Chevron rolled out their campaign this week for their candidate Nat Bates with “Nat Bates for Mayor” signs replacing the Refinery Modernization billboards all over Richmond. The Nat Bates billboards are paid for by “Moving Forward, A coalition of labor unions, small business, public safety and firefighters associations, with major funding by Chevron.”

There is one problem, however, and that is that ALL funding is by Chevron. According to the Form 460 filed earlier this year for the period January 1, 2014 to June 30, 2014 (http://www.ci.richmond.ca.us/DocumentCenter/View/29281), the entire $1.6 million war chest is bankrolled by Chevron.

This is a repeat of the 2012 election, where Chevron spent only $1.2 million. Apparently, this year’s race is even more important to them. As of June, little of the money had been spent, but what had been went primarily to the Sutton Law Firm and Whitehurst, Mosher Strategy and Media.

If Bates weren’t already close enough to Chevron, his campaign headquarters shares a building at 3101-3109 Macdonald Avenue with 4Richmond, a thinly disguised front used by Chevron to distribute money to Richmond non-profits.