Category Archives: Fair elections

Benicia residents and candidates oppose Valero influence in local election

Benicia residents gather in City Park, hold up signs on sidewalks to protest Valero meddling in local elections

By Roger Straw, November 4, 2022

Roger Straw, The Benicia Independent

Media coverage of this quickly planned protest was excellent. Even better is the video summary by local videographer Constance Beutel. I’ll post links to them all below.

Personal comment: as a longtime Benicia watchdog activist, I am impressed with the new leadership arising in town. They organized this rally in no time, with a turnout of around 75 and better media coverage than any event I can remember over the last 15 years! Kudos!


Video Coverage by Constance Beutel


Valero makes late entry into Benicia City Council race

Vallejo Sun, by Scott Morris, Nov 03, 2022

Texas-based oil manufacturer Valero is making a last-minute push to re-elect incumbent councilmembers Christina Strawbridge and Lionel Largaespada.
Benicians held a rally against oil manufacturer Valero’s influence in city politics on Wednesday, co-organized by Stephen Golub, seen speaking. Photo courtesy Kathy Kerridge.

BENICIA – Texas-based oil manufacturer Valero is making a last-minute push to re-elect incumbent councilmembers Christina Strawbridge and Lionel Largaespada to the Benicia City Council, spending thousands of dollars on mailers and social media ads.

According to expenditure reports filed with the city of Benicia on Wednesday, Valero had spent $89,507.71 supporting the two candidates as of Monday. That included $38,096.43 with Los Alamos-based Trusted Messenger Marketing on mailers and social media ads. That firm spent $10,000 on Facebook ads. Valero also spent $35,000 with Columbus, Ohio, polling firm EMC Research Inc.
[…continued…]


Benicians protest Valero’s campaign tactics

The Benicia Herald, November 4, 2022

Protesters gather at City Park on Wes. to protest the recent election flyers maiiled by a Valero-sponsored PAC, called Progress for Benicia.
[BenIndy Editor: Sorry the Benicia Herald doesn’t publish online. The editor, Galen Kusic, had a great page 1 story, photocopy available here.]

Vallejo Times-Herald: Benicia residents protest Valero’s role in local elections

Residents fed-up with the energy corporation’s slanted advertising campaigns, calling them deceitful, shameful, and confusing.
[BenIndy Editor: This front page above-the-fold Vallejo Times-Herald story is excellent, great photos and quotes. However, there are a few errors in the article.  >> Valero has spent $519K over the last 3 election cycles, not $678K. In our 2022 election, the Valero PAC has reported so far funneling $89K of its $232,000 into the effort to buy Benicia council seats, not the total. We won’t know how much more until required post-election reporting. – RS]
Nikki Basch-Davis, left, talks with Susan Street as dozens of Benicians took to the streets on Wednesday to speak out against the influence of the Valero Benicia Refinery in the local 2022 election. (Chris Riley/Times-Herald)
Vallejo Times-Herald, By Troy Sambajon, November 3, 2022
[Also carried by East Bay Times and  SiliconValley.com]

It’s the small town versus big business fighting over the voice of local democracy.

Concerned Benicians gathered at City Park on Wednesday afternoon to protest the Valero corporations’ role in local city council and mayoral elections. […continued…]


Residents Rally Against ‘Deceptive Campaigning’ By Valero In Nov. 8 Election

SFGate, by Katy St. Clair Bay City News Foundation,  Nov. 2, 2022

Dozens gathered at Benicia’s town center on Wednesday evening to decry what they are calling “malicious” campaigning by the owners of the town’s refinery, Valero, which they say is trying to influence Tuesday’s election.

Carrying signs that read “Valero: Big Bucks Run Amok” and “Stop Polluting Our Elections,” residents rallied in support of two council candidates not backed by Valero, Terry Scott and Kari Birdseye. They also cried foul about big oil money in small-town races.

“We are not paid lobbyists!” said local refinery pollution watchdog Cathy Bennett at the rally. “We’re not even public figures. We are your neighbors… We know this community. We are this community! A corporate giant in Texas does not know this community!” […continued…]


 

Excellent media coverage of Benicia Protest – and video of the event

Benicia residents gather in City Park, hold up signs on sidewalks to protest Valero meddling in local elections

By Roger Straw, November 4, 2022

Roger Straw, The Benicia Independent

Media coverage of this quickly planned protest was excellent. Even better is the video summary by local videographer Constance Beutel. I’ll post links to them all below.

Personal comment: as a longtime Benicia watchdog activist, I am impressed with the new leadership arising in town. They organized this rally in no time, with a turnout of around 75 and better media coverage than any event I can remember over the last 15 years! Kudos!


Video Coverage by Constance Beutel


Valero makes late entry into Benicia City Council race

Vallejo Sun, by Scott Morris, Nov 03, 2022

Texas-based oil manufacturer Valero is making a last-minute push to re-elect incumbent councilmembers Christina Strawbridge and Lionel Largaespada.
Benicians held a rally against oil manufacturer Valero’s influence in city politics on Wednesday, co-organized by Stephen Golub, seen speaking. Photo courtesy Kathy Kerridge.

BENICIA – Texas-based oil manufacturer Valero is making a last-minute push to re-elect incumbent councilmembers Christina Strawbridge and Lionel Largaespada to the Benicia City Council, spending thousands of dollars on mailers and social media ads.

According to expenditure reports filed with the city of Benicia on Wednesday, Valero had spent $89,507.71 supporting the two candidates as of Monday. That included $38,096.43 with Los Alamos-based Trusted Messenger Marketing on mailers and social media ads. That firm spent $10,000 on Facebook ads. Valero also spent $35,000 with Columbus, Ohio, polling firm EMC Research Inc.
[…continued…]


Benicians protest Valero’s campaign tactics

The Benicia Herald, November 4, 2022

Protesters gather at City Park on Wes. to protest the recent election flyers maiiled by a Valero-sponsored PAC, called Progress for Benicia.
[BenIndy Editor: Sorry the Benicia Herald doesn’t publish online. The editor, Galen Kusic, had a great page 1 story, photocopy available here.]

Vallejo Times-Herald: Benicia residents protest Valero’s role in local elections

Residents fed-up with the energy corporation’s slanted advertising campaigns, calling them deceitful, shameful, and confusing.
[BenIndy Editor: This front page above-the-fold Vallejo Times-Herald story is excellent, great photos and quotes. However, there are a few errors in the article.  >> Valero has spent $519K over the last 3 election cycles, not $678K. In our 2022 election, the Valero PAC has reported so far funneling $89K of its $232,000 into the effort to buy Benicia council seats, not the total. We won’t know how much more until required post-election reporting. – RS]
Nikki Basch-Davis, left, talks with Susan Street as dozens of Benicians took to the streets on Wednesday to speak out against the influence of the Valero Benicia Refinery in the local 2022 election. (Chris Riley/Times-Herald)
Vallejo Times-Herald, By Troy Sambajon, November 3, 2022
[Also carried by East Bay Times and  SiliconValley.com]

It’s the small town versus big business fighting over the voice of local democracy.

Concerned Benicians gathered at City Park on Wednesday afternoon to protest the Valero corporations’ role in local city council and mayoral elections. […continued…]


Residents Rally Against ‘Deceptive Campaigning’ By Valero In Nov. 8 Election

SFGate, by Katy St. Clair Bay City News Foundation,  Nov. 2, 2022

Dozens gathered at Benicia’s town center on Wednesday evening to decry what they are calling “malicious” campaigning by the owners of the town’s refinery, Valero, which they say is trying to influence Tuesday’s election.

Carrying signs that read “Valero: Big Bucks Run Amok” and “Stop Polluting Our Elections,” residents rallied in support of two council candidates not backed by Valero, Terry Scott and Kari Birdseye. They also cried foul about big oil money in small-town races.

“We are not paid lobbyists!” said local refinery pollution watchdog Cathy Bennett at the rally. “We’re not even public figures. We are your neighbors… We know this community. We are this community! A corporate giant in Texas does not know this community!” […continued…]


 

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.

Benicia – PAC influence here worse than in Big Cities

The One Way in Which Our Wonderful Benicia’s Politics Are Worse Than Those of Big Cities

By Stephen Golub, Benicia Resident, October 31, 2020
Stephen Golub, Benicia

When my wife and I moved to Benicia, one major reason we did so is the wonderful sense of community here. Even during these terrible Covid times, this town’s warmth has continued to shine through. And though my fantastic neighbors and I don’t always agree about politics, our chats about them have always been friendly and civil.

It’s against this backdrop that this year’s mayoral campaign, namely the negative attacks on Council Member Steve Young by the Valero-backed PAC, Working Families for a Strong Benicia, has been so appalling. The many lies and distortions have apparently included blasting him for his legitimately receiving a publicly funded pension. What’s next? Denigrating someone for getting social security?

To be clear, before for I go any further: I recognize that Valero and its local workers have legitimate interests and that it donates to Benicia’s well-being in many much-appreciated ways. But while individuals who work for Valero here may arrange such contributions with the best of intentions, the corporation’s Texas headquarters is not funding them out of the goodness of its heart. Rather, it’s to influence perceptions of the company and thus increase its influence on our city.

If Valero were simply out to help, think of how many meals for hungry families impacted by the Covid economy or services for school kids could have been purchased with the nearly $400,000 that Valero and its allies put into tainting our politics in 2018 and 2020.

Furthermore, I respect Vice Mayor Christina Strawbridge’s devotion to Benicia. But I’m nonetheless disappointed that her disavowal of the Valero PAC’s attacks on Mr. Young have been so weak and late, largely confined to a couple of recent online candidate forums, and that she has sought to equate its massive spending with negative but much less impactful social media insults against her.

I also give her kudos for responding quickly and thoughtfully when I emailed her campaign about the PAC’s attacks on Steve Young. But meek disavowals by her do not make for a convincing rejection of its attacks on Mr. Young. And in view of the PAC’s strenuous support for her, they do nothing to reassure us about how she will deal with Valero if she wins.

All this brings me to how the PAC’s actions have been even worse than what I’ve seen in some big cities – namely, what I witnessed years ago working in New York City politics and government and later living in Manila (in the Philippines) and, most recently, Oakland.

Here’s how: I’ve never seen so much money spent to try to sway the votes of so few people, particularly through the lies and distortions about Mr. Young that the PAC has circulated in support of Ms. Strawbridge. Between 2018 and 2020, Valero’s and its allies’ attacks on candidates it opposes have worked out to about $25 per voter here, based on the roughly 15,000 citizens who cast ballots in our elections.

Now, don’t get me wrong. Politics in those much bigger cities can get dirtier than here. But purely in terms of per person expenditure, my admittedly imperfect memory can’t recall such great levels of funding pouring into a campaign.

My concerns go beyond what’s being spent, however, to what’s being bought or at least influenced if Christina Strawbridge is elected. PACs exist to advance specific interests. This is particularly concerning in Benicia, which has seen very recent disputes, especially crude-by-rail, over Valero’s operations. Steve Young has been much stronger on such matters.

What’s more, our state is being ravaged by climate change-facilitated fires. Benicia itself is threatened by them – recall the Vallejo fire last year and the toxic skies in recent months. Other refineries are converting to biofuel processing. California’s and potentially federal policies (pending the presidential election results) are shifting away from petroleum. In light of all this, Valero should be exploring with Benicia a gradual transition that protects its interests and especially those of its workers, not adding fuel to the fire of this great town’s politics.

I’ll note that the one issue that I’ve discussed (online) with Mr. Young involved my challenging his proposal earlier this year for indirect city support for Covid-impacted Benicia businesses – an idea about which, in retrospect, he might have been right. He was civil, polite and thoughtful in his reply.

In contrast, Ms. Strawbridge could have done much better in backing away from Valero’s backing. So can we, come Election Day, by voting for Steve Young.