Category Archives: Benicia Mayor

2020 elections, Benicia elections, Benicia Mayor, Benicia Mayor Steve Young, Campaign finance, Fair elections, Valero Benicia Refinery, Valero PAC

Valero PAC final 2020 campaign spending report: over $227,000 spent in failed bid

By Roger Straw, November 16, 2020

Valero PAC spends over $227,000 in failed bid to oppose Mayor-elect Steve Young, discloses $128,173 of that total in outstanding debt

The anti-Young Valero PAC submitted two more campaign financial reports as required by law on November 6, 2020.

Form_460_Pre_Election_4.pdf shows the following:

During the period Oct. 26 – Nov. 3
  • Income of $24,000 from the Int. Brotherhood of Boilermakers, etc. (previously reported here on the BenIndy on Nov. 3).
  • Accrued unpaid bills totaling $18,106
    • $5,000 for Live Calls (Winning Connections, Washington, D.C.)
    • $13,106 for professional services (law firm Nielsen Merksamer Parrinello Gross & Leoni LLP, Sacramento)
2020 Year to date
  • Total Income of $49,000
  • Cash payments of $99,333
  • Accrued unpaid bills of $128,173
  • Total Expenditures (cash & unpaid) $227,506
Current Cash Statement
  • Ending Cash Balance of $197,779

The PAC’s ending balance of $197,779 can pay its accrued unpaid bills of $128,173 leaving over $51,000 in Valero’s war chest for future projects.  Sigh….

Another form submitted, Form__465_3.pdf, did not disclose any new information.

Final accounting?

According to a Nov. 12 email from Benicia City Clerk Lisa Wolfe, no further campaign finance reports are anticipated until December 31, 2020.   Evidently, the Valero PAC will not need to report payment of its unpaid bills and any further income or outlays until then.

2020 elections, Benicia City Council, Benicia elections, Benicia Mayor, Benicia Mayor Steve Young, Cannabis, Solano County Registrar of Voters, Terry Scott, Tom Campbell, Trevor Macenski

Benicia election update on Tues. Nov. 10 – no change of status, Macenski increases slim lead over Scott

By Roger Straw, November 9, 2020, 6:00pm

Trevor Macenski maintains lead for second seat on Benicia City Council – leads Terry Scott by 127 votes

Solano County updated its election results at 5:15pm tonight, with no changes in yesterday’s rankings.  Unofficial results today give Trevor Macenski a lead of 127 votes over Terry Scott, strengthening his hopes for gaining the second seat on Council.  Note that the counting isn’t over yet in this close race.

Outstanding votes as of Tuesday Nov. 9, 5pm

Solano County’s election result is still unofficial.  As of 5pm on Tues. Nov. 10, the County reports an estimate of 500-1,000 additional County-wide vote-by-mail ballots to be processed, and 2,500-3,500 additional provisional ballots to be processed.  Benicia’s share of those 3,000-4,500 ballots has not been reported and remains unknown.  However, Benicia’s population is 7% of Solano population, and our voter turnout percentage of 86% is higher than countywide 79% – so we might count for 8% of the remaining ballots, or 240-360 votes, enough to alter the vote for second seat on Council.  The County will update its results at close of business on Thursday Nov. 12, and I will report here on any significant changes in outcome.

Benicia races for Mayor and City Council – winners and losers…
Details and analysis…
  • UPDATE: 17,341 Benicia ballots were received, 85.0% of 20,393 registered voters.  Wow!
  • MAYOR results as of Fri. Nov 6, 5pm:
    Candidate Name Total Votes Percentage
    		8,522 50.78%
    		5,184 30.89%
    		3,032 18.07%
  • Steve Young continues with an insurmountable lead, winning vote-by-mail by a huge margin of 53% to Christina Strawbridge’s 31% and Jason Diavatis’ 16%.
  • Jason Diavatis won election-day voting with 36%, then Young at 34% and Strawbridge at 30%.
  • There were relatively few election-day votes, 1,746, compared to a whopping 14,957 vote-by-mail ballots as of tonight’s report.  Thus Steve Young’s substantial overall margin of 20 points.
  • CITY COUNCIL results as of Fri. Nov. 6, 5pm:
    CANDIDATE NAME TOTAL VOTES PERCENTAGE
    		8,576 36.54%
    		7,511 32.00%
    		7,384 31.46%
  • Tom Campbell won re-election to City Council with the highest vote total among candidates and a margin now in excess of 1,000 votes.  By tradition, as top vote-getter, Campbell will be named Benicia’s Vice Mayor, replacing Christina Strawbridge in that role.
  • In an extremely tight race, Trevor Macenski leads Terry Scott for second place, which, if held, would gain him the second seat on City Council.  Scott led by 135 votes in election-day voting, but trails Macenski by 248 votes in vote-by-mail.  Provisional ballots reported so far went 22 for Macenski, 8 for Scott (and 10 for Campbell).  Macenski’s narrow overall margin of 127 votes tonight is subject to counting of more mail-in ballots and provisional ballots, but it looks more and more like Macenski will be declared the winner.  Stay tuned!
Cannabis results:

YES/NO TOTAL VOTES PERCENTAGE
8,617 51.68%
8,058 48.32%

Those voting YES gained a bit, adding 80 votes today, while NO gained only 56 votes.  The difference was in newly counted mail-in ballots.  Provisional ballots were even, 20 YES, 20 NO.  Those voting NO took the election-day voting by a margin of 123 votes.  Mail-in voting far outnumbered election-day voting.  Voters cast 14,870 mail-in votes and only 1,765 election-day votes.  I expect that today’s (unofficial) margin of 559 votes is likely to hold as the County counts additional mail-in ballots and provisional ballots.

2020 elections, Benicia City Council, Benicia Mayor, Benicia Mayor Steve Young, Cannabis, Solano County Registrar of Voters, Terry Scott, Trevor Macenski

Nov. 9 Benicia election UPDATE: Macenski increases Council lead by 2, margin now 97 votes

By Roger Straw, November 9, 2020, 6:00pm

Trevor Macenski maintains lead for second seat on Benicia City Council – leads Terry Scott by 97 votes

Solano County updated its election results at 4:49pm tonight, with no changes in yesterday’s rankings.  Unofficial results today give Trevor Macenski a lead of 97 votes over Terry Scott, strengthening his hopes for gaining the second seat on Council.  Note that the counting isn’t over yet in this close race.

Outstanding votes as of Monday Nov. 9, 5pm

Solano County’s election result is still unofficial.  As of 5pm on Mon. Nov. 9, the County reports an estimate of 500-1,000 additional County-wide vote-by-mail ballots to be processed, and 2,000-4,000 additional provisional ballots to be processed.  Benicia’s share of those 2,500-5,000 ballots has not been reported and remains unknown.  However, Benicia’s population is 7% of Solano population, and our voter turnout percentage of 85% is higher than countywide 78% – so we might count for 8% of the remaining ballots, or 200-400 votes, enough to alter the vote for second seat on Council.  The County will update its results at close of business on Tuesday Nov. 10, and I will report here on any significant changes in outcome.

Benicia races for Mayor and City Council – winners and losers…
Details and analysis…
  • UPDATE: 17,341 Benicia ballots were received, 85.0% of 20,393 registered voters.  Wow!
  • MAYOR results as of Fri. Nov 6, 5pm:
    Candidate Name Total Votes Percentage
    		8,467 50.96%
    		5,145 30.96%
    		3,004 18.08%
  • Steve Young continues with an insurmountable lead, winning vote-by-mail by a huge margin of 53% to Christina Strawbridge’s 31% and Jason Diavatis’ 16%.
  • Jason Diavatis won election-day voting with 36%, then Young at 34% and Strawbridge at 30%.
  • There were relatively few election-day votes, 1,746, compared to a whopping 14,866 vote-by-mail ballots as of tonight’s report.  Thus Steve Young’s substantial overall margin of 20 points.
  • CITY COUNCIL results as of Fri. Nov. 6, 5pm:
    CANDIDATE NAME TOTAL VOTES PERCENTAGE
    		8,529 36.58%
    		7,442 31.92%
    		7,345 31.50%
  • Tom Campbell won re-election to City Council with the highest vote total among candidates and a margin now in excess of 1,000 votes.  By tradition, as top vote-getter, Campbell will be named Benicia’s Vice Mayor, replacing Christina Strawbridge in that role.
  • In an extremely tight race, Trevor Macenski leads Terry Scott for second place, which, if held, would gain him the second seat on City Council.  Scott led by 135 votes in election-day voting, but trails Macenski by 230 votes in vote-by-mail.  Provisional ballots reported today went 3 for Macenski, 1 for Scott.  Macenski’s narrow overall margin of 97 votes tonight is subject to counting of more mail-in ballots and provisional ballots.  Stay tuned!
Cannabis results:

YES/NO TOTAL VOTES PERCENTAGE
8,537 51.62%
8,002 48.38%

Those voting YES gained a bit, winning 18 additional vote-by-mail ballots, now by a margin of 657 votes.  Provisional ballots went 3 YES, 2 NO.  Those voting NO took the election-day voting by a margin of 123 votes.  Mail-in voting far outnumbered election-day voting.  Voters cast 14,769 mail-in votes and only 1,765 election-day votes.  I expect that today’s (unofficial) margin of 535 votes is likely to hold as the County counts additional mail-in ballots and provisional ballots.

2020 elections, Benicia City Council, Benicia Mayor, Benicia Mayor Steve Young, Cannabis, Solano County Registrar of Voters, Terry Scott, Trevor Macenski

Nov. 6 Benicia election UPDATE: Macenski maintains Council lead

By Roger Straw, November 6, 2020, 7:00pm

Trevor Macenski maintains lead for second seat on Benicia City Council – leads Terry Scott by 95 votes

Solano County updated its election results at 5:51pm tonight, with no changes in yesterday’s rankings.  Unofficial results yesterday gave Trevor Macenski a lead of 60 votes over Terry Scott, taking second place and strengthening his hopes for gaining the second seat on Council.  Tonight that lead increased to 95 votes.  Note that the counting isn’t over yet in this close race.

Outstanding votes as of Friday Nov. 6, 7pm

Solano County’s election result is still unofficial.  As of 5pm on Fri. Nov. 6, the County reports an estimate of 500-1,000 additional County-wide vote-by-mail ballots to be processed, and 3,000-5,000 additional provisional ballots to be processed.  Benicia’s share of those 3,500-6,000 ballots has not been reported and remains unknown.  However, Benicia’s population is 7% of Solano population, and our voter turnout percentage of 85% is higher than countywide 76% – so we might count for 8% of the remaining ballots, or 280-480 votes, enough to alter the vote for second seat on Council.  The County will update its results at close of business on Monday Nov. 9, and I will report here on any significant changes in outcome.

Benicia races for Mayor and City Council – winners and losers…
Details and analysis…
  • UPDATE: 17,239 Benicia ballots were received, 84.5% of 20,393 registered voters.  Wow!
  • MAYOR results as of Fri. Nov 6, 5pm:
    Candidate Name Total Votes Percentage
    		8,417 50.95%
    		5,121 31.00%
    		2,982 18.05%
  • Steve Young continues with an insurmountable lead, winning vote-by-mail by a huge margin of 53% to Christina Strawbridge’s 31% and Jason Diavatis’ 16%.
  • Jason Diavatis won election-day voting with 36%, then Young at 34% and Strawbridge at 30%.
  • There were relatively few election-day votes, 1,746, compared to a whopping 14,771 vote-by-mail ballots as of tonight’s report.  Thus Steve Young’s substantial overall margin of 20 points.
  • CITY COUNCIL results as of Fri. Nov. 6, 5pm:
    CANDIDATE NAME TOTAL VOTES PERCENTAGE
    		8,470 36.55%
    		7,399 31.93%
    		7,304 31.52%
  • Tom Campbell won re-election to City Council with the highest vote total among candidates and a margin now in excess of 1,000 votes.  By tradition, as top vote-getter, Campbell will be named Benicia’s Vice Mayor, replacing Christina Strawbridge in that role.
  • In an extremely tight race, Trevor Macenski leads Terry Scott for second place, which, if held, would gain him the second seat on City Council.  Scott led by 135 votes in election-day voting, but trails Macenski by 229 votes in vote-by-mail.  Macenski’s narrow overall margin of 95 votes tonight is subject to counting of more mail-in ballots and provisional ballots.  Stay tuned!
Cannabis results:

YES/NO TOTAL VOTES PERCENTAGE
8,478 51.57%
7,961 48.43%

Those voting YES gained a bit, winning vote-by-mail ballots by a margin of 639 votes.  Those voting NO took the election-day voting by a margin of 123 votes.  Mail-in voting far outnumbered election-day voting.  Voters cast 17,239 mail-in ballots and only 1,765 election-day ballots.  I expect that today’s (unofficial) margin of 517 votes (27 more than yesterday), is likely to hold as the County counts additional mail-in ballots and provisional ballots.