Important for readers of the Benicia Independent: The deadline to submit your questions to candidates on the Valero PAC’s attempt to buy our Mayor’s seat and other “hit pieces” is close of business (5pm) on Thursday, October 29. Send by email to Benicia’s City Attorney Benjamin Stock, at bstock@ci.benicia.ca.us.
City of Benicia announcement on Nextdoor, October 24, 2020
City of Benicia Communications Office of Economic Development, Teri Davena
Candidates’ Forum Scheduled for Saturday, October 31, 10 a.m.
Candidates for the Benicia City Council will have the opportunity to participate in a Candidates’ Forum on Saturday, October 31 at 10 a.m.
All candidates running for Council Member and Mayor in the November 3 election have been invited to attend.
The forum, sponsored by the City of Benicia Open Government Commission, will be broadcasted live on Zoom and on local government Channel 27.
At the forum, voters will have an opportunity to hear candidates discuss any ‘hit pieces’ distributed before the election.
Members of the public are encouraged to send questions relating to ‘hit pieces’ for candidates to answer at the forum to the City Attorney Benjamin Stock, at bstock@ci.benicia.ca.us by close of business on Thursday, October 29.
Please note that the candidates’ forum may be canceled by unanimous decision of the candidates.
Valero Refinery’s commercial PAC, which is out to buy Benicia’s mayor’s seat in our 2020 election, filed its latest income and expenditure reports yesterday.
The reports are required by law and cover the period September 20 to October 17, as well as totals for 2020.
Form_460_Pre_Election_2.pdf shows income of $25,000 for the period, cash payments of $63,844 and unpaid bills of $71,275. The form shows an ending balance of $173,779 as of October 17.
INCOME for the period September 20 to October 17
This period
Year to date
Monetary Contributions (International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, forgers & Helpers Local 549)
$25,000
$25,000
Total Contributions
$25,000
$25,000
EXPENSES for the period September 20 to October 17
This period
Year to date
Cash payments
$63,844
$99,333
Accrued, unpaid bills
$71,275
$101,567
TOTAL EXPENDITURES
$135,119
$200,899
Current Cash Statement
Beginning Balance
$212,623
Cash receipts
$25,000
Cash payments
$63,844
Ending Balance
$173,779
The Valero PAC’s Form_465_2.pdf is a Supplemental Independent Expenditure Report. This very important form carries detailed individual payments made to named companies for mailers, Facebook and other digital ads, live phone calls and robocalls. I must apologize for not presenting the information here. The form is complicated, seems to overlap with previous reports, doesn’t total up accurately as far as I can tell, and so can’t be properly interpreted here. Suffice to say, Valero has been busy spending tons of money to pick up the Benicia Mayor’s seat. Check out their Form_465_2 on the City of Benicia website for details.
Valero PAC spending for purchase of the Benicia Mayor seat now at $91,688
VALERO’s sick attempt to buy the Benicia Mayor seat has disclosed it’s latest expenditures:
$11,000 for more ROBOCALLS
$9,844 for 2 recent ugly campaign mailers
In emails earlier today with the City of Benicia, the Benicia Independent confirmed that Benicia’s campaign finance ordinance requires the Valero PAC to submit for public review copies “of the literature or script used for each communication to the city clerk within 24 hours of the first time the mailings, calls, transmissions, or advertisements are made or aired.” (Benicia Municipal Ordinance 1.40.110).
The City of Benicia will be revising previously posted campaign financial reports that were posted without the required photocopies and scripts. Stay tuned for links.
By Roger Straw, October 20, 2020
I have chosen NOT to display Valero’s most recent nasty mailers. I won’t give them the time, space and bully pulpit here. Read on for description and analysis…
There are two sides to the latest Valero PAC mailers: nasty slams on Young and Diavatis, and big name sweet promos for their candidate.
$Valero’s push to win the Benicia Mayor’s seat continues unabated, despite the requests by all candidates that they cease and desist.
The claim against Diavatis is instructive. The Valero PAC claims to have paid for a poll that shows Diavatis can’t win. When was the last time that ANY candidate in Benicia was able to afford polling? Small towns don’t do polling. But big oil money does.
Valero’s independent expenditure committee (PAC) has set aside around $250,000 for our little Mayor’s race, and spent over $70,000 as of October 9. (Additional contribution of $25,000 now – see update here.)
The U.S. Supremes ruled that the Valero PAC is a person, and can spend as much as it likes on an election. But here in Benicia, we have a fair campaign ordinance that limits REAL people who run for office to expenditures of no more than $34,200 per candidate.
The total spending of the three candidates for Mayor amount to 3 x $34,200 or $102,600. Stack that total up against Valero’s $250,000, and you might think the playing field is a little slanted? And recall that one of the REAL person campaigns will be Valero’s chosen candidate, so it’s actually $250,000 plus their candidate’s $34,200, for a grand total of over $284,000. Plunk down that kind of money against any one or two candidates, and see what happens.
That wouldn’t be fair even if Valero played nice.
I have chosen NOT to scan and post Valero’s most recent mailers. I won’t give them the time, space and bully pulpit here. Suffice to say the ads are all on file with me. (Oh, and… the Benicia fair campaign ordinance requires that Valero submit photocopies of their ads, like they did in 2018 when they smeared candidate Kari Birdseye. Why have we NOT seen photocopies in any of their 6 submitted 496 Independent Expenditure forms?)
Candidates for the Benicia City Council will have the opportunity to participate in a Candidates’ Forum on Saturday, October 31 at 10 a.m.
You must be logged in to post a comment.