Category Archives: Valero PAC

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

Valero PAC spending heavily in Benicia Mayor race – details

As of Sept. 24, Valero and friends had spent nearly $30,000 against Steve Young, owing another $30,000 in unpaid bills

A Sept. 29 report suggests Valero has spent nearly $70,000
By Roger Straw, October 2, 2020

After reviewing campaign finance documents on the City of Benicia website today, it is apparent that Valero is going to do everything it can once again to buy its way onto Benicia’s City Council.

This time around, they are smarter than they were in 2018, when the NAME of their political action committee was a mile long, naming two candidates they favored and coming right out and naming a single candidate they opposed.  This year, they claim only that they FAVOR one candidate for Mayor.  They kept the ludicrous “Working Families” moniker – as if we’re not ALL working families.  But this time  around, they’ve avoided reference to their real objective: to disparage and malign Steve Young so that he doesn’t become Mayor and hold Valero’s feet to the fire as he has in the past.

The details of Valero’s spending as of September 29 are combined in a single Excel spreadsheet here.  The spreadsheet contains 2 tabs:

    • “VALERO PAC Form460 CpgnDisclosr” is a record of Valero’s 3 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 so far, including…
      • Live Calls & Data: $27,000
      • Voter Data & Call Lists: $1,031
      • Call Center: $21,468
      • Digital Ads: $10,000
      • and Mailers: $9,844

Direct links to Valero’s documents as they appear on the City of Benicia website follow at the end of this article.

Sample Photocopies?

I recall that when Valero reported in 2018, they were required to included photocopies of the dirty and misleading ads they distributed (right).  I believe Benicia’s campaign finance ordinances required this.  Those ordinances have been strengthened since 2018, but no such photo samples have been included in Valero’s reporting as yet.  Residents have been seeing Valero’s negative ads on social media this week.  (Out of respect, I will not reprint them here.)

Valero Financial Disclosures – combined in one document

Again – our spreadsheet is viewable on Google Docs at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IYHmTbaw8IIyIPbB97FdjyiFmvU-3vvY/view?usp=sharing

Valero PAC Financial Disclosures – City of Benicia website
2020 elections, Benicia elections, Valero PAC

Valero shells out its first $20,000 – for phone calls and polling data

By Roger Straw, September 15, 2020
The Valero Benicia PAC reported on September 12 that it has paid $20,000 to WINNING CONNECTIONS of Washington, D.C. for election polling data and live phone calls.

Brace yourself – OIL INDUSTRY MONEY is about to phone you… LIVE from Washington, D.C.!

A friend asked me, “Do you know whether Valero has yet spent its $250,000 and in what way?”

So I took a look at the City of Benicia’s Campaign Finance Reports page, and the answer is YES:

  • The Valero PAC reported that it spent $8,468 as of June 30 on legal and accounting expenses (Semi_Annual_Form_460_2.pdf.)
  • AND MUCH MORE IMPORTANTLY…
    The Valero PAC reported last Saturday Sept 12 that they have laid out their first BIG campaign expense of $20,000, for “LIVE CALLS & DATA, WINNING CONNECTIONS, 317 Pennsylvania Ave, 2nd Floor, Washington, DC” (Form_496_1.pdf_Redacted.pdf)

NOTE that Valero and friends used this same company to provide data and make offensive and disparaging phone calls against Kari Birdseye in 2018.  The company had to defend itself against charges of orchestrating a PUSH POLL.  Documentation: see p. 7 of this 2018 Valero PAC campaign report.

Winning Connections appeared in these five Benicia Independent posts during the 2018 election.

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

FIRST LOOK: Valero PAC report shows $248,111 on hand to influence Benicia’s 2020 election

Link to Valero’s Campaign Finance Report below…

Valero Benicia Refinery, emissions on Mar 23, 2019, 2.21pm [Photo: MBardet]
By Roger Straw, February 8, 2020

Valero and it’s labor force will once again have more money to spend than any of the candidates running for office in Benicia this year.  Most likely more than all candidates combined.

On November 20, 2019 Valero added $200,000 to a carry-over balance of $48,161.54.  The balance remained after the PAC’s huge expenditures in the 2018 race in which they smeared and spread misinformation, successfully defeating City Council candidate Kari Birdseye.

Here is the so-called “Working Families” PAC’s contributions and expenditures report for 7/1/19 to 12/31/19:
Working_Families_for_a_strong_Benicia_PAC_2020_Semi_Annual__Form_460_1.pdf

Future (and past) campaign finance reports for the Valero PAC and for all candidates can be found on the City of Benicia’s ELECTIONS page.