Beall, Jim sen

<div><b times="times" new="new" font-size:="font-size:" style=" font-family: ;">Beall, who has a <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.ecovote.org/legislator/state-senator-jim-beall" style=" text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">97% lifetime CLCV score</a></b></div>

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<div class="field-item odd" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_29840950/mercury-news-editorial-jim-beall-needed-by-silicon" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">San Jose Mercury News</font></a></div>

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<p class="editorialbodytext" style=" margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Jim Beall's experience is showing.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">As a state senator, he has risen to leadership on transportation and housing, top priorities for Silicon Valley, while continuing his longtime advocacy for the mentally ill, the disabled and foster children. For his work on behalf of cities -- the front line of interaction between residents and government -- the League of Cities named him 2015 Legislator of the Year. </font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Beall, D-San Jose, has richly earned another term in Senate District 15, and the district needs him to finish the good work he has started.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style=" font-weight: inherit;">Democratic Assemblywoman Nora Campos filed to challenge Beall at the last minute.</span><b> She had begun raising money for a District 15 run in 2020, when Beall terms out, and probably jumped in now to build name recognition in the district's West Valley cities. It is a purely self-serving run. We recommend Beall.</b></font></p>

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<p><a href="http://sd15.senate.ca.gov/">http://sd15.senate.ca.gov/</a>

State Senate (District 15)

Senator Jim Beall-DEM

Capitol Office

State Capitol, Room 5066

Sacramento, CA 95814

Phone: (916) 651-4015

Fax: (916) 651-4915

Campbell District Office

2105 S. Bascom Avenue Suite 154

Campbell, CA  95008

Phone: (408) 558-1295

Fax: (408) 558-1296

===</p>

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<a href="https://ballotpedia.org/James_Beall_Jr.">https://ballotpedia.org/James_Beall_Jr.</a>

Total Campaign Contributions Received by Jim Beall: $967,329

Top 10 Interests Funding

Interest    Contributions

General Trade Unions    $228,450

Public Sector Unions    $226,147

Transportation Unions    $40,850

Lawyers & Lobbyists    $39,500

Health Professionals    $38,624

Computer Equipment & Services    $24,565

Tribal Governments    $22,700

Hospitals & Nursing Homes    $18,100

Insurance    $9,900

Health Services    $9,825

Top 10 Individual Contributors Funding

Contributor    Contributions

Service Employees International Union    $45,350

National Education Association    $31,200

Los Angeles County Probation Officers Union AFSCME Local 685    $29,400

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers    $27,500

Teamsters Joint Council 42    $16,550

Sprinkler Fitters Ua Local 709    $15,750

California Labor Federation    $15,600

American Federation of Teachers    $15,600

California Nurses Association    $14,850

International Union of Operating Engineers    $14,050

Contributions above are for the last four years of available data, Jan 1, 2009 - Dec 31, 2012. Contributions from political parties and from other candidates are not included in the "Top 10" lists.

Geographic Sources of Contributions to Jim Beall

Total Campaign Contributions (Jan. 1, 2007 - Mar. 17, 2010): $502,291

Jim Beall received 82.5% of these contributions ($414,549) from outside his district. (Rank: 59 out of 119 members of Assembly and Senate.)

Top 10 Contributing Zip Codes

Sacramento, CA 95814    $185,450

San Jose, CA 95125    $20,715

Burlingame, CA 94010    $18,000

Sacramento, CA 95833    $13,004

Pasadena, CA 91101    $12,200

San Jose, CA 95113    $12,080

San Francisco, CA 94105    $11,700

San Jose, CA 95124    $11,212

Alameda, CA 94502    $10,700

San Jose, CA 95112    $8,130

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>James T. "Jim" Beall, Jr.</b> (born December 7, 1951) is an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States" title="United States">American</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Democratic_Party" title="United States Democratic Party" class="mw-redirect">Democratic</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politician" title="Politician">politician</a>. He currently serves in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_State_Senate" title="California State Senate">California State Senate</a> representing the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California%27s_15th_State_Senate_district" title="California's 15th State Senate district">15th district</a>.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">On July 9, 1983, he and Patricia F. "Pat" Lafkas were married. He has two stepsons, Gregory B. Chubb (born November 7, 1967) and Mark J. Chubb (born June 16, 1970). Beall is a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetarianism" title="Vegetarianism">vegetarian</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Beall%28California_politician%29#cite_note-1">[1]</a></sup> Beall Jr. also graduated from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Jose_State_University" title="San Jose State University">San Jose State University</a> with a BA in Political Science.<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Beall%28California_politician%29#cite_note-2">[2]</a></sup></font></p>

<h2><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Contents</font></h2>

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<ul>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Beall_%28California_politician%29#Local_government"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="tocnumber">1</span> <span class="toctext">Local government</span></font></a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Beall_%28California_politician%29#2012_elections"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="tocnumber">2</span> <span class="toctext">2012 elections</span></font></a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-3"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Beall_%28California_politician%29#Awards"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="tocnumber">3</span> <span class="toctext">Awards</span></font></a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-4"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Beall_%28California_politician%29#Notes"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="tocnumber">4</span> <span class="toctext">Notes</span></font></a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-5"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Beall_%28California_politician%29#External_links"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="tocnumber">5</span> <span class="toctext">External links</span></font></a></li>

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<h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Local_government" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Local government</font></span></h2>

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<td class="mbox-text"><span class="mbox-text-span" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Biographies_of_living_persons" title="Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons">biography of a living person</a> <b>needs additional <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources" title="Wikipedia:Citing sources">citations</a> for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability">verification</a></b>. <span class="hide-when-compact">Please help by adding <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Identifying_reliable_sources" title="Wikipedia:Identifying reliable sources">reliable sources</a>. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced <b>must be removed immediately</b>, especially if potentially <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Libel" title="Wikipedia:Libel">libelous</a> or harmful.</span> <small><i>(November 2012)</i></small></font></span></td>

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<p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Beall served on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Clara_County,_California" title="Santa Clara County, California">Santa Clara County</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/County_board_of_supervisors" title="County board of supervisors" class="mw-redirect">Board of Supervisors</a> from 1994 until 2006, prior to which he served 14 years on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Jose_City_Council" title="San Jose City Council">San Jose City Council</a>. As a councilman and county supervisor, Beall served two decades on the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, where he lobbied commissioners to select the extension of the Bay Area Rapid Transit system to San Jose as a top priority project, enabling it to eventually receive $900 million in federal funding. In the spring of 2012, Valley Transportation Authority and BART officials broke ground on the extension.</font></p>

<h2><span class="mw-headline" id="2012_elections" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2012 elections</font></span></h2>

<p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In 2011, Beall announced his candidacy for the new District 15 seat of the California State Senate. He won the June 2012 primary election, finishing more than 11 percent ahead of his opponent, fellow Democrat <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Coto" title="Joe Coto">Joe Coto</a>, and again in the general election in November 2012, defeating Coto 57% to 42%.<a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://results.enr.clarityelections.com/CA/Santa_Clara/43231/110789/en/summary.html">[1]</a>.</font></p>

<h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Awards" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Awards</font></span></h2>

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<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">American Psychiatric Association – Jacob Javits Public Service Award, 2009</font></li>

<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The ARC of California – Bulldog Award, 2012</font></li>

<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">California Small Business Association – Summa Cum Laude Award, 2009</font></li>

<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Campaign for College Opportunity – Champion of College Opportunity, 2009</font></li>

<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">National Association of Social Workers, California Chapter – California Public Citizen of the Year, 2011</font></li>

<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Planned Parenthood Mar Monte – Legislator of the Year, 2011</font></li>

<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Women’s Foundation of California – Champion Award, 2011</font></li>

<li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Silicon Valley Legal Advocates for Youth – LACY Award, 2011</font></li>

</ul>

<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">==

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<font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">For some California Democrats, the biggest election threat these days comes not from Republicans but from members of their own party.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">When Sen. Marty Block, D-San Diego, announced in January <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article57063068.html" target="blank" title="">he would not seek re-election </a>– thus clearing the way for Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins, D-San Diego – California Democrats breathed a sigh of relief at avoiding <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article35846727.html" target="blank" title="">a costly and divisive internecine race</a>.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">They may have relaxed too soon.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Assemblywoman Nora Campos, D-San Jose, announced on Tuesday that she would challenge Sen. Jim Beall, D-San Jose, for a spot in the upper house. While Campos is termed out at the end of this year, Beall has four years left in the Senate.</b></font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“Obviously there’s a disconnect” between Beall and voters, Campos said, adding that “we don’t have enough women at the table in making decisions on where California’s going to go.”</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Campos will start with some name recognition, since her Assembly district overlaps the 15th Senate District. As of the 2010 census, about 43 percent of the people in Beall’s Senate district also lived in Campos’ Assembly district.</font></p>

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<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In a statement responding to Campos’s entry, Beall touted his endorsements from a roster of elected officials, from powerful interest groups like the Service Employees International Union and the California Teachers Association, and from the California Democratic Party.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“I am proud of my strong record of accomplishments in the state Senate, from guaranteeing long-term funding for the<b> Cap & Trade program for projects like BART to San Jose to protecting foster care youth from being overprescribed psychotropic drugs</b>,” Beall said in the statement.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">It is not unusual for multiple Democrats to vie for open legislative seats. But a Democrat taking on an incumbent from her own party creates a different sort of political conundrum, pitting legislators against one another and threatening to divert party resources.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Defending incumbents is a key duty for legislative leaders. The challenge from Campos could force Senate Democrats to spend money on Beall that could otherwise be put toward picking up new seats.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“Jim Beall has been a great Senator for Silicon Valley who deserves to be re-elected,” Senate President Pro Tem<b> Kevin de León,</b> D-Los Angeles, said in a statement. “He has the full support of Senate Democrats but, more important, after nearly four decades of public service, I expect he’s earned the overwhelming support of his constituents.”</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">At the end of 2015, Beall had $219,000 in his re-election account.</font></p>

<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Jeremy B. White: <a href="tel:916-326-5543" title="">916-326-5543</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/CapitolAlert" target="_blank" title="">@CapitolAlert</a>. Jim Miller of the Bee Capitol Bureau contributed reporting.</font></p>

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Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article63345112.html#storylink=cpy</font></div>

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<p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1463237936196_14044" class="yiv8017732845MsoNormal"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>From:</b><span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1463237936196_14043"> Ted Smith [mailto:tsmith@igc.org]

<b>Sent:</b> Friday, May 13, 2016 12:26 PM

<b>To:</b> Ted Smith <tsmith igc.org="igc.org">

<b>Subject:</b> Oil industry funnels more than $300,000 into campaign against environmental champion Senator Jim Beall</tsmith></span></font></p>

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<p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1463237936196_13980" class="yiv8017732845MsoNormal"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Dear Friends:</font></p>

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<p class="yiv8017732845MsoNormal"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1463237936196_14047" style=" background-image: none; background-attachment: scroll; background-size: auto; background-origin: padding-box; background-clip: border-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat;">You wouldn’t know it from reading the local newspapers, but one of the most cynical political dirty tricks this season is the effort by <b>Chevron</b>, <b>Valero</b>, <b>Tesoro </b>and <b>other big oil firms</b> to fund a political action committee called <b>Californians to Restore the Middle Class </b>with $5.5 million to target environmental champions like Sen. Jim Beall. They have recently decided to dump $339,000 into the campaign of his challenger (Assemblywoman </span><b>Nora Campos) </b><span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1463237936196_13753">to help <span style=" background-image: none; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-position: 0% 0%; background-clip: border-box; background-origin: padding-box; background-size: auto auto;"> defeat Sen. </span><b>Jim </b><span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1463237936196_13752" style=" background-image: none; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-position: 0% 0%; background-clip: border-box; background-origin: padding-box; background-size: auto auto;">for the Senate seat in San Jose.  As you know, Senator Beall has been a long time champion for the environment (see the story from the California League of Conservation Voters below) and was a<b> strong supporter last term of SB 350 which would have  cut petroleum use in half.</b>  According to the Sacramento Bee, Nora Campos helped to undermine that bill in the Assembly, so now the Big Oil companies are “rewarding” her in their effort to punish Sen. Beall.  (See the Sacramento Bee editorial at </span></span><a id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1463237936196_13979" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/article76456032.html">http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/article76456032.html</a>)<span style=" background-image: none; background-attachment: scroll; background-size: auto; background-origin: padding-box; background-clip: border-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat;">

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<p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1463237936196_13950" class="yiv8017732845MsoNormal"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style=" background-image: none; background-attachment: scroll; background-size: auto; background-origin: padding-box; background-clip: border-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat;">I’m really fed up with big polluters trying to buy elections, </span><span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1463237936196_13978">especially when they target the people who have the courage to stand up for their convictions.  And I’m likewise really fed up with opportunist politicians like Nora Campos who suck up to the bad guys and gladly take their dirty money to try to undermine important work of people like Jim Beall.  I hope you will join me, the Sierra Club, the <span style=" background-image: none; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-position: 0% 0%; background-clip: border-box; background-origin: padding-box; background-size: auto auto;">California League of Conservation Voters and many others to make sure that Senator Jim Beall gets re-elected and to send a strong message to Nora Campos that we don’t approve of her underhanded tactics.  And if you agree with this, please circulate it widely to your friends and contacts.  Thanks!</span></span></font></p>

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Read more here: <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/article76456032.html#storylink=cpy">http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/article76456032.html#storylink=cpy</a></span></font></p>

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<p class="yiv8017732845MsoNormal"><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.ecovote.org/news/clcv-beall-051216" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">http://www.ecovote.org/news/clcv-beall-051216</font></a></p>

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<h1 id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1463237936196_13952" style=" margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-left: 0in; background-image: none; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-position: 0% 0%; background-clip: border-box; background-origin: padding-box; background-size: auto auto;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Oil industry funnels more than $300,000 into campaign against environmental champion Senator Jim Beall</font></h1>

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<p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1463237936196_13953" class="yiv8017732845MsoNormal" style=" margin-bottom: 12pt; line-height: 15.3pt; background-image: none; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-position: 0% 0%; background-clip: border-box; background-origin: padding-box; background-size: auto auto;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Sarah Rose, CLCV CEO, 510-844-0232</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">OAKLAND, May 12, 2016 – An independent expenditure campaign funded by the oil industry has funneled more than $300,000 into an effort to unseat environmental champion Senator Jim Beall from his Senate District 15 legislative seat.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1463237936196_13956" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Beall, who has a <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.ecovote.org/legislator/state-senator-jim-beall"><span style=" text-decoration: none;">97% lifetime CLCV score</span></a>,</b> has been a consistent leader on environmental and public health issues, including serving as a co-author of Senate Bill 350 last year. That bill included ground-breaking goals to increase energy efficiency, renewable energy, and reduce California’s dependence on oil. SB 350 was the target of a months-long opposition effort by the oil industry until it was weakened by an amendment that removed its oil reduction goals.</span></font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Beall has also been a champion for his district, supporting policies to reduce air pollution, improve transportation, and improve public health outcomes for all communities.</b></font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1463237936196_13968" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">This spending in the Senate District 15 contest is just the latest oil industry effort and follows recent expenditures targeting a number of other clean energy and environmental champions.</span></font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Statement from Sarah Rose, CEO of the California <b>League of Conservation Voters:</b></font></p>

<p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1463237936196_13959" class="yiv8017732845MsoNormal" style=" margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-left: 0in; line-height: 15.3pt; background-image: none; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-position: 0% 0%; background-clip: border-box; background-origin: padding-box; background-size: auto auto;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><i id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1463237936196_13958" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Senator Beall is a strong ally for the environment and for his community. It is disappointing, but not surprising, to see the oil industry has poured money into this and other campaigns to stop candidates who have the public’s and the environment’s best interests at heart. Voters in Senate District 15 who care about their health, their children’s health, and the environment have a real champion in Senator Beall.</i></font></p>

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<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Ted Smith

<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="mailto:tsmith@igc.org">tsmith@igc.org</a>

408-242-6707

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<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span class="ng_byline_name" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">By Dan Morain</span></font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="5"><span class="ng_byline_email"><a href="mailto:dmorain@sacbee.com" title="">dmorain@sacbee.com</a></span></font></p>

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<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="5"><em>Good morning. On behalf of The Sacramento Bee’s editorial board, welcome to </em><a href="http://www.sacbee.com/site-services/newsletters/" target="_blank" title=""><em>The Take</em></a><em>, your opinion-politics newsletter.</em></font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="5">With primary election day four weeks from tomorrow, we focus on candidates piling up endorsements and donors spending big money to mislead voters, and we veer into policy by citing editorials that discuss health. Policy. Now that’s a concept.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="5"><span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The ghost of the fight over SB 350 has emerged. That was Senate President Pro Tem <strong>Kevin de León’s</strong> bill last year to cut petroleum use in half. </span>The oilies know that the so-called moderate caucus in the Assembly killed the oil piece of de León’s bill.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="5">To maintain the mod caucus’s clout, <strong>Chevron</strong>, <strong>Valero</strong>, <strong>Tesoro </strong>and <strong>California Resources Corp</strong>. pumped up a political action committee called <strong>Californians to Restore the Middle Class </strong>with $5.5 million.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="5">At last count, Restore the Middle Class has spent $227,000 to elect Winters Mayor <strong>Cecilia Aguiar-Curry </strong>to the Assembly seat in Yolo and Napa counties held by <strong>Bill Dodd</strong>. It is spending hundreds of thousands more to thank Democratic Assemblywoman <strong>Cheryl Brown </strong>of San Bernardino and Assemblyman <strong>Jim Cooper</strong>, D<strong>-</strong>Elk Grove.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="5">Restore has spent $339,000 to help Assemblywoman <strong>Nora Campos</strong>, a mod Democrat, defeat non-mod Sen. <strong>Jim Beall </strong>for the Senate seat in San Jose, and $132,000 so far to restore former Assemblyman <strong>Raul Bocanegra</strong> to the Assembly by defeating <strong>Patty Lopez</strong>, who knocked off Bocanegra in 2014.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="5">It’s not over. The committee has $4 million to spend, moderately.</font></p>

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Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/article76456032.html#storylink=cpy</font></div>

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LAT

may 2016

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<div class="trb_ar_by"><font face="Times New Roman" size="5"><span class="trb_ar_by_nm_pm"><span data-byline-withoutby="" class="trb_ar_by_nm_au"><a itemprop="author" href="http://www.latimes.com/la-bio-times-editorial-board-staff.html#nt=byline" class="trb_ar_by_nm_au_a">The Times Editorial Board</a></span><span class="trb_ar_by_b"><a class="trb_ar_by_cl" href="mailto:letters@latimes.com?subject=Regarding:%20%22Shame%20on%20California%20lawmakers%20for%20abandoning%20an%20effort%20to%20reduce%20the%20influence%20of%20money%20in%20politics%22" data-role="socialshare_sEmail">Contact Reporter</a></span></span></font></div>

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<font face="Times New Roman" size="5">Just two years after California senators voted to bar themselves from fundraising during the busiest times of the legislative year, <a href="http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-sac-senate-suspends-fundraising-blackout-20160512-story.html">they voted Thursday to dump the blackouts because they were an inconvenience in tough re-election campaigns</a>. Shame on them for abandoning this small step toward reducing the influence of money in lawmaking.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="5">It's not as if senators had sworn off accepting money from lobbyists and special interests altogether — the ban was in effect just for a mere 30 days during the budget-writing season, which this year begins on Monday, and then again for the final 30 days of the legislative year. The money could flow freely the other 10 months of the year.</font>

<div class="trb_embed_media"><font face="Times New Roman" size="5"><span class="trb_pullquote_text">The situation at the time called for action. Two senators were under indictment for corruption, and a third was awaiting sentencing for voter fraud.</span></font>

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<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="5">What's more, the blackouts were adopted to avoid harsher constraints, such as then-Sen. Alex Padilla's proposal to prohibit fundraising by all legislators during the final 100 days of the session. Yes, they were a hardship for senators facing well-funded opponents who weren't constrained by such rules (most notably, Assembly members). But the situation at the time called for action. Two senators were under indictment for corruption, and a third was awaiting sentencing for voter fraud.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="5">Let's face it, the public is cynical enough about Sacramento without lawmakers pocketing campaign cash en masse from special interests during a crucial time for voting on legislation. That's why <a href="http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-fundraising-blackout-california-legislature-20150508-story.html">the Assembly should have embraced similar fundraising timeouts last year</a>, thus making it more likely the fundraising reform would last longer than a single election cycle. Instead, the Assembly held 42 fundraisers during last year's first 30-day blackout.</font>

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<p><b><font face="Times New Roman" size="5">The ostensible reason to lift the blackouts was to balance out uneven races such as the one Sen. Jim Beall (D-San Jose) is in. Beall is being challenged by Assemblywoman Nora Campos (D-San Jose), one of the moderate Democrats backed by oil industry money. Campos has raised substantially less than Beall — just $323,000 to his $596,000. She has, however, been buoyed by some<span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> $330,000 in independent spending by a group not constrained by fundraising limits: an independent committee funded by Chevron, Valero and others.</span></font></b>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="5">Lifting the blackouts might help Beall counteract the millions being spent by the oil lobby to protect Campos and other moderate Democrats. Those lawmakers forced Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles) to drop a piece of last year's climate change bill, SB 350, that would have cut petroleum use in half by 2030. Being attacked by one set of special interests, however, doesn't justify a lawmaker cozying up with others.</font>

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