Monthly Archives: November 2018

Big Oil, Electoral politics, Nielsen Merksamer, Valero Energy Corporation, Valero Services Inc.

Benicia isn’t the only one – big oil money inserts itself in Petaluma & Santa Rosa races

Repost from the Santa Rosa Press Democrat
[Editor: note some of the same unfriendly giants as in Benicia: Valero Energy of course, and the law firm Nielsen Merksamer (“Bay Area-based law and lobbying firm that specializes in political and public-sector cases”).  – R.S.]

Oil and real estate interests pour money into Petaluma and Santa Rosa races

By Will Schmitt & Hannah Beausang, November 2, 2018, 8:57PM
Candidates for Petaluma Mayor include, from left, Mike Harris, Teresa Barrett, and Brian Powell.

More than $100,000 from oil and real estate interests has been funneled into city council races in Sonoma County’s two largest cities, highlighting how outside groups have ponied up to influence voters in the Nov. 6 election.

Of the pair of independent expenditure campaigns, the most visible has been in Petaluma, where a committee backed by several large oil companies has poured more than $78,000 into the race for mayor, according to campaign finance records.

The second spending effort is by a national real estate group that has spent more than $31,000 in favor of several city council candidates in Petaluma and Santa Rosa.

In Petaluma especially, the rush of outside spending has caused a stir. The two campaigns there have separately generated mailers supporting two mayoral candidates — Mike Harris and Brian Powell — and online ads and mailers supporting Harris and two others running for council seats, incumbent Dave King and candidate Michael Regan.

Brian Sobel, a Petaluma- based political analyst and former city councilman, called the level of outside spending in the city election unprecedented.

“It’s not been in Petaluma’s tradition or history to have independent expenditures committees singling out individual candidates and supporting them,” Sobel said.

Campaign finance rules limit individual donations directly to candidate campaigns to $200 in Petaluma and $500 in Santa Rosa per donor per election cycle. But there is no cap on how much money individuals or organizations can dole out through independent expenditure committees. The committees must report their spending to election authorities and are barred from coordinating with candidates.

Independent expenditures to sway elections are not new, though their prevalence and power has increased since the 2010 Citizens United case before the U.S. Supreme Court. It did away with independent political spending limits for corporations, labor groups and other entities on free-speech grounds.

The group responsible for the largest amount of spending in Petaluma this year goes by the name Coalition to Restore California’s Middle Class, Including Energy Companies who Produce Gas, Oil, Jobs and Pay Taxes. The committee has received millions of dollars from oil giants Chevron, Valero Energy and Phillips 66, according to campaign finance documents filed with the California Secretary of State.

The committee reported spending about $62,300 as of Friday to support Harris, a former councilman who is making his second bid for the mayor’s post. The oil-backed group also reported spending $15,800 in favor of Powell, a political newcomer and environmentalist who has embraced a strong anti-growth platform for the city.

Powell, Harris and Councilwoman Teresa Barrett are vying to replace Mayor David Glass, who is retiring.

The oil-backed coalition’s motives were not immediately obvious.

The phone number listed on the filings is associated with the San Rafael office of Nielsen Merksamer, a Bay Area-based law and lobbying firm that specializes in political and public-sector cases. Chevron Corp., Valero Energy and Philips 66 are listed as clients on the firm’s website.

Steven Lucas, the coalition’s registered agent, did not respond to requests for comment.

Barrett said she believed the outside spending was an attempt to bolster the chances of her rivals for the mayor’s post and deny her a public platform. Barrett is a strong pro-environment voice who serves on the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, which regulates regional refineries. The district’s leadership comprises local elected officials, and Barrett would have to step down if she came up short in the mayor’s race, she noted.

Benicia Open Government Commission, Final Word Forum, Kari Birdseye, Negative ads, Negative campaigning, Organized labor, Valero Benicia Refinery, Valero Services Inc.

City decides NOT to post Final Word forum video- last rebroadcast Monday night 7pm

By Roger Straw, November 5, 2018
[Editor: At around 6pm tonight, City Manager Lorie Tinfow responded to urgent citizen requests to air the video.  She wrote, “We are treating the video of the Candidates Forum on Saturday in the same way we have treated previous videos of this forum when held. We are showing it twice on the cable television station and are making it available on a DVD for those who don’t have cable. If you would like to pick up a DVD tomorrow morning, please contact my office at 707-746-4200 or send me a message. We will make them available for pick up as soon as possible.”  UPDATE:  On election day, Nov. 6, the Benicia Independent obtained and posted a copy of the video.  – R.S.]

This afternoon, the City of Benicia pulled back from its original plan to post a video recording of the November 3 meeting of Benicia’s Open Government Commission.  The meeting included a “Final Word” forum, in which candidates for City Council and the public responded to recent campaign “hit pieces.”

All four candidates joined with many residents at the forum in severely criticizing the misleading and untruthful claims made against candidate Kari Birdseye by a Valero/Labor political action committee (PAC).  One anti-Birdseye speaker refused to be civil and had to be escorted out by a Benicia police officer.

The City recorded the meeting, but for unknown reasons has decided NOT to publish the video on its website page of Agendas, Minutes and Videos.

At the time of this writing, you can still catch the City’s final rebroadcast of the meeting at 7pm tonight, Monday, Nov. 5, via live streaming on your computer at Benicia TV, https://www.ci.benicia.ca.us/btv or on your tv at home on Comcast channel 27 or AT&T U-Verse channel 99.

NOTE: On election day, Nov. 6, the Benicia Independent obtained and posted a copy of the video.

Benicia City Council, Benicia Open Government Commission, Final Word Forum, Kari Birdseye, Organized labor, Valero Benicia Refinery, Valero Services Inc.

Final Word: No one likes the anti-Birdseye PAC’s dirty campaign

by Roger Straw, November 4, 2018
[Editor: See video of the Forum.  – R.S.]

Winners: the Candidates – Losers: Valero & the anti-Birdseye PAC

I think I know now, why the anti-Birdseye PAC was desperate to stop the Benicia Open Government’s “Final Word” forum.  Turns out the forum was an unqualified success for all four candidates and a disaster for Valero and organized labor.

The candidates – every one of them – disavowed the anti-Birdseye smears and misinformation and distanced themselves from the PAC.

There must’ve been a half-dozen speakers who told of lifelong family commitments to organized labor who are now more than dismayed at the PAC’s dirty tactics and deep pocketed interference in Benicia’s democratic process.

Several said big labor “should be ashamed.”

If that wasn’t enough, the PAC trotted 5 or 6 speakers up to start off “Open Comment” period.  That time is usually – and was supposed to be – reserved for comments on anything NOT on the day’s agenda.  But PAC supporters strayed repeatedly into smears and misinformation, thus using the Forum itself for another public “hit piece.”

One PAC supporter presented himself as “the face of the opposition,” and was curbed by the moderator for stepping over the line of civil discourse.  He raised his voice and refused to stop yelling when his time ran out.  He was repeatedly graveled out of order, and finally had to be escorted out by an armed police officer.

The “face of the opposition”?  Not a good moment for organized labor.

Candidate Kari Birdseye was measured and sometimes funny as she addressed the effect of the massive attacks on her character and her intentions.

Candidates Emes, Strawbridge and Largaespada ALL offered her the respect she is due, and clearly stated that the charges being leveled against her in PAC phone calls and advertising are FALSE.

So… can we have an election now?

Actually, it’s not clear sailing yet.  There are two days left, the PAC still has a lot of money and I don’t think they will clean up their act.  But I bet there will be a few working families no longer willing to go out for the PAC to knock on doors.

The Final Word Forum will be re-aired on Benicia TV on Sunday and Monday evenings Nov. 4 and 5, at 7 PM.  Watch on your tv (Comcast Channel 27, or AT&T U-Verse Channel 99) or you may access the streamed broadcast on Benicia TV on the City’s website.

City staff originally said they would archive the video of the event alongside the 11/3 Open Government agenda.  On Monday Nov. 5, they reversed that plan.  City Manager Lorie Tinfow wrote, “We are treating the video of the Candidates Forum on Saturday in the same way we have treated previous videos of this forum when held. We are showing it twice on the cable television station and are making it available on a DVD for those who don’t have cable. If you would like to pick up a DVD tomorrow morning, please contact my office at 707-746-4200 or send me a message. We will make them available for pick up as soon as possible.” On election day, Nov. 6, the Benicia Independent obtained and posted a copy of the video.

"Push poll", California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC), Kari Birdseye, Local elections, Negative campaigning, November election, Valero Benicia Refinery, Valero Services Inc.

KQED: State chooses not to investigate Valero’s push poll

Repost from KQED California Report
[Editor:  The anonymous Valero spokesperson’s comments quoted here amount to yet another last-minute hit-piece.  The letter from which the quotes are taken is malignant with lies, and appears in the online edition of the Vallejo Times-Herald.  Read this article to the end for comments by Mayor Patterson and Vice Mayor Young.  – R.S.]

State Rejects Benicia’s Bid to Have Political Watchdog Investigate Valero

By Ted Goldberg, Nov 2, 2018
The Valero refinery in Benicia. (Craig Miller/KQED)

State campaign finance regulators have decided not to launch an investigation into one of the apparent tactics the Valero Energy Corp. may have used in order to influence the Benicia City Council election. The San Antonio-based oil company operates a refinery that’s one of the Solano County city’s largest employers.

City officials last month filed a complaint with the California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) against the Valero refinery in connection with a series of phone calls made to Benicia residents about the election.

City Attorney Heather McLaughlin alleged that Valero sponsored a so-called push poll that may have involved a questioner laying out negative statements about one of the council candidates the company opposes, and positive ones about two candidates the company sees as allies — but did not disclose it was behind the poll during the calls.

The FPPC said Thursday it would not pursue an enforcement action against Valero.

“The Enforcement Division found insufficient evidence of a violation of the Political Reform Act,” Galena West, the division’s chief, wrote in a letter on Thursday.

The company says it’s not surprised by the FPPC’s decision.

“It only highlights the greater concern that the Mayor and Vice Mayor consistently and inappropriately use their City Council leadership positions and our city resources to advance their agenda against our company,” the refinery said in an open letter Thursday to the city’s residents.

Valero and five of its allies have spent more than $165,000 on a political action committee to influence the election, an amount that’s close to three times as much as all of the candidates have raised combined.

Valero-Backed Group Spends Heavily to Sway Benicia City Council Election

The PAC is pushing to defeat Kari Birdseye, an environmentalist, and is backing Christina Strawbridge and Lionel Largaespada, to candidates the committee sees as Valero backers.

The energy company claims that McLaughlin, Mayor Elizabeth Patterson and Vice Mayor Steve Young inappropriately used city money, time and energy to go after Valero in an effort that supports Birdseye.

“The goal of these political antics is to provide the Mayor with a secure majority vote for a single minded agenda to negatively impact our refinery,” Valero said. “This is just the latest example of the Mayor using bully tactics against our company in her quest to shut down our business,” the company said.

Birdseye has been critical of the refinery and has expressed support for the mayor’s proposed safety regulations that emerged after Valero’s May 5, 2017 full-facility power outage that led to a major release of toxic sulfur dioxide.

That proposal, called an Industrial Safety Ordinance, failed at the City Council.

Strawbridge and Largaespada do not support the ordinance. The three candidates, along with a fourth candidate, William Emes, are running for two spots on the Council.

McLaughlin, the city attorney, said the city was disappointed with the FPPC’s decision but is still looking into the matter. In fact, city officials still have not been able to confirm what questions were used in the poll, she said.

On Thursday night, the Council directed McLaughlin to get a copy of the questions from the commission and Valero to determine if they violated the city’s clean campaign laws.

One of the firms Valero hired to conduct the poll, EMC, has refused to hand the questions over.

Gary Winuk, a lawyer representing EMC, argued that the poll was conducted in full compliance with federal, state and local laws. EMC does not engage in campaign advertising and the poll was not partisan, Winuk argued in a Oct. 9 letter to the city.

The poll’s purpose was to gather feedback from local voters and the company is not obligated to hand over its questions, according to Winuk.

“Professional polling companies are under no obligation to provide you with the information you requested,” he said.

Mayor Patterson and Vice Mayor Young disagree.

“We are seeking facts to determine if the polling was for or against candidates,” Patterson said.

“We respect freedom of speech even for large, mega-billion-dollar fossil fuel corporations trying to bully and buy council seats.” she said in an email.

“There is no reason why Valero or the polling company should not now agree to our repeated requests to provide a copy to the city,” Young wrote, also in an email Friday.