Losing is never easy. One learns to lose graciously, and most times, it’s best to do so. This morning, however, the candidate might disagree with me, but the grapes are in fact sour.
My take: they learned their lesson – and the lesson they learned is not good. Attack. The way of Trump works.
Fill your promo literature and phone calls with a bad enough lie. Smear the candidate. Scare the public. Fill a dump truck with money. Hire a nasty lawyer. Get away with it.
Here in Benicia, if you take off the gloves and punch low, the public might not notice. Go with hit pieces and innuendo and the public might give you a pass. Heaven help us in 2020.
By Roger Straw, Election Day, November 6, 2018
[Editor: For whatever reason, the City backed off its plan to post the video of the forum, but made DVD copies available to the public on request. This is therefore an official record of the proceedings, uploaded from the DVD by Benicia videographer Constance Beutel. Many thanks, Constance! – R.S.]
Candidates disavow Valero/Labor PAC’s offensive negative phone calls and ads
Below is the recording of the City of Benicia Open Government Commission’s “Final Word” forum held on Saturday, November 3. (Note that there is a lengthy intro with nothing happening. The meeting is called to order at 8:45.)
The Final Word Forum is convened by the City of Benicia Open Government Commission on the Saturday before an election as a means for candidates to address “last minute hit pieces.” (Municipal code ordinance 1.42.110.)
The Benicia Independent has endorsed Kari Birdseye for City Council. For more about Kari, see BirdseyeForBenicia.com.
NOTE SLOW START: The first part of this video shows nothing happening. The meeting is convened at minute 8:45, but nothing much happens until Public Comment, which begins at minute 12:28. Even then, the call for speakers doesn’t come until minute 13:33. To move forward through the video, hover your mouse at bottom and click/drag the little red ball to the right until you reach the minute you want.
NOTE ALSO:
Public Comment speakers favoring the Valero/Labor anti-Birdseye PAC run from 13:33 to 33:36. Mr. Versace, who is eventually ejected by police for misbehavior, is called to speak at minute 22:50.
At 33:50 Gigi Giblin leads off a series of speakers critical of the PAC’s hit pieces.
Rules, procedures and housekeeping begins at 51:07.
The CANDIDATE COMMENTS followed by PUBLIC QUESTIONS and CANDIDATE ANSWERS begins at 55:50.
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/btvor on your tv at home on Comcast channel 27 or AT&T U-Verse channel 99.
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-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.
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.”
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