On his last day of congressional recess, Rep. Bob Filner (D-Chula Vista) had brunch with donors at the Mission Bay Hilton in San Diego.
Leading up to the fundraiser, Filner enticed would be contributors with the prospect of having their names listed on the invitation. He asked for $2,400 to host the event and $5,000 to chair it, according to the Sunlight Foundation’s Party Time, which gathers invitations to fundraisers and publishes them online.
Details on who gave what for the brunch won’t be publicly available until October 15, so the Watchdog Institute asked Filner’s office who ended up hosting the event. We will update this post as soon as we have the information. Since Sept. 7, the Institute has been asking the Filner’s office what he did during recess and when he will be back in Washington, D.C., but so far he has declined to say through a spokeswoman.
As of the most recent disclosure, the top donors to Filner’s campaign and leadership PAC were employees of Sorrento Valley-based Accurate Engineering, who had given a total of $13,800, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which analyzes federal campaign data.
Accurate Engineering, a construction management firm, does most of its business with the Department of Defense. In fiscal 2008, it had $13 million in federal contracts, mostly with the Navy for building repairs.
Filner, who chairs the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee and sits on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, endorses the company on its website: “By building relationships with area defense contractors and local large and small corporations, Accurate Engineering has a proven track record in business stability and overall professionalism,” the congressman states.
Aldrica Lattimore, who is president of Accurate, also chairs the Filner’s Small Business Advisory Board.
Those who gave Filner money for the Sunday brunch also can attend a breakfast with the congressman at a Tex-Mex restaurant on Capitol Hill September 22, according to the invitation.
