Category Archives: Tom Campbell

2020 elections, Benicia City Council, Benicia elections, Benicia Mayor, Benicia Mayor Steve Young, Cannabis, Christina Strawbridge, Terry Scott, Tom Campbell

Benicia election results – a few candidate quotes…

November 5, 2020 Roger Straw

[Editor: You may want to skip the last half of this report. The reporter gives nearly half of her report to the Cannabis measure D outcome, including extensive quotes from the losing parties and none from those supporting the majority YES on measure D. – R.S.]

ELECTION 2020: Steve Young wins Benicia mayor race, cannabis measure passes

Cannabis measure passes

Vallejo Times-Herald, By Katy St. Clair, November 4, 2020

BENICIA — Steve Young has been elected mayor of Benicia and a ballot measure he supported, Measure D, was also approved, possibly opening the door for more than one cannabis dispensary in town.

Councilmember Tom Campbell was also re-elected for another term and Terry Scott was also elected to the council as results are now final from Tuesday’s Election Night.

Young defeated fellow Councilmember Christina Strawbridge, with 54.59 percent of the vote. Strawbridge garnered 31.02 percent of the vote and third candidate, Jason Diavatis, received 14.38 percent of the vote.

Young has been on the Benicia City Council for four years and served on the planning commission before that.

“I feel enthused” Young said about his win. “I feel ready to get to work. I think it was a big win for the community and a repudiation of negative campaigning. It should send a message to Valero and others that Benicia voters aren’t going to be swayed by this type of campaigning.”

The mayoral race was at times contentious, helped along by texts, robo-calls, mailers and TV ads paid for by Valero in support of Strawbridge. The oil company pumped more than $250,000 into the race, despite Strawbridge’s stated displeasure with their help.

“Congratulations to Steve Young,” said Strawbridge. “He won decisively.”

Young backed Measure D and made it one of his campaign issues and Strawbridge opposed it.

“It was close,” she said. The measure won with just over half of the votes. Measure D allows the City of Benicia to add more cannabis dispensaries, though the measure is what is called an ‘advisory vote,’ meaning it merely takes the pulse of the electorate. It will not affect local law.”

Benicia resident Bart Bright, who opposed Measure D, agrees that the vote was close and says that shows that the town is divided on the issue.

“The main thing is, we haven’t even opened the first one. Why don’t we just wait?” he said.

Bright also questions the public safety risks involved with having dispensaries, citing a shooting of two dispensary security guards in Oakland on Tuesday.

Strawbridge foresees “a big fight” over adding more dispensaries but she praises the young people that created signs around town opposing the measure, saying that those kids “are our future.”

2020 elections, Benicia elections, Cannabis, Christina Strawbridge, Jason Diavatis, Steve Young, Terry Scott, Tom Campbell, Trevor Macenski

Benicia 2020 election results – details and analysis

November 5, 2020 Roger Straw

By Roger Straw, November 5, 2020

Outstanding votes

The Solano County Registrar of Voters have completed the count of Election Day ballots, and added those results to previously received mail-in ballots. The result is still unofficial. As of 9am on Thurs. Nov. 5, The County reports an estimate of 18,000-25,000 additional County-wide vote-by-mail ballots to be received and processed, and 4,000-6,000 additional provisional ballots to be processed. Benicia’s share of those 22,000-31,000 ballots has not been reported and remains unknown. However, Benicia’s population is 7% of Solano population, and our voter turnout percentage of 71% is slightly higher than countywide 68% – so we might count for 8% of the 22,000-31,000, or 1,760-2,800 votes. The County will update its results at close of business and I will report here on any significant changes in outcome.

Benicia races for Mayor and City Council – winners and losers…

Details and analysis…

14,528 Benicia ballots were received, 71% of 20,393 registered voters. Wow!
MAYOR results as of Thurs. Nov 5, 9am:

CANDIDATE NAME TOTAL VOTES PERCENTAGE

7,266 51.93%

4,287 30.64%

2,409 17.22%
Steve Young won vote-by-mail by a huge margin with 55% to Christina Strawbridge’s 31% and Jason Diavatis’ 15%.
Jason Diavatis (surprise!) won election-day voting with 36% (then Young at 34% and Strawbridge at 30%). Close!
There were relatively few election-day votes, 1,746, compared to a whopping 12,216 vote-by-mail ballots. Thus Steve Young’s incredible overall margin of 21 points.
CITY COUNCIL results as of Thurs. Nov. 5, 9am:

CANDIDATE NAME TOTAL VOTES PERCENTAGE

7,245 36.56%

6,269 31.63%

6,177 31.17%
Tom Campbell won re-election to City Council with the highest vote total among candidates and a margin of just under 1,000 votes. By tradition, as top vote-getter, Campbell will be named Benicia’s Vice Mayor, replacing Christina Strawbridge in that role.
Terry Scott won the second seat on City Council by 135 votes in election-day voting, but lost to Trevor Macenski by 43 votes in vote-by-mail. Scott’s narrow final (unofficial) margin of 92 votes is subject to counting of more mail-in ballots and provisional ballots. Keep your fingers crossed!

Cannabis results:

CANDIDATE NAME	TOTAL VOTES	PERCENTAGE
	7,175	51.44%
	6,772	48.56%

Those voting YES won in vote-by-mail ballots by a margin of 526 votes. Those voting NO won in election-day voting by a margin of 123 votes. Again, mail-in voting far outnumbered election-day voters. Voters cast 12,182 mail-in ballots and only 1,765 election-day ballots. I expect that the final (unofficial) margin of 403 votes, or 2.88% is likely to hold as the County counts additional mail-in ballots and provisional ballots.

2020 elections, Benicia elections, Benicia Mayor Steve Young, Cannabis, Solano County Registrar of Voters, Terry Scott, Tom Campbell

Benicia election results – winners Steve Young, Tom Campbell, Terry Scott, and the Cannabis Referendum

November 4, 2020 Roger Straw

By Roger Straw, November 4, 2020 [See also: UPDATED details and analysis (Nov. 5).]

Here are Benicia election results as of 8:15 a.m. on November 4, from the Solano County Registrar of Voters website. This count includes in-person votes from all 10 precincts, and most but not all mail-in ballots. Considered unofficial, there will be additional mail-in ballots and provisional ballots, but for practical purposes, these results can be considered conclusive.

Steve Young is our new Mayor, and Terry Scott has squeaked by as the second of two new City Council members. Congratulations, Steve and Terry!

SOLANO COUNTY REGISTRAR OF VOTERS

VOTER TURNOUT: 63.3%. Ballots Cast 163,746. Registered Voters 258,850.

Candidate Name	Total Votes	Percentage
	7,266	51.93%
	4,287	30.64%
	2,409	17.22%

Candidate Name	Total Votes	Percentage
	7,245	36.56%
	6,269	31.63%
	6,177	31.17%

Candidate Name	Total Votes	Percentage
	7,175	51.44%
	6,772	48.56%

"Push poll", Benicia City Attorney Heather McLaughlin, EMC Research, Kari Birdseye, Legal action, Lionel Largaespada, Local elections, Local Regulation, Research America, Steve Young, Tom Campbell, Valero Benicia Refinery

Campbell wanted to sue immediately over push poll; Largaespada defends himself

October 9, 2018 Roger Straw

Repost from the Vallejo Times-Herald
[BenIndy Editor: I believe that no current Benicia City Council candidate was involved in nor favors push polls. But the reason for Valero to smear one candidate and lift another is clear. Valero can’t be unaware that Mr. Largaespada stood firm with Valero and against the will of the people during the controversial Crude by Rail debate in 2014-16. Planning Commissioner Kari Birdseye voted with the unanimous decision to stop Valero “in its tracks.” Valero has every reason – and every right – to openly and fairly voice its preference. But to secretly fund dirty tricks to achieve its goal is a tactic that should be soundly criticized by all candidates. I’ll vote for Birdseye, and hope that our next Council will include 3 women for the first time ever. – RS]

Campbell sought tougher response to push poll incident

By John Glidden, October 8, 2018 at 5:51 pm

BENICIA — Days after the Benicia City Council met in closed session directing City Attorney Heather Mc Laughlin to seek answers about a controversial polling incident, speculation swirled on which councilor voted against the move.

Councilman Tom Campbell confirmed he was the lone “no” vote in the Oct. 2 closed session decision.

“I wanted a stronger response than the rest of the council members wanted,” Campbell explained in an email to the Times-Herald.

The City Council authorized Mc Laughlin to contact Research America and EMC Research about their respective roles in a series of phone calls made to residents in September. Research America conducted the polling, which included questions about the city’s current council candidates.

The polling firm said EMC hired them, and just last week, Mc Laughlin confirmed that the Valero Benicia Refinery sponsored the entire polling.

Vice Mayor Steve Young, and other residents, have stated they received one of the survey calls which allegedly smeared council candidate Kari Birdseye while championing fellow council candidate Lionel Largaespada. Young called the survey a “push poll,” a type of survey meant to influence voters instead of gathering objective survey information from those called.

Councilors expressed concern that since the survey calls didn’t provide a “paid for by” disclaimer at the end of the phone calls the survey may have violated the city’s municipal code. A claim the polling firms have denied through their lawyer.

Campbell, who led the charge for the present campaigning ordinance in the municipal code, said he wanted immediate action in response to the poll.

“What I wanted was that the council authorize the city attorney to immediately go to Superior Court, file an injunction/lawsuit against the pollster and subpoena the records from EMC on who paid for it, how much, and what the exact questions were,” Campbell wrote in the same email. “The council took a little softer line than I wanted. I felt we had to act now to obtain the information as quickly as possible before the Nov. election.”

Largaespada issued a statement on Sunday in response to the news that Valero paid for the polling.

“I was very disappointed to learn that Valero sponsored the recent polling in Benicia,” he wrote in an email to this newspaper. “As I previously stated, I was not involved in any way with this polling effort, and I did not know who was conducting it.

“As I also stated, push polling, or any misrepresentation of a candidate’s stance or ideals is not something that I support in any way,” he added. “I hope that Valero will provide the content of the poll so that this issue can be resolved.”

Largaespada, who has expressed support in the past for the “crude by rail” initiative, also defended himself from comments made online by residents.

“To the commenters on Nextdoor that have suggested that I am in favor of this type of tactic, or that I am a ‘tool’ or ‘mouthpiece’ for Valero — these comments are completely false and without merit,” he wrote. “I understand that issues involving Valero are polarizing in our community, but to say that because someone believes differently than you do about an issue makes them a ‘tool’ for an entity is nothing more than name-calling.”

Mc Laughlin was also tasked by the council to obtaining a copy of the poll questions. In a letter she sent Research America, and EMC, last Friday, she gave them 72 hours to send a copy of the questions to her office.

Mc Laughlin said she didn’t have a copy of the poll questions as of Monday afternoon and was told she would get a response to her request on Wednesday.