Category Archives: Benicia City Council

Benicia City Council, Kari Birdseye, Local elections

Two weeks from Election Day – write a letter, volunteer … and VOTE!

October 22, 2018 Roger Straw

By Roger Straw, October 22, 2018

There’s still time to help – local democracy is important!

We’re coming down to the wire… Some of us have been really busy during this campaign season. Now’s the race to the finish!

If you can, please write a letter to support your candidate. By now, you all know that my first choice for City Council is Kari Birdseye. Volunteer for Birdseye, ask for a yard sign, offer to make calls, send in another donation… and send in your mail-in ballot TODAY! And if you’re like me – I’ll see you at the polling place on Tuesday, November 6.

Still deciding who to vote for? See letters from your neighbors and friends below…

10/21/2018	Lisa Reinertson The Inconvenient Truth in Benicia
10/21/2018	Vicki Byrum Dennis An Artist for Kari Birdseye
10/21/2018	Larnie Fox Questioning Largaespada for Benicia City Council
10/21/2018	Andres Soto Benicia deserves better
10/19/2018	Jan Cox-Golovich Unprecedented special interests
10/13/2018	Constance Beutel Kari Birdseye – courage, heart and commitment
10/13/2018	Roger Straw City Records show Valero, others pooling 104,200 for negative ads
10/12/2018	Roger Straw My Life in Perspective, Climate Change and This Election
10/8/2018	Gigi Giblin For the health of our community – Kari Birdseye
10/7/2018	Bob Berman Valero trying to influence our election
10/7/2018	Jan Cox Golovich Kari Birdseye for transparent & honest local government
10/7/2018	Kathy Kerridge Kari Birdseye for City Council
10/7/2018	Mayor Elizabeth Patterson Water questions for candidates
10/7/2018	Roger Straw Valero should be ashamed and called out
10/6/2018	Susan Street Valero undermining our democratic process
10/4/2018	Larnie Fox Why vote for Kari Birdseye?
10/3/2018	Craig Snider A few thoughts on endorsements
9/30/2018	Nikki Basch Davis A clear choice for health
9/28/2018	Constance Beutel I’m voting for Kari Birdseye
9/28/2018	Elaine Eisner Informed, talented, experienced
9/28/2018	June Mejias Kari Birdseye dedicated and experienced
9/26/2018	Susan Street Misleading poll calls
9/23/2018	Steve Young Outside corporations interfering
9/21/2018	Monica Brown Birdseye for Council
9/9/2018	Pat Toth-Smith Birdseye puts safety first

SEND YOUR THOUGHTS TO THE NEWS MEDIA:

Benicia Herald, 820 First St, Benicia, CA 94510, or by email to the editor at beniciaherald@gmail.com
Vallejo Times-Herald, P.O. Box 3188, Vallejo, CA 94590, Fax: 643-0128, or by email to Editor Jack Bungart at jbungart@timesheraldonline.com.
Benicia Independent – send to Roger at rogrmail at gmail dot com.

POST TO SOCIAL MEDIA (some require membership):

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/
Nextdoor: https://nextdoor.com/city/benicia–ca/
Benicia Happenings: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1506873452918323/

Click here to go to Kari Birdseye’s campaign website, BirdseyeForBenicia.com

Benicia City Council, Local elections, Mail-in ballots

Ballot voting in Benicia – slow start

October 22, 2018 Roger Straw

By Roger Straw, October 22, 2018

Status of mailed ballots in Benicia as of Friday Oct. 19

Political Data Inc. shows the up-to-date status of mailed ballots in the City of Benicia. Here’s a snapshot of the CA 2018 General Election Tracker for Benicia on October 19, 2018.

A total of 13,034 ballots were mailed, 49 percent Democrat, 22 percent Republican, and 29 percent independent.

As of October 19th only 671 ballots had been received at the register of voters office. This seems like a low number. Does it show low interest in the election? More likely, I think, people are waiting for more information, or just waiting until closer to election day. But it shows that the daily number of ballots received is increasing. Click here or on the image below to enlarge…

Benicia City Attorney Heather McLaughlin, Benicia City Clerk, Benicia City Council, Christina Strawbridge, Corporate influence, Kari Birdseye, Lionel Largaespada, Local elections, Organized labor, Valero Benicia Refinery, Valero Services Inc.

UPDATE: Anti-Birdseye PAC gets more money

October 18, 2018 Roger Straw

By Roger Straw, October 18, 2018

The Benicia City Clerk notified City Council members and candidates yesterday that additional campaign finance reports were received from the Pro-Strawbridge-Largaespada/Anti-Birdseye PAC. [Editor: You will notice that I am purposely avoiding use of the politically loaded and false title the PAC has chosen for itself, Wkg Fmls…]

Two NEW Contribution Forms 497 were filed, and one NEW Expenditure Form 496 was received from the PAC on Wednesday.

In addition, since last reported here on October 13, a few new reports and corrective AMENDED reports were filed. These new filings are not clearly labeled by the City of Benicia. All are simply listed by number on the City website without much guidance for voters. I’ll try to sort it out below, with new totals.

But meanwhile, be alert! In summary, the PAC is absolutely LOADED for more big campaign expenditures during these final weeks before election day. TOTAL CONTRIBUTIONS OF $154,200 MINUS EXPENDITURES TO DATE OF $25,836.06: $128,363.94.

CONTRIBUTIONS UPDATE (Oct. 18)

Anti-Birdseye_PAC_Form_497_1.pdf
Heat @ Frost PAC, $30,000; Boilermakers PAC $30,000; Valero Svcs $14,200, all on 10/10
Anti-Birdseye_PAC_Form_497_2.pdf
CA Bldg & Construction Trades PAC $30,000 on 10/11
Anti-Birdseye_PAC_Form_497_3.pdf
CA Pipe Trades PAC $30,000 on 10/15
Anti-Birdseye_PAC_Form_497_4.pdf
NEW AMENDMENT TO 497-1: Heat & Frost $20,000 (not $30,000)
Anti-Birdseye_PAC_Form_497_5.pdf
NEW CONTRIBUTION Iron Workers PAC $30,000 on 10/16
TOTAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO DATE: $154,200

EXPENDITURES UPDATE (Oct. 18)

Anti-Birdseye_PAC_Form_496_1.pdf
PRO-STRAWBRIDGE: Winning Connections calls $5,166.67 on 10/10; Valero Use of Poll $4,733.34 on 10/10
Anti-Birdseye_PAC_Form_496_2.pdf
PRO-LARGAESPADA: Winning Connections calls $5,166.67 on 10/10; Valero Use of Poll $4,733.34 on 10/10
Anti-Birdseye_PAC_Form_496_3.pdf
ANTI-BIRDSEYE: Winning Connections calls $5,166.67 on 10/10; Valero Use of Poll $4,733.34 on 10/10
Anti-Birdseye_PAC_Form_496_4.pdf
ANTI-BIRDSEYE: Digital Turf media buy $4,689 on 10/11 (cumulative to date $16,589); Digital Turf ad production $2,000 on 10/11 (cumulative to date $16,589)
Anti-Birdseye_PAC_Form_496_5.pdf
PRO-STRAWBRIDGE: Digital Turf media buy $4,689 on 10/13 (cumulative to date $16,589); Digital Turf ad production $2,000 on 10/13 (cumulative to date $16,589)
Anti-Birdseye_PAC_Form_496_6.pdf
PRO-LARGAESPADA: Digital Turf media buy $4,689 on 10/13 (cumulative to date $16,589); Digital Turf ad production $2,000 on 10/13 (cumulative to date $16,589)
Anti-Birdseye_PAC_Form_496_7.pdf
AMENDMENT TO 496-1 PRO-STRAWBRIDGE Winning Connection calls $5,413.73 (not $5,166.67) and (cumulative to date $16,836.07); Heat & Frost contribution of $20,000 (not $30,000) on 10/16
Anti-Birdseye_PAC_Form_496_8.pdf
AMENDMENT TO 496-2 PRO-LARGAESPADA: Winning Connections calls $5,413.73 (not $5,166.67) and (cumulative to date $16,836.07) on 10/16
Anti-Birdseye_PAC_Form_496_9.pdf
AMENDMENT TO 496-3 ANTI-BIRDSEYE: Winning Connections calls $5,413.73 (not $5,166.67) and (cumulative to date $16,836.07) on 10/16
Anti-Birdseye_PAC_Form_496_10.pdf
AMENDMENT TO 496-4 ANTI-BIRDSEYE: Digital Turf media buy and ad production (and cumulative to date $16,836) on 10/15
Anti-Birdseye_PAC_Form_496_11.pdf
NEW EXPENDITURE PRO-LARGAESPADA: Winning Connection calls $9,000 (cumulative to date $25,836.06) on 10/16
TOTAL EXPENDITURES TO DATE: $25,836.06

"Push poll", Benicia City Attorney Heather McLaughlin, Benicia City Council, Benicia Vice Mayor Steve Young, EMC Research, Kari Birdseye, Research America, Valero Benicia Refinery

Benicia will file “push poll” complaint with Fair Political Practices Commission

October 18, 2018 Roger Straw

Repost from the Vallejo Times-Herald
[Editor: See also Kari Birdseye responds to negative ads, and her Facebook ad: Kari Birdseye cannot be bullied or bought. – R.S.]

Benicia council directs staff to file complaint over “push poll”

By JOHN GLIDDEN, October 17, 2018 at 6:08 pm

BENICIA — City Attorney Heather Mc Laughlin has been directed by a unanimous vote of the council to send a formal complaint to the state about a recent polling survey in the city.

The vote took place during the City Council’s closed session on Tuesday.

Mc Laughlin will send the complaint to the California Fair Political Practices Commission after the polling firms, hired by Valero Benicia Refinery, refused to provide a copy of the questions.

City officials believe the survey may have violated the city’s municipal code when the callers failed to state that the survey was a political call. Research America and EMC Research, which were contacted to conduct the survey, said, through their attorney, that the calls were not political and thus didn’t require a disclaimer or “paid for” notice.

Vice Mayor Steve Young spoke during the open session portion of Tuesday night’s meeting and said the issue could be resolved if Valero simply provided a copy of the questions asked to about 250 residents.

“It’s easy to put to rest,” Young said about Valero providing the questions.

The council earlier this month directed Mc Laughlin to obtain the questions and other items related to the survey after Young and other residents reported receiving one of the survey calls in late September.

Young called the survey a “push poll,” which is a survey used to influence the respondent instead of collecting factual information.

The polling companies, through their lawyer, further said 256 randomly selected likely voters from within Benicia were contacted from Sept. 6 to Sept. 20 to participate.

During her investigation, Valero admitted to paying for the survey.

The Times-Herald has asked Valero repeatedly for a copy of the questions but the company has ignored those requests.

“It’s their property,” Young further said Tuesday night about the survey questions.

He said Valero’s failure to provide information about the survey forces the City Council to act.

“We’re put into the position of having to take the next step to protect our own ordinance,” he added.