New community political group forms to take on Chevron in Richmond
By Jennifer Baires
Contra Costa Times
Posted:   10/23/2014 06:01:16 PM PDT# Comments | Updated:   5 min. ago
RICHMOND -- A couple dozen people gathered in front of City Hall on Thursday afternoon to say they were tired of Chevron trying to buy their vote and were forming a new political action committee to rival Moving Forward, the committee financed by the oil giant.
The group, Richmond Working Families, formed at the beginning of October, and is a coalition of community members and unions, including Asian Pacific Environmental Network Action, Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment Action and SEIU 1021.
According to a news release sent out before the rally, the group has raised around $50,000 in the past few weeks and plans to use that money to phone bank and knock on doors for its candidates: Tom Butt for mayor; Gayle McLaughlin, Jovanka Beckles and Eduardo Martinez for City Council; and Jael Myrick for the two-year council seat.
Surrounded by people carrying signs reading "Our Election is Not for Sale," a handful of speakers talked about why they were helping the effort.
"I'm concerned with the amount of money spent to buy my vote," said Leon Zhou, adding that he wanted to get out the message that there is an alternate slate for which Richmond residents can vote.
As of Oct. 10, Chevron had funneled nearly $3 million into a trio of campaign committees to influence the Nov. 4 election, according to online news service Richmond Confidential.
During the event, many of the speakers talked about the importance of voting against Chevron-backed candidates.
"We need to stand up against the corporate money flowing freely into our election," said Stacey Wilborn, a city employee and member of SEIU local 1021.
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In a confusing twist, a Chevron-backed committee with a similar name recently started rolling out advertisements for its slate of candidates, which also includes Myrick.
The committee's name is Richmond Working Families for Jobs 2014. On Oct. 6, a contribution report was filed with the city clerk that listed a $100,000 donation from Moving Forward to the committee. Its supported candidates are Nat Bates for mayor; Charles Ramsey, Donna Powers and Jim Rogers for City Council; and Myrick for the two-year council seat.
With less than two weeks left in the election, campaigning time is running out fast. Richmond Working Families spokeswoman Amy Schur said the group will spend the rest of this week knocking on thousands of doors.
"Talking face to face is key right now," she said.
Contact Jennifer Baires at 925-943-8378. Follow her at twitter.com/jenniferbaires