since the end of a meal with one of them invariably involves some chore, and God knows I’ve missed someone obvious, and these people are in no particular order, and maybe I’ve spelled a name wrong, and actually I don’t even like every one of them but they all qualify as worth some of your time…):
CAROL REED. Carol is a lifelong San Diego East County conservative activist. Think background, on everything. This, I think, is best done over breakfast.
CRAIG BENEDETTO. Craig runs a successful pr/lobbying firm downtown, and is one of the few of that ilk in San Diego that I’d recommend to a friend. I don’t always agree with him, but he’s sharp in defending his views. Dinner or cocktail hour.
GEORGE GORTON. Yeah I know he doesn’t really live in San Diego anymore, but he’s as San Diego as Point Loma. I’ve yet to meet the person with more ideas or a broader perspective. Dinner, if you can get it.
MIKE MCDOWELL. Very rare to meet the man with the long-view of Mike. Breakfast or cocktail.
TRICIA HUNTER. I started in politics with the singular goal of destroying Tricia Hunter. Now I think of her like family. I’m sure we’ll be together when the Queen passes on. Dinner – at her house.
JIM SILLS. Jim is one of the most interesting people you will ever spend time with. Period. Lunch in Little Italy, but British fare.
JAYME BRADFORD. I’ve known Jayme for some 15 years and, over time, have found her honest views of San Diego politics more useful than almost anyone else within a mile of the 92101. Dinner.
DORSEE. Like Madonna she only really needs one name. Afternoon at Jakes.
CARL DEMAIO. Let me be blunt: this guy called all the problems at City Hall well before they became public, and got savaged by the Murphy crowd for saying the emperor had no clothes. Sharp. Sharp. Sharp. Breakfast.
LORELI KINDER. Yup, she lives right here in San Diego County (Fallbrook) and knows a right bit about the history of state politics. Maybe a glass of wine, late in the day.