Tales of S&L; Skulduggery Set Amid San Diego’s High Rollers

Can I interest you in a story of finagling finance, sex, politics, the Catholic Church and so much conspicuous consumption (real estate, gourmet dining, diamonds and furs, antique cars, jet-set vacations, etc.) that you get gout just thinking about it?

With a juicy San Diego angle, naturally.

Try “The Daisy Chain: How Borrowed Billions Sank a Texas S&L;,” by James O’Shea, an associate managing editor at the Chicago Tribune. Hardcover now, paperback soon.

It’s the story of the nation’s savings and loan scandal, as chronicled through the rise and fall of Donald Ray Dixon, former owner of Vernon Saving and Loan Assn. and now doing five years in a federal slam in Texas for diverting funds.

The Dixon-San Diego connection has been plumbed before, but the “Daisy Chain” contains enough new detail to satiate even the hard-core S&L; watcher.

Dixon getting chummy with Rep. Bill Lowery (R-San Diego). Dixon getting to know Catholic Bishop Leo Maher (who got him an audience with the Pope).

Dixon being introduced by Maher to developer Douglas Manchester. Dixon donating to the church and Maher offering to have the student union at the University of San Diego named after him.

Dixon buying fancy property in Solana Beach, Rancho Santa Fe and above Moonlight Beach in Encinitas. Dixon and Rolodex Madam Karen Wilkening.

Dixon the party animal. Dixon interviewing job applicants while sitting nude in his hot tub.

Dixon traveling to Europe with Maher and Msgr. I. Brent Eagen, all paid by Dixon’s Vernon Savings:

“It had been first class all the way: the flight over in Vernon’s jet; the Grosvenor House in London; the Bristol in Paris; the Hotel Ritz in Madrid; stops at the Gucci and Bulgari boutiques in Rome.”

In sum: Dixon buying respectability by throwing around lots of (stolen) money, and finding respectable people not moved to ask many questions.

Shea, in an interview, said he thinks San Diego is particularly susceptible to the blandishments of con men like Dixon because the idea of fabulous overnight wealth from real estate seems so perfectly plausible.

He also figures Dixon will be back someday, probably to San Diego: “He’s a very shrewd guy.”

Spending Your Tax Dollars

Your government at work.

Last spring Sheriff Jim Roache announced that he wanted the department to link up to a 24-hour-a-day television network to provide training for deputies.

But months later the TV plan is only now getting under way in earnest.

The problem was in getting the specialized TV hardware. The county’s Purchasing Department had solicited bids and gotten a low bid of $990.

The low bidder had trouble delivering. Still, four months went by and Purchasing stuck with the low bidder.

During the same period of time, the Sheriff’s Department was obligated to pay $1,800 in subscription fees for a service it could not fully utilize.

Two weeks ago Purchasing finally relented and shifted to the second low bidder at $1,050, or $60 higher than the low bidder. The second low bidder delivered the equipment last week.

Let’s review: In a (futile) attempt to save 60 bucks, Purchasing drained the bank of $1,800. Call it governmental math.

Familiar Face in the Crowd

Sometimes yes, sometimes no.

* The Betty Broderick murder trial is being broadcast to 44 states via the Courtroom Television Network.

Right now it’s live, until the William Kennedy Smith sex-charge trial begins. Then Broderick will be taped, and Smith will go live.

Among those following the Broderick trial are Gene and H. L. Granberry, who live in the East Texas farming community of Red Springs.

They got an added treat the other day when the camera panned the courtroom and picked up their son Michael, The Times reporter covering the trial.

* Typecasting.

Kirstie Alley (Rebecca Howe in “Cheers”) hosts a $50-a-plate fund-raiser next Sunday at Dick’s Last Resort in the Gaslamp Quarter to benefit “Cry Out,” a guide to tell children what they can do to save the environment.

* License plate frame spotted in North County: “Life Is Great But Then Again I’m The DM.”

That DM as in Dungeonmaster, the controlling figure in the Dungeons & Dragons mind game.