Stealth Chevron consultants administer Richmond news website

In February, a slick new website showed up on Richmond’s media scene. Dubbed “Radio Free Richmond,” it promised to offer its readers “independent Richmond news, without fear or favor.” But behind Radio Free Richmond’s veneer of independence, a group of Chevron’s campaign consultants act as the website’s administrators.

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Richmond City Council welcomes back Nat Bates, Tom Butt with swearing-in ceremony

Re-elected Councilmembers Nat Bates and Tom Butt take the oath of office.

Political differences were—mostly—set aside Tuesday night during the celebratory swearing-in of re-elected city council members Nat Bates and Tom Butt. But beneath the congratulatory speeches for Bates and Butt, and the appreciative acknowledgments of outgoing councilmember Jeff Ritterman, were concerns for councilmember-elect Gary Bell and worries about the council’s potential make-up now that Bell’s seat…

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Election recap: Voters seek familiar faces

When the official returns came in on Wednesday morning, Richmond voters had decided that after the most expensive campaign in city history, what they wanted was familiar faces. Incumbents Nat Bates and Tom Butt were re-elected to the City Council, and Gary Bell, who will return to the dais after an eight-year hiatus, will take…

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Bates, Butt and Bell win council race

In a hotly contested City Council election, with millions of dollars at play and a recent push into the national spotlight, Richmond voters have elected Nat Bates, Tom Butt and Gary Bell to the three open seats on the council dais. The two RPA candidates, Eduardo Martinez and Marilyn Langlois, finished just outside the top…

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Richmond residents vote down Measure N

A billboard in Richmond shows No on N

Measure N was defeated in Tuesday’s election with an overwhelming two-thirds of voters saying no to the one-cent-per-ounce tax on sugar-sweetened beverages. Of the roughly 25,000 votes cast, more than 16,000 went against the measure. Championed by the Richmond Progressive Alliance, the proposed tax attracted national media attention, and drew the ire of local pro-business…

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Citizens Outspent: Inside Richmond’s $4m Election Campaign

Moving Forward billboards

Take your pick: naïve anarchists, or corporate puppets. This is the face of Richmond’s hotly contested race for three council seats in the November 2012 election, at least going by the massive billboards and glossy mailers that have dominated the campaign season in this city of 100,000 residents. The majority of candidates running for council…

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Election 2012: Measure N and Measure O

A group of progressive city leaders that have never shied from social engineering are now trying to pull off a first-in-the-nation challenge: get voters to approve a tax on sugar-sweetened drinks. Councilmember Jeff Ritterman and the Richmond Progressive Alliance have fiercely advocated for Measure N, which would tax businesses one cent per ounce of sugar-sweetened…

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Cinemark joins American Beverage Association in funding opposition to Measure N

A soda fountain in Century Hilltop 16 movie theater sits near a large "No on N" banner.

The Texas-based movie theater chain Cinemark USA Inc has joined the campaign against Richmond’s Measure N, adding nearly $107,000 in non-monetary contributions against the measure between July 15-Sept. 30, according to campaign statements filed with the City Clerk. During that period, Cinemark was one of two contributors to the Community Coalition Against Beverage Taxes, which…

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