Category Archives: Valero Benicia Refinery

2020 elections, Benicia elections, Benicia Mayor, Fair elections, Negative campaigning, Steve Young, Valero Benicia Refinery, Valero PAC

Benicia Mayor candidate Steve Young: Finding common ground with Valero when they want me to lose SO badly

By Roger Straw, October  19, 2020
The Benicia Herald, Sunday, October 18, p. A5

Candidate for Benicia Mayor Steve Young took out a half-page ad in Sunday’s print edition of the Benicia Herald, laying out steps Valero could take to be a “better neighbor to Benicia.”

The ad headline asks, WHY DO VALERO & THEIR FRIENDS WANT ME TO LOSE SO BADLY?

Candidate Young continues,

I appreciate the value Valero brings to Benicia and their generosity to assist the community.  But appreciating the good they do and being critical of their negative politics are not mutually exclusive.  It’s not either or.  We can and should do both.

The strain between Valero and the City is often attributed to their contentions relationships with specific candidates and elected officials.  I just don’t see it that way.  I think the blame rests on their response (or lack thereof) to a concerned community and the lengths they have gone to disrupt elections that have historically been fair & friendly.  We need a Mayor with the necessary experience to find a common ground that will enable Valero to become a “”Better Neighbor” to Benicia.  Where do we start?

Young then lays out 3 bullet points for a better relationship with Valero:

PROTECTING THE HEALTH AND SAFETY OF BENICIANS AND THEIR FAMILIES MUST COME FIRST.

    • Increase transparency & improve communication including immediate community alerts for any incident impacting resident health, safety or environment, followed by regular updates and instructions on how to respond.
    • Air quality monitoring systems that work in conjunction with public alerts in accordance with official City policy & procedure.
    • Cease all negative campaigning practices and allow Benicia voters to elect candidates in accordance with City’s Election Code.  Keep elections fair and stop the spread of false or misleading attack ads.

Young then addresses outside election influence and Benicia’s future if Valero continues its negative campaign tactics:

IF WE ALLOW VALERO’S PAC TO WIN A MAYOR’S SEAT, A DANGEROUS PRECEDENT WILL BE SET AS A RESULT.

If Valero’s PAC succeeds, we can expect these same destructive tactics in every Benicia election going forward.  It’s time we take a stand and let them know, “Enough is enough!”   You can start by electing me as your next Mayor.  I have the right qualifications and the temperament to repair the discord between the City and Valero, and help heal the divide felt within our community.  I’m ready to get to work!

Young concludes with a statement about big outside money and an invitation for Valero to choose a better course:

MONEY DOESN’T VOTE, YOU AND I DO.  BENICIA ELECTIONS SHOULD BE DECIDED BY BENICIA VOTERS.

I encourage Valero to seize this opportunity and choose to be better.  Restore the peace in our politics, reset your relationship with the community, and work with the City as equal parties, both deserving mutual trust, respect and transparency.  Vote for me, STEVE YOUNG, either on, or before November 3rd.  If elected Mayor of Benicia, I pledge to do whatever it takes to achieve these common goals.

See also:

2020 elections, Benicia elections, Fair elections, Steve Young, Valero Benicia Refinery, Valero PAC

Paul Adler of Benicia Valero: captured on video refusing to refrain from negative election interference

By Roger Straw, October 14, 2020

Youtube video thanks to Dr. Constance Beutel, Benicia.

At a September 19, 2019 public presentation by Valero in Benicia, Paul Adler, Valero Benicia’s Director of Government Affairs and Community Relations, declined to respond to a question regarding interfering in local Benicia elections.

Benicia resident Andrés Soto was in the audience, and posed a question during Q&A.  Recalling Valero’s malicious attacks in Benicia’s 2018 election, Mr. Soto posed a question: “You say you want to be a ‘good neighbor.’  Will you pledge not to conduct a similar negative campaign in the local elections in 2020, and let Benicians make their own decisions?”

Watch the 2-minute video for Mr. Adler’s refusal to make the pledge.  And see Valero & Friends Attempt to Buy our 2020 Election for Valero’s massive effort to buy the Mayor’s seat in 2020 – including misleading and demeaning, negative ads against candidate Steve Young.

2020 elections, Benicia elections, Campaign finance, Steve Young, Valero Benicia Refinery, Valero PAC

Benicia Valero PAC throws in another $7,000 for live phone calls

By Roger Straw, October 13 2020

Valero PAC spending to buy the 2020 Mayor seat now totals $70,844

Reporting on forms required by Benicia ordinance, the Valero PAC that is attempting to buy the Benicia Mayor race detailed the expenditure of another $7,000 on  October 10.

Cumulative Valero PAC spending to date: $70,844.  (COMPARE: All candidates running for Benicia mayor and Council who pledge to run fair campaigns may not spend over $34,200 on their own campaigns.)

Details of new money spent for Christina Strawbridge and to defeat Steve Young:

  • LIVE CALLS – Another $7,000

Payments was made to WINNING CONNECTIONS, 317 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, 2ND FLOOR, WASHINGTON, DC.  Source: Benicia_Form_496_6.pdf .

I am tracking DETAILS of the Valero PAC’s 2020 campaign disclosure reports combined in a single Excel spreadsheet.  The sheet contains 2 tabs:

    • “VALERO PAC Form460 CpgnDisclosr” is a record of Valero’s SUMMARY reports, showing 2020 income, expenses and cash balance.
    • “Forms 465 & 496 IndExp” is a more interesting 2nd tab, showing in detail Valero’s individual expenditures.

REFERENCE: Valero PAC Financial Disclosures – City of Benicia website

Source: from the City of Benicia website, 2020 Campaign Finance Reports

2020 elections, Benicia City Council, Benicia elections, Benicia Mayor, Valero Benicia Refinery

John Ryan – Some background on political ambitions of Christina and Scott Strawbridge

[Editorial disclaimer: the following letter appeared on several social media sites and was printed in the Benicia Herald on October 11. It is questionable whether it is fair to characterize a candidate by reference to their spouse, but in this case, the complex political connections are relatively clear, and should be aired if not swallowed whole.  – R.S.]

By John Ryan, Benicia, Visual Storyteller
October 6, 2020

Recently, allegations and questions arose regarding the conduct of Christina’s husband, Scott Strawbridge, and attempts made to persuade Mr. Jason Diavatis to drop out of his mayoral campaign in an effort to help secure a win for his wife, Christina Strawbridge. Their response to these allegations were vague, misleading & lacking in critical detail.

Who is Scott Strawbridge and why does it matter?

When asked about Benicia’s controversial history with Valero spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in an effort to buy seats on our city council, most of us would likely jump to the 2018 election and their successful campaign to elect Lionel Largaespada & Christina Strawbridge using push polls and negative attack ads.

Most of us understood why Valero would choose to support Lionel given his support of Crude by Rail and his conservative politics.

However, in 2018, many were confused by their inclusion of Ms. Strawbridge, who claimed to have no idea why Valero’s PAC endorsed her.  It was a clever strategy that played well with the newer generation of Benicians living here less than ten years. Those of us who have followed local politics longer than a decade knew better.  Why?  Because Valero and their affiliated labor unions have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to put a Strawbridge on the council.  And they started in 2007 with Scott Strawbridge; not Christina. For those of us who remember his campaign, the 2018 election felt like déjà vu.

In 2007, Scott Strawbridge (a retired top labor union negotiator for over 30 years) drew criticism for collecting $64,400 in campaign contributions, 95% of which came from out-of-area labor unions.  In fact, Scott only collected $5,400 from local donors which included a $2,500 loan he made to himself.  It did not include an additional $83K spent by PAC’s funded by Valero, Seeno & their labor unions.

In spite of spending over 5x the amount of money per vote than his opponent, Tom Campbell, Scott lost the election.

Four years later (with a less aggressive approach due to newly established election ordinances limiting contribution and spending limits), Christina succeeded where her husband failed, and won a city council seat in 2011.  When asked about the activity of a PAC conducting push polls in her favor during her campaign, she denied having any knowledge of it.  Ironically, it was her own husband’s controversial 2007 campaign that led to the City’s reformative action in local election laws still enforced today that now limit both of Christina Strawbridge’s opponents (Jason Diavatis and Steve Young) to a total campaign cap of $32,000 [correction: $34,200] while she reaps the benefits of a $300,000 Valero funded PAC account through the thin veil of plausible deniability.

This isn’t a new strategy.  Scott and Christina have been fighting their way to this year’s mayoral seat for over 13 years. It’s no coincidence that Valero, Seeno, and affiliated outside labor unions have backed a Strawbridge in their combined five runs for elected office by investing over half a million dollars. For Christina to maintain that she still has no idea why is nothing short of an insult to the intelligence of Benicia voters.

Mr. Macenski, please take note. While these words are my own, the extensive research and investigative work behind them, are not. The citations for my sources can be found at the list of links below; because plagiarism is inexcusable and unethical.

Thank you to Mr. Roger Straw (of The Benicia Independent) and Ms. Norma Fox for your diligence and hard work featured via the below links.