She’s Got What It Takes

Kari Birdseye for Benicia City Council

By Betty Lucas, Benicia resident, July 3, 2022

As a Benicia newbie, moving to this wonderful city in 2019, I recall being shocked by the negative advertising filling my mailbox during the 2020 city council campaign. The tone of such a small-town election seemed to be the antithesis of living in such a welcoming community, where drivers downtown stop for you, even if you are not in a crosswalk.

I was later appalled to learn this negative advertising was from a Political Action Committee (PAC) most of its nearly $250,000 coming from Valero. The PAC seemed dedicated to attacking nominees they want to keep out of Benicia’s city council, and flooding our community with praise for the candidates they want.

Fast forward to 2022 and the same thing seems like it will happen again.

Forget the unfair fact that the Supreme Court’s “Citizens United” decision helped open the floodgates to PACs like Valero‘s to legally have far more financial influence than individual candidates or citizens can.

The good news, though, is that Kari Birdseye, a reasonable candidate who stood up to Valero’s unrelenting election abuse in 2018 and lost, has chosen to run for city council again in 2022. As if that’s not guts enough to get my vote…wait, there’s way more to this candidate.

Ms. Birdseye represents and supports the best parts of living in Benicia. As a parent who raised her kids here, she is dedicated to keeping our Benicia vibrant. Kari not only supports local shops, artists and music, she serves as Chair of Benicia’s Planning Commission. She’s won awards on environmental and economic leadership, and successfully lowered harmful pesticide impacts on local farmers.

Kari is who Benicia needs on its city council, especially now, after the recent revelation that Valero secretly released pollutants into our air far beyond what was allowed, for 16 years. No wonder Valero does not want someone like Kari Birdseye on the council. In addition to all her expertise, we can at the very least count on Kari to keep watch on our air and water quality. Visit her website and judge for yourself.

As the election nears, watch for a hailstorm of negative advertising, including on social media. Question deceptive advertising from groups with family-friendly names, that present themselves as being for Benicia’s families. After all, how could something called “Citizens United” (the name of that Supreme Court decision) be bad?…That’s what got us into this mess of corporate PACS being able to donate way more than citizens…it was the absolute antithesis of “Uniting Citizens.” Benician votes cannot be bought.

Birdseye is a strong, sensible person who wants what’s best for our fantastic community. She’s a dedicated professional who walks the walk, takes no corporate donations and wants to hear from you. Tell Kari what you want from our city council. She will listen.

Betty Lucas,
Benicia Resident

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More letters, news & links about Kari here on the BenIndy

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And best of all – Kari’s website!