Scott Wilk sen
2020
https://calmatters.org/politics/california-election-2020/2020/10/california-lawmakers-big-donors-special-interest-independent-expenditures/
cash blitx
state law caps the amount donors can give to a legislator’s campaign — but these special interests can spend as much as they like mounting their own campaigns to praise or trash candidates. And the money interest groups are pouring into these “independent expenditure committees” has reached dizzying heights.
So far more than $31 million of this unrestricted political spending has been pumped into California’s Assembly and Senate races.
“The spending is focused down on just a handful of competitive races but the numbers are enormous,” said Doug Morrow, who tracks spending with his political research group DSM Analytics.
Independent expenditure committees also tend to play hardball. If candidates go too negative, they risk turning off voters. But a committee with a nebulous name — say, the “Coalition to Restore California’s Middle Class” or “Keeping Californians Working” — can afford to offend whomever they like.
Here’s an exploration of the most lucrative spenders on these committees — and what they want out of the Capitol.[graf]
nice chart
oil gas
Who they are:
As major employers in California with a unionized workforce and huge budgets to spend on campaigns and lobbying, oil companies such as Chevron, Valero and Phillips, as well as gas and electric utilities like PG&E and Sempra, have a lot of clout in the statehouse. But as the Capitol’s dominant Democrats push to combat climate change, oil, gas and other energy companies also face headwinds.
Where they’re spending:
The industry is spending big to help Republicans hold on to three SoCal swing seats in the state Senate and to boost a moderate Democrat battling a progressive-backed Democrat for a Stockton-area Assembly seat.
It’s poured more than $2.5 million into helping re-elect GOP Sen. Ling Ling Chang of Diamond Bar and more than $920,000 to re-elect GOP Sen. Scott Wilk of Santa Clarita — both of whom face stiff challenges from Democrats hoping to win these purple districts. Oil and gas interests and utilities have also spent more than $1.1 million to help Republican RosilicieOchoa Bogh, a Realtor who sits on the Yucaipa school board, who is running for an open Senate seat representing the San Bernardino Valley area against Democrat Abigail Medina.
The Democrat benefiting most from the oil industry is Carlos Villapudua, a former San Joaquin County supervisor running against Democrat Kathy Miller, who has been endorsed by the California League of Conservation Voters. Oil and gas interests have spent $1.3 million to help Villapudua, who has aligned himself with the Assembly’s moderate Democrats. Most of the spending — about 55% — has gone toward attacking Miller. STEVE CHOI
What they want:
When Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an order recently banning the sale of gas-powered cars in California by 2035 — and asked the Legislature to send him a bill outlawing the oil extraction method known as fracking — the industry’s priorities for 2021 snapped into focus.
“Bans are not the way to solve problems,” said Catherine Reheis-Boyd, president of the Western States Petroleum Association. “We would not support a ban on any form of crude oil production in California…because it means more imports of foreign oil.”
In addition to fighting legislation that would outlaw hydraulic fracturing, the oil industry will almost certainly try to block efforts to expand the use of electric cars. Reheis-Boyd is calling attention to electric car batteries, many of the minerals for which are mined in Africa and China where, she said, “they still use child labor.” Environmentalists counter that oil production in foreign countries also can involve human rights abuses.
Oil lobbyists convinced lawmakers to kill legislation this year that would have required a buffer zone between oil wells and locations where children gather, such as schools and playgrounds. Sierra Club lobbyist Kathryn Phillips said environmentalists are preparing for another round.
“There is going to be a bill again on trying to get setbacks from oil wells,” she said. “And (oil) will be fighting that.”