One round of municipal elections is attracting big bucks from one of California’s largest corporations.
Chevron has spent more than $3 million to help elect a slate of city candidate in Richmond, where the company has its largest California oil refinery. The plant is one of the largest oil refineries in the country, processing 240,000 barrels of crude oil daily. It employs about 2,700 people.
The oil giant’s $3 million in political contributions are also funding a powerful opposition campaign against candidates it sees as critics, one of whom is Councilwoman Jovanka Beckles.
The multinational corporation’s political involvement “has created a David-versus-Goliath effect with Chevron-backed candidates starring in television ads, glossy mailers and stunning advertising billboards that tower above the city streets, while the non-Chevron candidates squeak by on small donations from residents and door-to-door canvassing by volunteers,” the Chronicle reports
“It’s an obscene amount of money to spend influencing a local election,” Daniel Newman, president of MapLight, told the San Francisco Chronicle. “But it shows how much is at stake for Chevron.”
The company has moved its money through a political action committee called Moving Forward, which is backing a slate of candidates including Charles Ramsey, Donna Powers and Al Martinez for City Council. If all are elected, Chevron-backed candidates would have a majority on the seven-member council.