NO. 3 VOL. XXXIX
SAN DIEGO’S 2024
TOP ATTORNEYS
Zachary MyersEmil Petrossian Elizabeth Sperling
Scott Levin Michael J. Gleason Danielle Humphries Ronson J. Shamoun William W Eigner
Joseph Leventhal
THE SD METRO INTERVIEW: THE CIA'S JONNA MENDEZ PAGE 16
NATIONAL SECURITY LAW & HONG KONG: A RISING THREAT? PG.7
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COVER STORY:
SAN DIEGO'S TOP ATTORNEYS - 2024
The best attorneys in San Diego are found here.
2024 | ISSUE 3 Volume XXXIX
Our mission is to always provide quality journalism for our readers by being
fair, accurate and ethical and a credible resource for our advertisers.
HONG KONG: CONQUERED WITHOUT A SHOT
Will this former British colony remain an Asian financial
business center? Is Hong Kong tracking down those
who immigrate or flee the place? These questions and
more are answered by Mark Clifford, a former reporter
and editor with nearly 30 years in Asia and Hong Kong.
THE BATTLE FOR GAMBLING
RIGHTS IN CALIFORNIA
A list of the companies and organizations spending
the most to lobby the Golden State.
THE SD METRO INTERVIEW:
Former Central Intelligence Agency Chief of
Disguise Jonna Mendez talks about her nearly 30-
year career with the Agency, when she often
traveled overseas and undercover, plus her Oval
Office meeting with President George H. W. Bush.
16
7
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA'S
PLACE FOR THERAPY
Learn what our top-notch travel writer, Marlise Kast-
Myers, says about her trip to the Grand Canyon
State. You'll want to go, too!
22
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SANDIEGOMETRO.COM | NO. 3 VOL. XXXIX | 39TH ANNIVERSARY 1985-2024
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39TH ANNIVERSARY 1985-2024 | NO. 3 VOL. XXXIXI | SANDIEGOMETRO.COM
POLITICS
SAN DIEGO’S TOP ATTORNEYS 2024
Michael J. Gleason
When Hahn Loeser & Parks LLP expanded to the West Coast and opened an office in San Diego, it needed a
leader to help further HLP’s growth in a key region of the U.S. The firm looked to one of its own, partner Mike
Gleason, who represented businesses in complex civil litigation in the firm’s Cleveland office. He was named
Partner-in-Charge of Hahn’s San Diego office and has helped expand it to 23 employees since opening in 2012.
He defends and represents companies in complex litigation, including the defense of consumer class actions.
Within his litigation practice, he represents clients on Proposition 65 issues – providing companies with
compliance advice as well as defending companies allegedly in non-compliance with the Proposition. He has
assisted over 100 companies with Proposition 65 needs. He serves on the board of the San Diego Volunteer
Lawyer Program , a private nonprofit that provides pro bono legal services to the most vulnerable members of
the San Diego community. He also volunteers at the Feeding San Diego warehouse He is an AV-rated trial and
appellate lawyer. He is a graduate of the Cornell University Law School.
Scott Levin
Levin is the founder of San Diego Divorce and Mediation & Family Law. He has been practicing law in San
Diego since 2004, when he and his wife returned to their hometown after his graduation from NYU and the
University of Virginia School of Law. As a family law attorney and mediator, he is known as the Chief
Peacemaker for his work as a neutral divorce mediation attorney who helps couples resolve conflicts and
navigate divorce amicably. Through his mediation services, he Is able to assist clients in reaching fair
settlements and takes care of all the legal tasks required so clients navigate divorce without going to court or
having to hire litigation attorneys. This work helps our neighbors, friends and colleagues save time and
money while reducing stress and protecting their children. He is able to utilize his finance background as a
Certified Divorce Analyst to uniquely assist high-asset couples achieve amicable settlements no matter the
complexity of the issues. He also assists c
lients in the drafting of prenuptial and postnuptial agreements.
Danielle Humphries
She's a partner at Hahn Loeser & Parks LLP and chair of the firm’s San Diego Trusts and Estates Practice
Group. She’s earned a stellar representation as a trusted legal advisor with experience, insight and
sophistication. She serves as general counsel for families, ma
naging a multitude of legal issues including trust
and estate related issues, wealth preservation and protection, philanthropic planning. She has extensive
experience representing fiduciaries and beneficiaries in complex trust and estate administration. She is an
extraordinary role model and advocate for gender parity within the legal community. She volunteers her
time and legal acumen to local charitable causes and has served on various boards like Promises2Kids. She’s
a member of the Gift Planning Committee at Scripps Heath Foundation. She was named a Woman of
Accomplishment by SD METRO Magazine and is a San Diego Super Lawyers Rising Stare. She was also
named one of the Best Lawyers in America for both Litigation - Trust and Estates in each of the past four
years.
SANDIEGOMETRO.COM | NO. 3 VOL. XXXIX | 39TH ANNIVERSARY 1985-2024
4
Elizabeth Sperling
Sperling is a partner and co-managing partner for the San Diego office of Glaser Weil. She focuses her practice
on representing financial institutions and other consumer-facing businesses (including those in the food and
beverage, consumer products, retail and gaming spaces), real estate companies, property owners and high net
worth individuals in high-stakes consumer litigation. She brings extensive trial, arbitration and appellate
experience in class actions, torts, unfair business practices a
nd related consumer protection actions, unfair debt
collection practices, loan workouts, state attorneys general in
vestigations and litigation and products liability and
complex toxic tort cases. She recently represented Fannie Mae and Jame B. Nutter & Company in two putative
class actions-turned-mass-actions filed by hundreds o
f Puerto Rico residents against numerous banks and
mortgage servicers. She and her team defeated class certif
ication and obtained the dismissal of hundreds of
borrowers’ claims related to their mortgages. She successfully defended both judgments on appeal to the First
Circuit Court of Appeals. She is a graduate of Arizona State University and of the University of Arizona School
of Law.
Zachary Myers
Myers is a corporate and securities partner at Wilson Sonsini., He is a “go-to” attorney for Southern
California‘s private and public companies in the technology and life sciences sectors, especially biotechnology
and medical device companies involved in complex, high-value transactions. His practice allows him to
work with all kinds of companies, from startups to large, publicly traded ones. He represents private
companies on venture capital financing, helping companies raise millions of dollars to fund, grow and expand
their businesses. He has assisted numerous clients that have gone public, helping to list them on the New York
Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ. He often represents clients in the purchase or sale of their businesses. He’s
an expert in corporate and securities law and often lectures at UCLA, the UCSD Rady School of Business,
and the Keck Graduate Institute. He serves on the Board of Directors of Connect (f/k/a San Diego Venture
Group) and EvoNexus in San Diego.
Emil Petrossian
Petrossian is an experienced trial attorney and litigation partner at Glaser Weil’s offices in both San Diego and
Century City. His practice covers all facets of complex commercial litigation in federal and state courts and
arbitral forums, and he is routinely called upon to handle his clients’ most sensitive and pressing matters. He
co-manages Glaser Weil’s recently launched San Diego office. He has received various accolades throughout
his career and is recognized as one of the leading commercial li
tigators in California. While tenacious in the
courtroom, he understands the many nuances of big-ticket litigation. He zealously protects and promotes the
client’s business interests while working toward resolving disputes, not prolonging them. He is an active of
the community and serves on the board of Teach Democracy. He is also a member of the Lawyers Club of
San Diego. He represented Gensler, the world’s leading architecture and design firm, in an eight-figure
indemnity dispute relating to the construction of t
he Shore Hotel in Santa Monica., He also won successful
settlements for the Post Investment Group and CoreVest. He is a graduate of Whitman College and the
Loyola Law School.
TOP ATTORNEYS
5
39TH ANNIVERSARY 1985-2024 | NO. 3 VOL. XXXIX | SANDIEGOMETRO.COM
Ronson J. Shamoun
Shamoun is the founder and CEO of RJS
Law, the leading tax law firm in San Diego.
He’s a three-time graduate of the
University of San Diego, receiving his
Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Accountancy, his
Juris Doctor (JD) and Master of Law in
Taxation (LL.M) from the University. His
legal practice involves federal and state
taxation, with an emphasis on criminal tax
defense, tax controversy, and international
tax and estate planning. He has substantial experience representing
individuals and businesses before the IRS, Franchise Tax Board, the
Employment Development Department and the California Department of
Tax and Fee Administration. He’s dedicated to making a positive impact on
the lives of others. He provides sleeping bags and hygiene items to
homeless individuals. He is a consistent financial supporter of the
University of San Diego and established annual $5,000 scholarships at both
the USD School of Law and the USD School of Business. He annually
donates billboard campaigns in San Diego to the Susan G. Komen Breast
Cancer Foundation, and other charitable organizations. Among his many
awards and honors are the Martindale Hubbell AV Preeminent award for
Excellence in Legal Ability and Ethical Practice and has consistently been
named one of San Diego’s best attorneys.
William W Eigner
Eigner has been called the “go-to-guy”
for mergers and acquisitions and
emerging companies. He serves as a
catalyst for his clients’ success. His clients
have grown with his involvement from a
two-person start up to public companies
or acquisition targets in the Silicon
Valley, Europe and Asia. He serves as a
director Athletiverse, EvoNexus and has
been active in San Diego Venture Group and the San Diego Regional
Chamber of Commerce. He serves or has served on the boards of
Encore Semi, eSub, Solyahealth, 3 _+ 2 Pharma LLC, Acenda and other
companies. He’s a trustee emeritus of the San Diego Police Foundation,
a former trustee and land chairman of the LaJolla Town Council. A
partner at Procopio, his practice emphasizes M&A, venture capital,
angel financing, seed capital and the financing, governing, operations,
buying, selling and merging of growing and established companies.
His M&A, financing and contracts practice includes work in various
sectors, including telecommunications, software, cybersecurity,
electronic commerce/internet, energy, clean technology, life science,
and medical devices. He is a graduate of Stanford University and of the
University of Virginia Law School.
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SANDIEGOMETRO.COM | NO. 3 VOL. XXXIX | 39TH ANNIVERSARY 1985-2024
6
TOP ATTORNEYS
Joseph Leventhal
Leventhal is a partner and head of litigation for the San Diego office of Glaser Weil. He’s an accomplished
trial attorney with extensive experience in complex commer
cial litigation, class actions, and real estate,
employment, and intellectual property disputes. He has led teams in both state and federal courts and
achieved successful outcomes through appeal. His clien
ts range from business executives to Fortune 500
companies. In addition to litigation, he provides pre-litigation counsel, helping clients navigate potential
legal challenges and avoid associated costs. His proactive a
pproach extends to advising clients before lawsuits
are filed. His notable achievements include winning a $600,000 award for Milacron in a breach of contract
lawsuit, overturning significant sanctions against a global logistics co
mpany and a judgment for a real estate
developer and owners’ association against a parcel owner. He earned his law degree with honors from
Georgetown University while working on Capitol Hill and interning in the Office of the Vice President. He
earned his B.A. degree at UCSD.
Sara Neva
Procopio
Hubert (Hugh) Kim
Wilson Turner Kosmo LLP
Jamie Altman Buggy
Tyson & Mendes
Patrick Klingborg
Solomon Ward
Seidenwurm & Smith
Deborah Yates
Solomon Ward
Seidenwurm & Smith
7
39TH ANNIVERSARY 1985-2024 | NO. 3 VOL. XXXIX | SANDIEGOMETRO.COM
FOREIGN POLITICS
SD METRO Associate Editor Douglas Page
interviewed Mark Clifford, president of the
Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong
Foundation. Clifford spent nearly 30 years
in Hong Kong as a reporter and editor,
becoming the top editor of The Standard and,
later, the South China Morning Post, Hong
Kong’s English-language daily newspapers.
After leaving journalism, he was the
executive director of the Asia Business
Council in Hong Kong, which promotes
economic growth in the region. He was on
the board of directors of Next Digital, which
published Apple Daily, a pro-democracy
newspaper in Hong Kong that was raided
and closed by the territory’s government in
2021. Next Digital’s CEO, Jimmy Lai, a
critic of Hong Kong’s government since
Beijing’s takeover of the territory, was jailed
in December 2020. The Committee for
Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation seeks the
release of Hong Kong’s 1,800 political
prisoners. Clifford recently wrote a book,
entitled Today Hong Kong, Tomorrow The
World: What China’s Crackdown Reveals
About Its Plans To End Freedom Everywhere. This transcript was
edited for brevity and clarity.
Hong Kong and its territories associated with the
former British colony consist of nearly 430 square
miles and about 7.4 million people. Given its size, why
should anyone in the United States and the Western
world care about how Beijing rules Hong Kong?
Hong Kong (HKG) was one of the freest places in the world,
both economically and, in some sense, politically for over a
hundred years. As goes HKG, I worry, so goes much of the world.
If Beijing imposes its will on HKG and destroys freedoms there,
with no real opposition from the rest of the world, then Taiwan is
next. And after that, who knows? South Korea, Japan, the
Philippines are looking at China's increasing assertiveness,
aggressiveness, and willingness to try to stifle free speech.
It doesn't end in the Pacific. I'm
seeing colleagues here, Chinese and
Hong Kong colleagues in the United
States and in London, where we also
have an office, under pressure. I have a
colleague who has $130,000 bounty on
her head. She's living in the United
States, where she has asylum. Her
parents have been detained in HKG,
and the HKG government says they'll
hunt her and others like street rats for
the rest of their lives. I think there's a
pretty good reason to be concerned
that what started in HKG is not going
to end with HKG.
This $130,000 bounty is being
provided by Beijing?
The HKG government. They’re
seeking to arrest and prosecute 13
different overseas activists. The
$130,000 bounty they’re offering in is
HK$1 million for each one of them.
They're living in Australia, the U.S., and
in Great Britain.
So, HK$13 million is what the HKG government is
prepared to pay?
Yes. Their families in HKG and around the world are being
harassed because they were trying to exercise their political rights.
None of them have been accused of any violent crime. Several are
former legislators. Beijing or its minions in HKG don’t respect
freedom, even in free countries like the United States, Canada,
Australia, and the U.K.
The people living in the United States with a bounty on
their head, how do they get around without HKG
operatives knocking on their door? Are they living
incognito, under an alias?
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and others who've
helped her out have let it be known to Chinese authorities and
Conquered into Compliance:
Hong Kong signals a looming peril?
St. Martin's Press, 306 pages, $29.99
SANDIEGOMETRO.COM | NO. 3 VOL. XXXIX | 39TH ANNIVERSARY 1985-2024
8
FOREIGN POLITICS
others not to mess around with her. And I
think that those of the 13 who are living in
the U.S. feel pretty good. I'm not sure that
the people living in Great Britain and
Australia feel that they've gotten the same
kind of support from their host
governments.
Editor’s Note: SD METRO asked the
FBI about this and received the following
statement: “We're increasingly conducting
outreach in order to raise awareness of how
some countries' governments harass and
intimidate their own citizens living in the
United States. This violates U.S. law and
individual rights and freedoms and will not
be tolerated.”
SD METRO also asked the People’s
Republic of China’s Embassy in
Washington for comment. While the
Embassy wouldn’t confirm the bounty,
spokesman Liu Pengyu sent this statement:
“The destabilizing elements engage in acts
that endanger national security under the
pretext of democracy and human rights.
The Hong Kong police issued arrest
warrants for the anti-China rioters who
have fled overseas in accordance with the
law. This is a necessary and legitimate act
that is in line with international law and
customary practice.”
When you talk about Chinese
students in the United States being
coerced, what is going on?
The Beijing government is very
assertive. They've used what they call a
“united front” strategy, where a variety of
different organizations, which don't
necessarily look like government
organizations, to monitor students and use
other students to monitor other students,
sometimes with a monetary inducement
but, more likely, with a promise that their
careers will benefit, or their families back
home will be helped or hurt if they don't
play ball.
It's a level of control only a totalitarian
government could or would exercise. They
aren't free to go to meetings and seminars,
let alone to speak out or go to events.
How long has your organization
been around and what are you trying
to accomplish?
We were set up about 18 months ago.
We're focused on trying to get political
prisoners out of jail in HKG. According to
the Hong Kong Democracy Council
which tracks this, there are about 1,800
political prisoners in HKG.
Some of them I know. I was on the
board of directors of the company that
published the main pro-democracy
newspaper, Apple Daily. Seven of my
colleagues are in jail just for practicing
journalism. One of them, Jimmy Lai, who
was the chairman and owned 70% of the
company, is on trial for something that
could see him put away for life. He is being
tried under the National Security Law
(NSL), which has a 100% conviction rate.
He's a 75-year-old man in solitary
confinement. He's been in jail for over
three years.
A group of us who lived in HKG for the
most part, chaired by the former U.S.
Consul General in HKG, James
Cunningham, founded this organization to
try to give a voice to the HKG people at a
time when the political situation in their
home made it impossible. We think they're
in jail for non-indictable offenses.
We're using every way we can to put
pressure on our governments and on the
HKG and Beijing governments to live up
to the promises they made to the people of
HKG when China took over in 1997 from
Great Britain. China promised that HKG
would be able to enjoy their own way of
life. They'd have freedom of press, freedom
of religion, freedom of assembly, all the
freedoms that you and I have, and then
some. They were going to have universal
suffrage, to elect their own mayor, their
own city council. It hasn't worked out that
way. The lies the Chinese government told
about HKG, and the crackdown they've
engendered, is a tragedy. There’s a lot at
stake. Taiwan is the focus of the next place
we're afraid China might move.
How is your group funded?
We have private donations. We don't
have any government funding.
What sort of impact is your
organization having?
It's hard to measure. I remind people
we'd love to be out of a job, but we need to
get people out of prison before we can be
out of a job. And we're not doing a very
good job so far. Things are moving in the
wrong direction. On the other hand, we
have a tremendous amount of support in
Washington and London, and we get
attacked by the HKG government. I guess
it's a backhanded compliment.
Jimmy Lai Mark Clifford
Do you have people in HKG who can talk to the
government?
Impossible. People like my colleague Frances Hui are here. She
has asylum in the U.S., and the HKG government is pursuing her
with its HK$1 million bounty. Most of the people we work with
would be at risk of arrest in HKG, and I certainly would be afraid
to go back. The company that I was on the board of, Next Digital,
all the directors ended up in jail for a time. I was the only director
not in custody. It's not a very comfortable position when you have
governments that want to lock you up just because they don't like
what you're saying.
Can you shed some light on what HKG’s NSL means?
There are stories it’s causing worry within the business
community in HKG.
It’s a vague and sweeping law that came about at the end of
June 2020. It essentially criminalizes dissent. People have been
tried. Jimmy Lai, the newspaper owner I mentioned, is being tried
on collusion with foreign forces. It's a lengthy trial and there's a lot
of smoke. He believed in democracy and was willing to put his
money where his mouth was and was practicing journalism, and
they wanted to lock him up for the rest of his life.
He's got six other colleagues who are in jail, and they've all pled
guilty, but they're being held hostage while he's being tried. So
that's an example of the kinds of things that people are being
thrown in jail for. Whenever the government doesn't like you, and
you're effective, you’re a target of the NSL. Jimmy Lai’s offense
seems to have been that he met with U.S. officials a few years ago,
like Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo,
and National Security Advisor John Bolton when they were in
office. Scores of people are in jail on NSL charges.
And I think what you might've been referring to in terms of the
concern of the business community is a new kind of parallel or
companion law under Article 23 of the mini constitution that
governs HKG. It passed on March 19, 2024.
It seems to broaden the number of offenses for what's already
a vague catchall of opposing the government. People have been
jailed for holding up blank pieces of paper, for having posters, for
singing songs. The HKG government has asked Google and
YouTube to take down songs that they don't like. Stuff you and I
would regard as the most innocuous form of political participation,
hardly worthy of mention, let alone arrest, is something they're
throwing people in jail for.
Businesses in HKG wonder if it's Jimmy Lai today, is it going
to be me tomorrow? Where does this stop? Nobody knows. Under
this new Article 23, the boundary between acceptable and
unacceptable behavior that's going to land someone in jail is
further blurred.
It's important to remember HKG was one of the great business
centers of the world. It was the financial capital of Asia. Now, it's
going nowhere economically. I just looked recently at the Hang
Seng Index, which is like the Standard & Poor’s Index for Hong
Kong. In January, it was basically right where it was when the
British left in 1997. So, basically, stocks on the Hong Kong Stock
Exchange have flat lined over a period of more than 25 years. In
comparison, the S&P has gone up more than nine times.
Has there been a lot of immigration out of HKG?
Several hundred thousand people have left. Some of the best
and the brightest. A lot of expats have left, but I think, sadly, a lot
of Hong Kongers -- people in their thirties and forties often with
children -- left because they don't want their kids growing up
under a Communist regime.
How hard is it for a HKG native to leave and immigrate?
Thankfully not that hard, especially to Great Britain. It has a
special category of citizenship that makes it easy. There’s a special
visa that makes it easy for people to go to the U.K. and then
within, I think, five years, apply for citizenship. The HKG
government has made it harder to leave because it won't let people
take their pension savings when they take advantage of this British
visa. Nearly 200,000 people have gone to Britain, and quite a few
have gone to Australia and Canada.
You mentioned that Great Britain, prior to handing over
HKG to Beijing, negotiated with the People's Republic
over the NSL.
They negotiated over what became a treaty called the Sino-
British Declaration. And that did have some national security
clauses in it, but it basically worked to get the Chinese to promise
that they would leave HKG alone for 50 years. HKG could, and
it still does, have its own currency, its own tax system, its own
government administration.
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39TH ANNIVERSARY 1985-2024 | NO. 3 VOL. XXXIX | SANDIEGOMETRO.COM
FOREIGN POLITICS
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SANDIEGOMETRO.COM | NO. 3 VOL. XXXIX | 39TH ANNIVERSARY 1985-2024
10
FOREIGN POLITICS
It was supposed to develop its own path to democracy, and
those talks included a promise by Beijing that HKG would
embark on a path to universal suffrage. And although there are
elections in HKG, they were constrained. There wasn't a direct
election for the mayor, for example. That was supposed to happen.
The legislative council, which is a kind of city council, was also
supposed to be fairer and more representative. And that hasn't
happened.
The talks revolved around Britain trying to ensure that HKG
would remain free for 50 years. And I think it's really quite an
extraordinary promise by the Chinese. It's a shame they couldn't
live up to it.
What is Great Britain's legacy in HKG?
Fair government, fair administration, rule of law, and economic
liberty. There's an aspirational sense among Hong Kongers of
trying to live up to these ideals. Jimmy Lai is in jail because he
really believed in what he would call Western values, but he means
the values that Britain brought in terms of free economy, and
freedom of speech and worship. Jimmy is a devout Catholic, as are
several hundred thousand people in HKG. The HKG Christian
community is robust. Most are very proud of being Chinese, but
they want to be free Chinese, a different kind of Chinese, not
Communist Chinese. And so it's the battle between that
Communist reality today versus the legacy of the free Chinese –
that Britain instilled – that's at the heart of it.
You mentioned that many in the West in the 1990s were
looking at China and seeing all this economic freedom
and figured 50 years after taking over HKG, the
People’s Republic would be similar to the West. Was
everyone fooled?
I count myself guilty. I co-authored a book with the incoming
World Trade Organization director at the time, Supachai
Panitchpakdi, and we were very optimistic that more economic
freedom and liberalization would lead to more political and social
freedom. I had earlier lived in South Korea and I'd seen that
transition take place. I don't know that we were all fooled. I work
with a lot of people who are very opposed to basically giving
China free pass on the WTO entry and some other issues. But
yeah, I spent decades working for engagement and really believing
that more trade would equal more political, social, and economic
liberalization and that hasn't worked out.
China, if I'm understanding everything I've read, had a
legal right to get HKG back. Am I right or wrong about
that?
You're about 90% right. HKG was taken in three tranches by
the British. The first was during the first Opium War, and they
signed a treaty into perpetuity. The Chinese would say it was an
unequal treaty, and they didn't really regard it as valid. But from a
strictly narrow legal standpoint, Britain had the right to hold the
island of Hong Kong forever.
In the second Opium war in the 1850s, it took a little tranche
of mainland China, the Kowloon Peninsula, up to Boundary
Street, and that was also supposed to be into perpetuity.
In 1898, they took a much bigger territory and signed a 99-
year lease. And the end of that lease in 1997 is what prompted the
Chinese to say, "Not only are we taking back the New Territories,
but we’re also taking it all back." And (British Prime Minister
Margaret) Thatcher's like, "No, we have the right to keep it (Hong
Kong Island and Kowloon) forever."
There’s no way the British could have held out. The water
comes from China. Most of the food comes from China. British
territory was indefensible in the case of a blockade. But legally,
China did not have the right to take back Hong Kong Island.
There are people who just feel Thatcher wasn't tough enough. I
think that’s a little too facile.
Why was HKG so important to Beijing?
Parts of China (in the 19th century) had been occupied by
foreign countries. Something like 80 bits of China were taken up
by colonial powers and run as extraterritorial enclaves. China
wanted them back. They symbolized humiliation, weakness, and
defeat of China. Beijing was determined to rewrite what they saw
as historical injustice, a historical wrong.
Does this spur on the Beijing government to be
superior in technology to stand up to the United States
"I'd rather be hanging from a lamppost (in Hong Kong),
than give the Communists the satisfaction of saying I
ran away."
- JIMMY LAI
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39TH ANNIVERSARY 1985-2024 | NO. 3 VOL. XXXIX | SANDIEGOMETRO.COM
and other Western countries?
That's part of the spur. China is run by the same
kind of unitary administrative system it has been for
a long time. The size of the territory has changed
and grown dramatically, but it's been ruled by a
similar kind of government for a couple of thousand
years. That's how the Chinese think about it. There's
obviously been a lot of change of dynasties,
revolutions, et cetera, but there's a long, proud
cultural, administrative, governmental, and
economic history. China was the largest economy in
the world until the early 19th century, and it let itself
be lapped by little England. The humiliations and
suffering in the 19th century were useful spurs for
Communist governments.
We can understand the pride of nationalism. But
what's troubling is that there's a sense of victimhood
by the Beijing government and of injustice that
they’ve been wronged. There were a lot of bad things
about colonialism, but here we are, the better part of
200 years on, and about 75 years since the
Communist Chinese took over, and Beijing is still
talking about things that happened 150 years ago.
China has 1.4 billion people. They’re the world's
second-largest economy. Why are they talking like
they’re the underdog, that they’ve been so wronged
and need to lash out at HKG or Taiwan, where there
are between 20 to 25 million people and a
Democratic China? They threaten the Philippines
and Vietnam. How do we draw the line between a
legitimate nationalist spur in the sense of aggrieved
and victimhood that becomes very, very aggressive
and worrying? Xi Jinping's (president of the People’s
Republic) China has gone too far.
Editor's Note: To find out what China's
actions toward Hong Kong could mean for
Taiwan and the W
est, read or watch the
interview at sandiego.com.
Page can be reached at
FOREIGN POLITICS
SANDIEGOMETRO.COM | NO. 3 VOL. XXXIX | 39TH ANNIVERSARY 1985-2024
12
High stakes: Inside the multimillion-dollar battle for
gambling rights in California BY RYAN SABALOW AND JEREMIA KIMELMAN | CALMATTERS
Powerful tribal casinos and their rivals in California’s multi-
billion dollar gambling industry are fighting an epic battle in the
Legislature this year. Millions of dollars in tax revenues for local
cities hang in the balance.
Pending legislation would let California’s tribes sue their
competitors, private card clubs, over their claim that card rooms
are violating the tribes’ exclusive rights to Las Vegas-style
gambling.
Card rooms have responded with an enormous lobbying blitz.
The Hawaiian Gardens Casino in Los Angeles County spent a
staggering $9.1 million on lobbying last year, the second highest
amount reported to state regulators. Only the international oil
giant, Chevron Corp., spent more.
“If you’re going to attack us and try to take away what we’ve had
for decades, then we’ve got to fight back,” said Keith Sharp, the
card room’s general counsel. “And so we’re going to spend the
money that we need to spend. I mean it’s about survival at this
point.”
Cities also have a lot at stake with the card rooms. San Jose
officials told legislators they could hire 80 police officers if they
could add 30 more tables to their local card rooms. Nearly two
thirds of the budget for the city of Hawaiian Gardens and almost
half for the city of Commerce, also in Los Angeles County, come
from local card rooms.
“Those games, we’re very dependent on here in the city,” said
Commerce Mayor Hugo Argumedo. “They provide many of the
programs and services that we offer to the residents in our
community.”
The legislation, Senate Bill 549, is backed primarily by a group
of Native American tribes that run major casinos. The tribes are
CASINOS
Meadow views above Tongue River Canyon.
13
39TH ANNIVERSARY 1985-2024 | NO. 3 VOL. XXXIX | SANDIEGOMETRO.COM
CASINOS
among the most influential and biggest
spending lobbies in Sacramento. Since
2014, California’s candidates for state
office have received about $23.5 million
from tribes. That’s more than double what
oil companies have given the state’s
politicians during the same years.
The state’s card room industry, by
comparison, has donated about $3.8
million during the same timeframe.
A group of tribes contend the 80 or so
privately-owned gambling halls are
illegally offering games such as blackjack,
baccarat and pai gow poker, and by doing
so, they’ve for years been stealing hundreds
of millions of dollars of revenue from
historically disenfranchised tribal
communities across California.
“It’s not about killing card rooms. It’s not
about killing cities. It’s about protecting
what’s ours,” Tuari Bigknife, the attorney
general for the Viejas Band of Kumeyaay
Indians, told CalMatters. His tribe
operates a large casino in San Diego
County.
SB 549 is pending before the Assembly
Governmental Organization Committee,
which handles gambling legislation. A
hearing hasn’t been scheduled, but those
following the bill say it will be heard later
in April or in May.
Card rooms frame the issue as a David
vs. Goliath fight, since their annual
earnings are barely 10% of what tribal
governments make from gambling at their
70 tribal casinos. The card rooms also have
influential allies in local governments
officials who say their cities could go
bankrupt if their local gambling hall loses
this legislative fight.
When the pandemic shut down gaming
in Hawaiian Gardens, the city was forced
to lay off much of its staff and cut services.
Mayor Victor Farfan said it was a sign of
what would happen if the card room was
no longer able to play the disputed games.
“We’re very, very limited in what we can
do,” Farfan said in an interview with
CalMatters at Hawaiian Gardens City
Hall, the card room visible from the
parking lot. “And so we’re fortunate
enough to have a revenue source that we
do today.”
Tribes, however, argue there are other
ways for cities to raise money without
infringing on tribes’ gambling rights that
California voters enshrined into the state’s
constitution.
“They can tax; they can issue bonds; they
can do lots of things,” said Bigknife, the
attorney general for the Viejas tribe. “All
this does is shut down illegal revenue.”
Gold Rush gambling rules fuel
conflict
The gambling dispute has roots in the
Gold Rush, a time when unscrupulous
gambling halls were fleecing miners. In
response, the young Legislature prohibited
gambling halls from offering games like
the kind in Las Vegas where casinos are the
“house” and take bets directly.
That prohibition lasted until 2000, when
voters approved an initiative that gave
tribes the right to negotiate compacts with
the state to host certain house-banked
casino games.
No one disputes that the privately
owned card rooms can offer poker, since
players bet against each other. The dispute
behind SB 549 involves traditionally
house-banked card games, especially
blackjack, the most lucrative of the
disputed games.
Under the California constitution, the
card rooms can’t accept wagers from
customers. The card clubs get around the
prohibition by contracting with third-party
companies that serve the role as the
“house” or the “bank.” These third-party
employees typically sit at card tables next
to the card room employees who deal cards
to players. The third-party employee plays
no part of the game except to collect
players’ bets and pay out winnings. The
dealers must periodically offer the
opportunity for the players to act as the
bank. Almost every customer declines. The
card clubs collect fees from each game.
The gambling halls say their business
model has been approved by state
regulators.
“Every game that (the tribes are) saying
is illegal right now, every single one of
them has been explicitly approved
individually in every card room in the state
of California,” Ed Manning, a lobbyist for
the card room industry, told lawmakers last
summer at the bill’s first hearing.
Tribal casinos, however, call the card
Hawaiian Gardens Mayor Victor Farfan
SANDIEGOMETRO.COM | NO. 3 VOL. XXXIX | 39TH ANNIVERSARY 1985-2024
14
CASINOS
room business model an illegal sham, and
they have been pleading with state
regulators, voters and now lawmakers to
end it.
The tribes have repeatedly urged the
California Justice Department to step in
and prohibit the disputed games. The past
three attorneys general have discussed
various regulations, but so far none have
resolved the politically fraught issue.
Current Attorney General Rob Bonta
last year proposed a new set of rules that
card rooms say could make it difficult to
keep playing the disputed games and tribes
say don’t go far enough. The proposed
regulations are pending at the department's
Bureau of Gambling Control without a
schedule for consideration.
Meanwhile, card rooms and tribal
governments have been donating heavily to
Bonta since he took office in 2021. Since
then the card room industry has donated
at least $287,000. Tribes have given at least
$222,000, according to OpenSecrets.
Bonta said he is considering a campaign
for governor in 2026.
Tribes seek standing to sue
competitors
Getting no satisfaction from regulators,
the tribes tried to sue card rooms for unfair
business practices. But California’s courts
have ruled that because the tribes are
sovereign governments, they don’t have
standing to sue under that particular
statute.
The tribes next turned to voters. In 2022,
the tribes put Proposition 26 on the ballot.
The initiative, mainly about sports betting,
contained a provision that would have
allowed anyone, including tribal members,
to file a lawsuit if they believed state
gambling laws were being violated and the
Department of Justice declined to act.
Voters overwhelmingly rejected the
measure after more than $170 million was
spent trying to sway them.
Now, the tribes want lawmakers to give
them a brief window to sue card rooms to
settle their dispute. SB 549 explicitly
prohibits the tribes from seeking monetary
damages, penalties or attorney’s fees from
card rooms. It would only let a court decide
whether the gambling halls’ business model
is legal.
The tribes contend that if the card
rooms are operating legally, they have
nothing to fear.
“The card rooms should relish the
opportunity to defeat the tribes on this
issue and to prove up the legality of what
A blackjack training game demonstration at Gardens Casino.
Photos by Ted Soqui for CalMatters
The outside of the Gardens Casino. Hawaiian Gardens on March 14, 2024.
Photos by Ted Soqui for CalMatters
they’re doing,” Bigknife, the Viejas attorney
general, told lawmakers at the hearing last
summer.
Sharp, the general counsel for the
Hawaiian Gardens Casino, said the bigger
worry is that if SB 549 passes, the courts
would become the de facto gambling
regulator. It could force card room
operators to seek a court’s permission for
any new game they’d like to play or any
time they’d want to modify the hundreds
of games they already play, he said.
“We'll be tied up in court forever, so the
lawyers will make money,” Sharp said.
“That may be the (tribes’) other strategy:
… Grind the card rooms down ultimately
with legal fees.”
Plus, the card rooms argue that if the
tribes are given standing to sue them, it
wouldn’t cut both ways. As sovereign
governments, the tribes couldn’t be sued by
the card rooms.
Bipartisan support for California
gambling bill
SB 549 is authored by Fullerton
Democratic Sen. Josh Newman, and it has
nine co-authors including prominent
Democrats, Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, the
Assembly’s majority leader, and former
Senate President Toni Atkins. The bill’s
Republican co-authors include Senator
Scott Wilk and Assemblymember Marie
Waldron, both former minority leaders in
their chambers.
Despite the support for the tribes from
some of the Legislature’s most influential
members, it’s anyone’s guess whether the
bill ends up making it to the governor’s
desk. This gambling dispute doesn’t break
down along partisan, regional or
ideological lines. How lawmakers vote will
most likely depend on whether they have a
major card room or a tribal casino in their
district.
Meanwhile, both sides have been
spending millions of dollars to influence
lawmakers.
Atkins' campaign, for instance, has
received at least $215,000 from tribes since
2014.
“SB 549 allows tribes to bring their
concerns about possible infringement of
their constitutional rights to the courts,
where this issue can be addressed by an
impartial judicial system,” Atkins told
CalMatters in an emailed statement. “After
a history fraught with injustice, allowing
tribes access to the courts to get an answer
is a step worth taking.”
15
39TH ANNIVERSARY 1985-2024 | NO. 3 VOL. XXXIX | SANDIEGOMETRO.COM
CASINOS
State Sen. Bill Dodd speaks during the first day of session at the state Capitol in Sacramento on
Jan. 3, 2024. Photo by Fred Greaves for CalMatters
Shavon Moore-Cage, a member of AFSCME (American Federation of State, County and
Municipal Employees) Photo by Ted Soqui for CalMatters
SANDIEGOMETRO.COM | NO. 3 VOL. XXXIX | 39TH ANNIVERSARY 1985-2024
16
SD METRO INTERVIEW
SD METRO Associate Editor Douglas
Page interviewed former CIA Chief of
Disguise Jonna Mendez. She’s also the
widow of Tony Mendez, the CIA operative
who, with help from Canadian
Ambassador Ken Taylor and his staff,
extricated six U.S. Embassy staffers from
Tehran in 1980 during the 1979 – 1980
hostage crisis. Academy Award winning
actor Ben Affleck portrayed Tony in the
movie “Argo,” which was about the rescue.
Jonna’s new book,In True Face, details her
27-year career in the CIA. This transcript
was edited for brevity and clarity. The full
interview can be watched on our website,
sandiegometro.com
How do you see your CIA career?
Tony and I were immersed in the
work. In our office, which was mostly
men, their average lifespan was 18
months after they retired. They died of
heart attacks. They didn't have a life
outside of the CIA. Their friends and
everything they cared about was in the
CIA. Tony and I had two very, very active
lives, so we survived. But we didn't leave
espionage. We started working with the
International Spy Museum (in Washington
DC) when they were building it.
There's a good chanc
e many people
don't know what the value of the
CIA is. Can you describe what
the CIA brings to the United
States?
What we do, we do in silence,
behind the scenes. The CIA’s job is to
discern the plans and intentions of our
country’s enemies. What are they
going to do? When are they going to
do it? We get the information and
bring it back to the policymakers, so
they have something to work with
when they're making decisions. We
send briefers to the White House
every morning with the president's
daily brief, giving details about the
hotspots, showing what's going on and
what's coming behind it.
Sometimes agents put their
lives very much at risk and
sometimes the consequences
aren't so good.
The Moscow rules were rules of
comportment if you were operating in
Moscow. We added another rule about four
years ago, and it’s never fall in love with
your agent. It didn't mean romantic love. It
meant don't get too close. They're counting
on you to protect them. We’re doing
Public Affairs, 320 pages, $30.00
ARGO AND THE
EXPLODING GRENADE:
JONNA MENDEZ’S CIA CAREER
17
39TH ANNIVERSARY 1985-2024 | NO. 3 VOL. XXXIX | SANDIEGOMETRO.COM
SD METRO INTERVIEW
everything we can to keep them safe; even then, we still lose
some.
They get arrested, they get executed. We lost one, it was so
tragic. Everyone who worked with that man loved him and we
added the last rule when they arrested him. They were forcing
him to write a confession. He said, "I'll write the confession, but
I want to do it with my own pen."
They brought him his pen. He's at a desk. He takes it out of the
case, puts it in his mouth, bit down on the end of it, where we
embedded what’s called an L-pill. It's a cyanide pill. He said he
would only work for us work if we gave him a way to take his
own life if arrested. Initially, the CIA said “no,” and he said, "Fine,
I won't work for you." We caved and gave him a pen. We never
thought he'd use it, but he did.
He was Russian and the Soviets put a rumor out -- it was very
powerful -- that if they caught any of their fellow countrymen
betraying the motherland, after the trial, they were going to put
them into a crematorium feet first – alive. He believed it. That's
why he wanted a cyanide pill.
You talked about the work environment you entered.
What were the differences between the work
environment you entered and the time that you retired?
The organization was primarily men when I came in. We
worked for the men. We were basically clerical. We were
secretarial. I found my way out of that category and into
professional occupations. It's still not anywhere near an
equivalency, but it’s improved.
One of the things that many might not know about the
CIA or its predecessor, the OSS, is that there were
women who made serious contributions. What makes
Eloise Page stand out?
She was my role model. She was Bill Donovan's administrative
assistant at OSS during World War II. Eloise ended up in Europe
at the end of World War II, chasing Nazis and seeing that they
were incarcerated. She was a ball of fire. She also became our first
female chief of station.
What about Virginia Hall and her exploits during World
War II?
She was another amazing woman. She went to Europe. She
had languages. She had an accident at some point wher
e she lost
her leg prior to the war. She applied to the OSS, and they wouldn't
hire her. She went to work for the British as a Special Operations
Executive. They dropped her into Nazi-occupied France. She
wrecked hell through southern France. She came back to the
United States and the CIA hired her. She's celebrated at the
International Spy Museum.
Did their actions change any of the thinking at the CIA
about what women could do for the agency?
Changed mine. If you asked the men who were of Eloise's
generation and worked with her, they would call her "That old
battleax." She was fierce and while that might be commendable in
a man who's in a position of authority, it was considered not
becoming of a woman who was in a position of authority. Those
kinds of nuanced opinions have shifted considerably. And I would
point out that in the upper levels of the CIA, women rule. Gina
Haspel (director of the CIA from 2018 – 2021) wasn't one of a
kind. There are a group of women at the top tier of CIA that have
and continue to do wonderful jobs of guiding that organization.
It's a little further down and especially in the operational area that
women have so much resistance.
Jonna Mendez
SANDIEGOMETRO.COM | NO. 3 VOL. XXXIX | 39TH ANNIVERSARY 1985-2024
18
SD METRO INTERVIEW
You described the section where you worked, the Office
of Technical Services, as having entrenched misogyny.
Was this all over the CIA or just in your section?
What I found in OTS was a large group of very, very capable
men, most of them with technical credentials.
Tony Mendez, my husband, came in as a forger. A lot of women
didn't come in with those kinds of skills. That didn't mean that
you couldn't find your place.
Sometimes these men came in with film they needed developed.
They gave it to me. What I didn't have, in terms of a degree, I
think I made up for it in just being fastidious in the work.
It's probably hard for many to believe today, but many
years ago, pictures were developed in a darkroom.You
mentioned seeing nude pictures on one of the walls in
the darkroom and you pulled them down. Can you
describe your emotions and what you were thinking and
how you felt after that?
I’d been trying to be one of the guys, thinking that's the way
forward. That didn't work. I had worked there for some time and
those pictures had been up on the wall for some time. And I just
got sick of it. I put them in the trash. The men never said a word
about it.
Was there a change in behavior or attitude from the
men you were working alongside?
You built respect when they discovered that you could do what
they could do and do it just as well. When you got to that level,
there was a certain equality in how you were managed, and I got
to that level. There was no reaching out, like, "Come on in." You
had to push your way in.
Sometimes you woke up not knowing if you're going
home that night. How unsettling was that?
I loved it. When I talk to women, they say, "How did you do
that with kids?" And I tell them, "I didn't have children." And
then you can see young women thinking, yeah, well, that would be
a catch. With children, you'd either figure out how to make it work
or, perhaps, that wouldn't be the career for you.
Given all your travel, did you ever find it wearing or look
upon any particular destination with just drudgery?
No. I could always find something that I liked, just about
anywhere. There was a city where it was hard to find that place -
- Dacca, in Bangladesh.
What was it like to live incognito?
You didn't always have the same name, and you didn't always
have the same story, and so you just developed a group of habits
that no matter who you were, it would work. And that works like
on an airplane. If somebody said, "Where do you work?" You
would just turn it back to them. So, if you're talking to a heart
surgeon, you don't want to be telling them that you're a heart
surgeon too.
You always had identities that had accompanying paperwork,
maybe some documentation, and you'd be able to talk about in
some depth.
You talked about the Career Development Program and
the hand grenade. Describe what happened.
That was an elite program. We were at a military training
facility learning how to do some paramilitary things. Two of the
people in the course were CIA employees with military
backgrounds. So, they knew a lot about weapons. And we were on
the firing range, and they taught us. They were showing us how
simple it was to make a bomb. You'd go to Home Depot and buy
a little plastic soap container and get some fertilizer and three
ingredients and you got a bomb, and then we'd blow up a truck.
Part of it was fun. Part of it was scary, but working around live
ammunition had a certain protocol. You never smoked when you
were close to that stuff. You never had matches in your pocket. It
was serious. I got promoted while I was there. The boss flew in to
tell me. I had dinner with the boss. One guy in the class was not
happy because he was not promoted. And he thought they were
showing favoritism to me. He said something about it and was
sitting with some Navy SEALs. I walked up to him and poured a
beer on him.
So, the next day, on the range, I heard this voice, and it was him.
He said, "Hey, Jonna." And I turned around and noticed he had a
grenade. He rolled it toward me. They don't roll straight, they
zigzag. And I thought, he wants me to run. He's trying to
embarrass me. I decided not to run. I stood there and the thing
rolled, and it went off. Now he had taken out any shrapnel. It
couldn’t hurt me. But it scared me to death. I couldn't believe that
he did that, and I thought, would he do that to one of his male
friends?
He apologized the next day. But I never forgave him. I saw him
recently, and he's forgotten this. I know because he came up and
gave me a big hug and told me how good it was to see me.
You mentioned a training program that prepared you for
a hostile interrogation where you are the prisoner and
you're being subjected to some harsh treatment. What
was the biggest takeaway about yourself as you came
through that exercise?
They put us through the most severe training scenario they
imagined. It was a very tough course, and on that day two, you
19
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SD METRO INTERVIEW
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almost forgot that it was a training course and you felt like, "Oh
my God, can I last another day?"
We had had some POWs from Vietnam talk to us about how
they dealt with long-term stress. One of them said, "Everybody
had a project. Some played chess, some built the engine of cars;
some built houses." He said, "I could just leave that confining place
and go somewhere in my head. If you're in enough trouble, you can
do that." So, they put me in a box, like a mattress box where you
couldn't turn at all. It must've been like eight inches deep. You
could go in sideways and come out sideways, and they closed the
door and I had told them that I'm claustrophobic.
That's why they put me in that box. I was in there and I
thought, "I can't stay in here. This is not going to work. How will
I tell them that I need to leave the course?" And then I
remembered that man and I started thinking, "Okay, if I could be
somewhere, where would I be?” I went back to Kansas, where I’m
from.It got me through that exercise. It was excruciating.
You talk about how Tony Mendez got the idea for the
masks -- from watching a very popular movie, “Planet
of the Apes.” It would seem few would believe such an
idea would come from a movie.
He became a friend of John Chambers, the Oscar-winning
makeup artist that made those “Planet of the Ape” masks. Tony
was an artist, so he was very interested in the creative process. We
were already using stunt double masks from Hollywood. Our best
mask was Rex Harrison.
He never knew we were exporting them all over the world. They
proved useful. When we made full-face animated masks, we could
have you in your blue shirt, your tie, brown hair and glasses. And
we could take someone of a similar size and weight, stature and
put your face on person number two, put him in a blue shirt and
a tie and brown hair, and then we can do what magicians do.
And we can play by having two people instead of one. It gave us
enormous flexibility when we were working against surveillance
SANDIEGOMETRO.COM | NO. 3 VOL. XXXIX | 39TH ANNIVERSARY 1985-2024
20
SD METRO INTERVIEW
teams. They thought they had you the whole time. They thought
you never left their site. And our guy is somewhere else.
You also mentioned that in certain cases, if you were
wearing one of these masks, you need to be a bit of an
actor, too.
The more advanced the disguises were, the more you needed
to exercise the mask. You needed to wear it in public. You get out
there wearing them. Even wigs and mustaches, and you think
people are going to look at you funny. And so whatever kind of
disguise we gave people, we insisted that they wear it in public.
You become the chief of disguise. What sort of pressure
did you feel in that position?
I was elated. First, I didn't want the job. Then I was elated to
get the job. Then it became a different ball game. It was about
going into finance meetings and battling for money and battling
for slots and all kinds of things that I had tried to avoid. Taking
care of your employees, making sure that they were getting the
training. I had an amazingly good team, but part of me wanted to
be overseas doing the work and meeting with people, making a
difference that way.
What was it like to go to the Oval Office and meet
President George H.W. Bush?
I went with the head of CIA, Judge William Webster, who was
very enthusiastic about our masks. Initially, they wanted me to go
as an African American man. That was the first mask that I
showed him. I put on a man's suit, put on a mask, put on gloves
and met the director of CIA and he said, "Oh my God, we have
to go to the White House and show this to the president." I said,
"I don't have any identification. Shall we make something?" He
said, "Oh, no. You're with me. You won't need any ID to get
through the Secret Service." So, we thought about it, and thought
still the Secret Service might, if they wanted to, talk to me, and I
don't have a man's voice. He finally said, "Well, it's okay. We'll
have you go as a woman, a different woman. Wear a female mask.
It'll make the same impact."
I was going to be the first one to brief the president that
morning. There was a horseshoe of people, including me, Judge
Webster, Chief of Staff John Sununu, and National Security
Advisor Brent Scowcroft.
I told the president, who had been a director of the CIA, "I
brought you some photos. Here's you in disguise. Remember
these?" And he's going through these big, glossy pictures, and it's
like, that was so good. He's enjoying that. And I said, "So I'm here
to show you what we're doing now. It's quite different from what
we did with you." I said, "So I'm going to show you this lady's
disguise." I said, "I'm going to remove it and show it to you." And
he said, "Oh, don't remove it. Hold on." And he got up and he
walks over and he's walking around me and he doesn't know what
I'm wearing. He doesn't know it's a mask. And I don't know what
he was looking for. He was looking for a seam, but he was looking
for an edge, right, or whatever it was.
He couldn't see it. So he set it out and he said, "Okay, take it
off." So I did that and I was holding it up in the air for him to see,
and he was very, very cool. Sununu hadn't been paying any
attention. He had a little pad and was making notes because he
was going to talk next. When I took off the mask, I heard this
little squeak come from him. He was startled. He looked up and
I'm holding what looks like a decapitated head in my hand. The
president loved it.
You become a mom at 47. What’s more challenging --
working in intelligence or being a mom?
I'm not sure how to compare them. It was another challenge,
another new beginning. I was up for it. I retired when Jesse was
four months old and started doing fine art photography. We had
a big art gallery. We had huge shows twice a year. Then came the
movie "Argo," and we had to write the book, making sure that
people who saw the movie understood they hadn't chased the
plane down the runway.
In your book, you quote Ralph Waldo Emerson. “Do not
go where the path may lead, go instead where there is
no path to leave a trail.” How does that apply to you and
your career in the CIA?
What I was doing was unusual. I wasn't the only woman trying
to push my way forward and make a new path. I wasn't thinking
so much of women at that time. I was just bemoaning the fact that
there wasn't an open track for me. I was laying a new trail. Eloise
Page did it. There are others. I was very aware that it was
uncommon what I wanted to do and did. Maybe that made it a
little sweeter. I'm not sure, but I sure liked doing it.
Thank you, Jonna.
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39TH ANNIVERSARY 1985-2024 | NO. 3 VOL. XXXIX | SANDIEGOMETRO.COM
Interpersonal Edge:
Differences between Narcissism and Loyalty
Question: I have a long-term office friend I no longer trust.
When I could help her professionally, she was always friendly.
Now I’ve moved departments, and she’s giving me the cold
shoulder. Why is she acting this way? What is my best response?
Answer: There are people who will only be friendly if they can
use you. They reveal themselves because when the benefits stop so
does their loyalty. People who are narcissistic can be charming if
you can help them. Charm, however, isn’t a sign of loyalty.
Here are some red flags your office friend is using you:
1) They consistently shower you with flattery
2) They always agree with you
3) They are delighted when you do what they want
4) They devalue you when you frustrate their entitlements
Self-absorbed people will do something called “love bombing”
when they first meet you. Love bombing is a firehose of flattery
and compliments that appeal to your need for self-esteem. People
secure in their value and identity find this behavior suspicious.
When a workplace friend doesn’t know you, yet constantly says
you walk on water, be careful. Their flattery is a weapon to get you
addicted to their praise. When you see a workplace friend
behaving this way, slow down, and back up! They’re probably not
your friend.
Narcissists look at others only as a resource. The Dalai Lama,
spiritual leader of the Tibetan people, commented on this
problem: “People were created to be loved. Things were created
to be used. The reason the world is in chaos is because things are
being loved and people are being used.”
You don’t need to fix that problem. You want to notice when
someone loves things and uses people is trying to befriend you.
What you can do is see them, don’t trust them, and avoid them
if possible. They are not friendship material in or out of the
workplace.
You may be feeling betrayed or disappointed that your office
“friend” has turned out to be a narcissist. In the school of hard
knocks, you just finished the class entitled, “How to spot a
Narcissist.” Even though you may feel victimized, you have learned
an invaluable lesson.
Within your disappointment, you’ve also received a gift of
discernment. You now will be able to see who is capable of loyalty
and who will just use you.
The last word(s)
Question: My boss appears unaware that no one is following
his directions. Is there a way a leader can notice when he’s not
actually leading?
Answer: As John C. Maxwell, an American author and pastor,
observed: “He that thinketh he leadeth and hath no one following
him is only taking a walk.”
Your boss may take longer than you’d like to become aware that
he is only taking a walk, but he’ll eventually notice that no one is
behind him.
Daneen Skube, Ph.D., is an executive coach, trainer, therapist
and speaker in Seattle and appears on FOX Channel’s “Workplace
Guru” on Monday morning. She can be reached
atinterpersonaledge@comcast.net.
©2024 Interpersonal Edge. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency,
LLC.
Editor's Note: SD METRO Associate Editor Douglas Page's interview
of Dr. Skube can be watched on sandiegometro.com.
By Dr. Daneen Skube
WORKPLACE
TRAVEL
Before marrying Benjamin, I had a habit of setting New
Year’s resolutions of lofty goals-turned-faded letdowns. From
publishing books to running marathons, those big dreams led to
late nights, missed deadlines, and self-inflicted exhaustion. A
realist at heart, Benjamin taught me to crumple date-induced
ambitions and simply find motivation in myself rather than a
flip of the calendar. That is until recently.
Tiptoeing toward us was 2024 holding a mirror of tired
reflections. Coffee was my fuel and bedtime was my bestie, as
we juggled four jobs between the two of us. Oddly enough,
we’re wired that way, taking on more than we should because
we’re driven by ourselves.
And so, we ironed out that crumpled sheet of blankness and
wrote in bold letters: “Relax. Rest. Recover. Reconnect.
Rejuvenate. Restore.”
That was our goal, to get away for four day
s and come back
new and improved.
Enter Arizona. Its proximity to San Diego made the
spontaneous getaway uncomplicated, not to mention,
we heard
of two properties that had the power to push the reset button
on life.
Tucked into the untamed Sonoran Desert, CIVANA
Wellness Resort & Spa would start our path to wholeness,
followed by Castle Hot Springs which would continue our
journey to healing in the foothills of the Bradshaw Mountains.
Two nights at each resort was what we decided to do to unplug
from the world and reconnect to ourselves.
Simplicity was our priority, not budget. And so, we flew via
JSX hop-on jet service. As first timers, we learned that the
public charter traveled to more than 40 destinations, including
Scottsdale. Gone were the security lines, the crowded terminals,
and the hidden fees, meaning we could park and arrive just 20
minutes before takeoff. Included in the $279 ticket price were
cocktails, Wi-Fi, business-class legroom, and oversized baggage.
Arizona's aridness is Southern
California's A1 Therapy
By Marlise Kast-Myers | Photos by Benjamin Myers
A 7-mile dusty road leads to the lush oasis of Castle Hot Springs.
23
39TH ANNIVERSARY 1985-2024 | NO. 3 VOL. XXXIX | SANDIEGOMETRO.COM
Trust me, we were carrying some serious baggage (figuratively, of
course).
The past year wrung us out, and now Arizona was hanging us
out to dry with a bad start. Somehow the rental car agency had “sold
out” of vehicles. For over two hours, we stood in line hoping for a
set of wheels that would take us to utopia.
Mentally, I was at a dangerous place and on the verge of getting
ugly, the type where my husband walks away and pretends I’m a
stranger. Stepping out of line, I went directly to the parking garage
and showed an attendant our reservation. To my surprise, he handed
us a set of keys and we were off, that is until we were stopped five
minutes later for potential car theft.
Back to the airport we went, waiting another 45 minutes for a
vehicle we hadn’t reserved, costing double the original price. And of
course, things got ugly. That’s when a text message arrived from our
house sitter, informing me that my pet turkey had gone missing.
Teetering between anger and sadness, I had nothing to say. Traffic
was at a standstill, we hadn’t eaten all day, and my pre-booked
meditation class was starting in five minutes.
And so, I bit down on my knuckles and screamed.
“Well, this is certainly off to a good start,” Benjamin said.
Everything I had aimed to quell was boiling at the surface, and
now all I wanted to do was wash away the day.
Somehow, CIVANA sensed that, greeting me with a pool where
I swam laps alone at sunset. Within minutes, I could feel the stress
dripping off my body. The setting certainly helped, a 1960’s mid-
century modern hotel in a town appropriately named “Carefree.”
Originally designed by Frank Lloyd Wright’s understudy, Joe
Wong, the property was resurrected in 2018 as CIVANA Wellness
Resort. The $40 million dollar facelift was tight, with 144 neutral-
toned rooms in stone, wood, and glass reflective of the desert.
Never did I expect cacti to be so esthetically soothing, saluting the
marbled sky and fading into the starry night. Webbing out from
the 20-acre resort were pebble-framed trails that led to the café,
restaurant, fitness studios, and 22,000-sq-ft spa.
Boldly launching during the pandemic, CIVANA is clearly the
cool kid on the block, luring wellness-focused millennials with its
price point and a mindset that self-love is okay.
Apparently, women got the memo. Bachelorette parties, girls’
getaways, and sister retreats left my husband saying, “I feel very
alone.”
In my opinion, that was actually the point, for us to be (or at least
feel) alone in our united solidarity. CIVANA went out of its way to
do that through their pillars of discovery and nourishment. Starting
with the latter, we dined at Terras with mouths-wide-open during
dinner of eggplant hummus, seared scallops, and Faroe Island
salmon.
“I think I need some carbs,” I whispered.
The veggie-forward menu had gluten free, grain free, dairy free,
and other “free” (not to be confused with “complementary”) options;
An entrée alone runs about $50, but throw in the resort perks, and
TRAVEL
Reaching new heights at Arizona’s only Via Ferrata Adventure
ourse, located at Castle Hot Springs.
SANDIEGOMETRO.COM | NO. 3 VOL. XXXIX | 39TH ANNIVERSARY 1985-2024
24
the price tag doesn’t seem so heavy.
Included in the $500+/- nightly rate are bikes, hiking trails,
wellness guides, aqua therapy, and over 100 movement, personal
growth, and spiritual classes. I opted for yoga, cardio strength, and
“Band and Buns” while Benjamin zenned out with breathwork,
meditation, and sound-healing.
In true “us” form, we packed our schedules with classes and spa
treatments. Of course, there were gardens and labyrinths to quiet
the mind, open the heart, and ground the body. Benjamin explored
them. I did not, because I was too busy running to my next class.
Like students on campus, we would wave in passing or meet up for
lunch over smoothies and antioxidant bowls. Shaking my empty
water bottle, I tapped my forehead.
“I already feel so hydrated. . . Oh, look, they have hard
Kombucha!”
Despite our resolutions, we were on vacation —a time to let go,
raise a glass, and toast to the fact we were reaping the benefits of our
environment. Others got it, eating breakfast in bathrobes, sipping
post-spa margaritas, and ditching workouts when suffering and
leisure no longer aligned.
I was sad to leave CIVANA, having just awakened the 2.0 version
of myself. As we packed the car for Castle Hot Springs, I felt
healthy, alive, and poised for what was next. During the hour drive,
we passed spiny saguaro cacti, a wild donkey and a world of
Winnebagos. Tumbleweeds rolled across desert plains, as if each
one had a destination and a deadline.
“Is this where they filmed Breaking Bad?” I asked.
My husband didn’t respond but mumbled something about our
rental car being put to the test. In our wake was a plume of dust,
leaving behind any sign of civilization. Thoughts of his tire-
changing skills crossed my mind, along with my sudden desire to
adopt a burro.
And then, there it was, an oasis thriving in the barrenness.
Greeting us at parking was a valet who whisked us via golfcart
through a private gate, down a palm tree-lined pathway, to Arizona’s
first luxury resort. At the center of the 1,200-acre property were
pools and ponds dotting manicured gardens and vibrant lawns so
perfect, you’d swear you were living in an AI post.
Castle Hot Springs existed to help people come up, and then slow
down with mindful activities, rugged nature, and soft adventure.
While rates were three times that of CIVANA, it was one-size-fits-
all with an inclusive experience covering tours, meals, gratuities,
resort fees, in-room amenities, valet, cart service, and endless
TRAVEL
Hotel Emma lures with a style of industrial-meets-smokeasy.
25
39TH ANNIVERSARY 1985-2024 | NO. 3 VOL. XXXIX | SANDIEGOMETRO.COM
activities. Hiking, archery, paddleboarding, biking, horseback riding,
pickleball, gardening, stargazing, wine-tasting, yoga – you name it!
– and they had a personal guide to take you from adventure to
relaxation.
The diamonds of this jewelry box, however, are the hot springs
that have been replenishing souls since 1896. From the Yavapai
Tribe who soaked for medicinal purposes, to the prospectors who
sold the land to the Murphy brothers for development, word spread
of the healing waters and fertile soil in the Bradshaw Mountains.
The Rockefellers, Wrigleys, Vanderbilts, and Roosevelts all
escaped to this sanctuary of wellbeing that pioneered Arizona’s first
tennis courts, golf course, and telephone. In 1943, it served as a
military rehabilitation center for injured veterans, including future
president, John F. Kennedy. Despite its curative properties, Castle
Hot Springs went up in flames in 1975.
For over 40 years, the charred resort sat desolate, ready for
someone to resuscitate its heart so that it might once again breathe
life into others. Along came Cindy and Mike Watts, who first
spotted the land while flying over during quail-hunting season. For
around $2 million dollars, they purchased the skeleton resort with
only three buildings remaining. After a five-year historic restoration,
Castle Hot Springs finally had the resurrection it deserved, earning
accolades for being among one of the world’s best hotels.
Understandably so. Designed with luxury and relaxation in mind,
30 bungalows and cottages boast stone tubs, covered decks,
telescopes, and indoor–outdoor fireplaces. Each room is strategically
located at the water’s edge so you can fall asleep to the sound of the
babbling creek.
Clearly, we had found our healing place. Pulling back the curtains,
my husband inhaled deeply and closed his eyes.
“Oh look, a hiking trail,” I clapped behind him.
Alas, it was, and 17 of them to be exact. From aerial walkways
and agave farms to canyon caves and mountain summits, we
explored as many as we could in between yoga, massages, biking,
rock climbing, and farm tours. The latter ignited an unparalleled
appreciation for the kitchen, where the chef and farmer work in
unison; so much so, that they create the daily 4-course tasting menu
together.
During our tour through the “living pantry,” we tasted leafy
greens and fragrant herbs that made their way from farm-to-fork
later that night. With over 3-acres under cultivation, the team of
agronomists harvest more than 150 varieties of crops each season.
Nova Scotia halibut with beluga lentils or Colorado lamb with
pistachio butter and sweet potato fondant? Choices, choices.
If only we had more time and doggie bags to take home the
feeling of Castle Hot Springs when life turned south. It was the
type of place that coated you in experiences over accommodations,
and memories over moments. We felt it during our bike tour,
cruising down a network of singletrack trails, mining roads, and
narrow canyons. It hit us again during our multiple soaks in the
thermal pools.
We slept deep that night, so deep in fact, that when we awakened,
it was time to go – at noon. Driving back to the airport, we once
again sat in silence. Only this time, I wasn’t thinking about rental
cars and traffic and the meditation class I was about to miss.
Instead, I was thinking about the miracle of an oasis that
withstood the flames of the past to extinguish the pain of the
present. I thought about how those restorative waters had the power
to plunge me out of exhaustion and emerge me anew with a deeper
understanding and appreciation of loving myself. I thought about
how cultivating wellness—from the food that I eat to the hours that
I sleep— is a purposeful journey, not a prescribed destination. I
thought about how two resorts in the Arizona desert revealed the
importance of staying aligned in 2024, versus reaching a point of
pushing reset.
TRAVEL
The 22,000 sq-ft spa is the heartbeat of CIVANA. CIVANA Wellness Resort is nestled in the Sonoran Desert, just outside
Scottsdale.
SANDIEGOMETRO.COM | NO. 3 VOL. XXXIX | 39TH ANNIVERSARY 1985-2024
26
RESEARCH
How neural
inhibition
could reduce
alcohol use
A Scripps Research team shows that suppressing the activity of
certain stress neurons may decrease alcohol use—but not
anxiety—in comorbid cases of post-trauma
tic stress disorder
and alcohol use disorder.
27
39TH ANNIVERSARY 1985-2024 | NO. 3 VOL. XXXIX | SANDIEGOMETRO.COM
RESEARCH
LA JOLLA, CA—Neuroscientists at Scripps Research have
found that inhibiting neurons involved in the body’s stress
response may reduce alcohol consumption in people who hav
e
both posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and alcohol use
disorder (AUD) – even if they still experience trauma-related
anxiety.
The findings were published March 21 in Molecular
Psychiatry. These discoveries are helping untangle the complex
role that stress and trauma play in neurological disorders like
PTSD and AUD, while also informing the development of new
treatment options for people who experience both these
conditions simultaneously.
“Traumatic experiences in life can increase vulnerability to
alcohol drinking and exacerbate symptoms of depression and
anxiety,” says senior author Marisa Roberto, PhD, the Schimmel
Family Endowed Chair and vice chair of the Department of
Molecular Medicine. “Alcohol is often used as a coping strategy
to blur trauma-associated memories and diminish negative
emotional states.”
PTSD and AUD are often comorbid, so understanding their
underlying neurological mechanisms in tandem is crucial. About
6% of the U.S. population will develop PTSD at some point,
according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and people
with PTSD have a 30% lifetime prevalence of AUD.
However, few pharmaceutical therapies exist to treat the
disorders together.
Roberto’s team previously created a model in which rats
develop symptoms similar to what people with comorbid PTSD
and AUD experience: aggression, anxiety, hyperarousal, disturbed
sleep and increased alcohol consumption.
In this new study, they compared these rats with those that did
not exhibit anxiety-like behaviors by giving each group access to
both alcohol and water.
Compared with unstressed rats, those that were stressed
exhibited higher levels of peripheral stress hormones, and various
genes in the central amygdala, including one that encodes for the
neuropeptide known as corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF),
were also shown to be altered in stressed rats.
CRF exists in the central amygdala, a part of the brain that’s
altered by excessive drinking and is responsible for processing
fear. Stress causes neural release of CRF, which plays a key role in
regulating physiological responses to the emotion.
Prior research with rats has shown that inhibiting neurons that
express CRF reduces alcohol consumption.
After identifying that the stressed rats expressed higher levels
of CRF in the amygdala, the researchers then inhibited CRF-
producing neurons in the stressed group. As expected, they found
that this decreased alcohol consumption—but it didn’t mitigate
anxiety as they initially thought it would.
“We were surprised to see that the anxiety phenotypes were
not reduced when silencing CRF expressing neurons in the
central amygdala, suggesting other neuropeptide co-factors might
be at play,” says the study’s first author, Bryan Cruz, PhD, a
postdoctoral fellow at Scripps Research.
The results suggest that CRF plays a role in alcohol use among
those with comorbid PTSD and AUD. Still, the researchers
conclude that future studies need to disentangle the neurological
mechanisms behind stress-related alcohol consumption and
trauma-induced anxiety.
“Understanding the neurobiology of PTSD-AUD is key for
development of future intervention strategies for this devastating
comorbidity,” says Roberto. “We speculate that other
neuropeptides with anti-stress properties may be involved in
PTSD-AUD.”
This work and the researchers involved were supported by
funding from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and
Alcoholism and the Schimmel Family Chair and Pearson Center
for Alcoholism and Addiction Research.
“Understanding the neurobiology of PTSD-AUD is key for
development of future intervention strategies for this
devastating comorbidity,”
SANDIEGOMETRO.COM | NO. 3 VOL. XXXIX | 39TH ANNIVERSARY 1985-2024
28
PEOPLE
We oer the following services and
ask that you give us the opportunity
in your next commercial real estate
transaction so we can make your
experience a positive one.
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Martin F. Alfaro
SANDIEGOMETRO.COM | NO. 3 VOL. XXXIX | 39TH ANNIVERSARY 1985-2024
30
ENVIROMENT
Environment Report: US Steps up Watchdog Role
Over Tijuana Sewage System
Years ago, in a moment of despair over the utter dead-end that
solving the Tijuana River sewage crisis seemed to be, I asked U.S.
officials why we don’t just cross the border and start fixing broken
pipes in Mexico.
Nations can’t just cross each other’s borders like that,
MacKenzie, the kindly federal official told me. At least, they
shouldn’t. It would be a rude mistake. Mexico could consider such
federal intrusion without permission as an act of war.
But President Joe Biden’s pick to rein in cross-border sewage
spills has found a way to leverage her relationships with Mexico to
encourage more collaborative U.S. involvement. Maria-Elena
Giner announced to reporters during a press conference last week
that the International Boundary and Water Commission (the
binational agency that deals with cross-border water issues) will
start monthly inspections of a key sewage pump and trash
shredder in Tijuana that feeds wastewater into San Diego for
treatment. That’s new for the IBWC.
Giner credited her Mexican counterpart, Adriana Reséndez
BY MACKENZIE ELMER | VOICE OF SAN DIEGO
The IBWC will begin monthly inspections of a key wastewater pump that keeps
sewage from spilling into the Tijuana River, among other collaborations.
The South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant in San Ysidro, California, on the U.S.-Mexico border on March 28, 2024. / Photo by Vito
di Stefano for Voice of San Diego
31
39TH ANNIVERSARY 1985-2024 | NO. 3 VOL. XXXIX | SANDIEGOMETRO.COM
ENVIROMENT
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Maldonado, and Baja California’s governor, Marina del Pilar Avila
Olmeda, for working to coordinate meetings between the officials
from both countries to work on the problem.
The pump, named PBCILA (don’t ask me what it stands for),
has been a thorn in the IBWC’s side for years. Its only job is to
pump polluted water out of the Tijuana River and send it to be
cleaned at treatment plants on both sides of the border. Mexico
paid to fix up PBCILA back in 2021. Before then, the damn thing
shut down randomly. Sometimes there was a reason, like, when
it’s raining and there’s too much water for the pump to handle.
Sometimes, it shut down without any explanation.
The South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant in
San Ysidro, California, on the U.S.-Mexico border on March 28,
2024. / Photo by Vito di Stefano for Voice of San Diego
Now we know one reason: No one was paying the PBCILA
power bill. Giner shared with reporters that the IBWC’s been
picking up the tab.
“No more excuses that they have to shut off the electricity
because they can’t pay,” she said.
How much PBCILA’s power bill costs the already cash strapped
IBWC is unclear. I’m still waiting to hear back on the amount.
Summertime is PBCILA’s moment to shine. When summer
hits Baja California, the Tijuana River shouldn’t be flowing. It’s a
seasonal river, meaning it should run dry during the dry season.
But the river’s been flowing year-round for at least a year, which
means spills – be it sewage or treated wastewater from Mexican
plants up river – are still happening.
The IBWC also plans to team up with its Mexican counterpart,
called CILA, to survey the river on the Tijuana side this summer
for the first time. The goal? Figure out once and for all where and
how sewage and other spills get into the Tijuana River channel.
Here’s another thing I’m watching: Recall when a sewer pipe
running through a Tijuana border canyon snapped in half last
year? Mexico finished restoring the pipe but it’s not online yet.
Because that pipe isn’t currently transporting Tijuana sewage to a
wastewater treatment plant on the coast, there’s more sewage
making its way into the Tijuana River – which spills directly below
the city of Imperial Beach.
Giner said there’s not much she can do to get Mexico to use its
own pipe.
“That is an area outside of my control, but not outside my
influence,” Giner said.
She said she’ll be back in town in a few weeks to hold meetings
with the feds in Mexico specifically about that pipe.
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