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.