Chris Bucchere said to run red lights before crash

The street where Chris Bucchere was riding his bicycle down when he ran over 71-year-old pedestrian Sutchi Hui who was crossing Castro, at Market street. Sutchi Hui, died. In San Francisco, Calif. on Saturday, April 7, 2012. less The street where Chris Bucchere was riding his bicycle down when he ran over 71-year-old pedestrian Sutchi Hui who was crossing Castro, at Market street. Sutchi Hui, died. In San Francisco, Calif. on Saturday, ... more Photo: Jill Schneider, The Chronicle Photo: Jill Schneider, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close Chris Bucchere said to run red lights before crash 1 / 5 Back to Gallery

Chris Bucchere, the bicyclist who could face manslaughter charges for plowing through a crowded San Francisco crosswalk and hitting a 71-year-old pedestrian, has hired the top-flight law firm of Arguedas, Cassman & Headley.

The walker, Sutchi Hui, died Monday, and from what we hear, Bucchere will need the legal help.

Police sources tell us the file forwarded to the district attorney includes the name and number of a motorist who reported seeing Bucchere and another cyclist fly through several red lights and stop signs before the deadly Castro district crash. Hui's wife, incidentally, was walking a few steps ahead when her husband was hit.

If the witness' statement to police about Bucchere riding recklessly checks out, it could show gross negligence - and potentially up the charges to a felony.

Party crowd: Last week's revelation that the General Services Administration paid $835,000 to dine and entertain 300 West Coast workers at a lavish conference outside Las Vegas in 2010 has rippled all the way to San Francisco.

According to a GSA source, acting Pacific Rim Administrator Jeff Neely was among those who had a big hand in the party planning.

Neely was one of four administrators suspended after an inspector general report that detailed $147,000 spent on six planning trips for organizers, $3,200 for a mind reader, $6,300 for commemorative coins and $75,000 for a team- building exercise to construct a bicycle.

It may not have been the only time big bucks went into such meetings.

A former GSA staffer who asked not to be identified told us he was among 50 regional employees who were bused up to the Lodge at Sonoma Renaissance Resort & Spa for a two-day team building exercise in 2009 - at the height of the recession - that cost well over $50,000.

"We dropped eggs in straw and shot water balloons with slings," the staffer recalled.

Ins and outs: Mayor Ed Leehas nominated Suzy Loftus to replace James Slaughter on the Police Commission.

Loftus worked as a former prosecutor in the San Francisco district attorney's office and as former special assistant to Attorney General Kamala Harris- who, by the way, did not endorse the mayor during his recent election.

The Police Officers Association, however, is none too happy with the change, noting that Slaughter, a downtown attorney, was respected by other commissioners and the Police Department.

"He was no rubber stamp for the POA or anyone else," said union President Gary Delagnes, adding that perhaps Slaughter rubbed the mayor the wrong way when he didn't want to approve the department's budget without money for a badly needed academy training class.

Lee also renominated Police Commission President Thomas "Tippy" Mazzucco for another term.

Home stretch: Horse lovers are up in arms over plans to build an asphalt plant next to Ridgewood Ranch in Mendocino County, the final resting place of racehorse Seabiscuit.

"To say the least, it's incompatible," said Jack Magne, president of the local opposition group that has been fighting the asphalt plant for seven years.

Lauren Hillenbrand, author of the 2001 bestseller "Seabiscuit: An American Legend," which was the basis for the Oscar-nominated movie, has joined the fray with an open letter to the Board of Supervisors decrying the proposal as a "pollution-belching eyesore" on the pristine rangeland.

The supervisors take up the issue Monday.

Smoke scream: The search warrants served on Oaksterdam University and its head, Richard Lee, were from the Internal Revenue Service - not drug enforcement agencies.

"It may be a follow-up to an IRS audit from a couple of years back," said Lee's attorney, Laurence Lichter.

Lee, who estimates he sold $3 million worth of marijuana last year, has always been big on the idea of taxing marijuana sales.

In fact, he was the driving force in a measure to increase the pot tax to help Oakland's depleted coffers a couple of years back.

"No one has been charged yet," Lichter said. "Hopefully nobody will."

Lee has removed himself from the operation, and the other day Lichter met with the cannabis school's staff to decide what to do next.

"They are some very scared kids who thought they were doing the Lord's work," Lichter said.

And while Lichter was meeting with staff members inside, outside his car was being burglarized.

Welcome to Oakland.