City Council
If recent history is any indication, the fate of Tuesday’s Richmond municipal elections is likely to rest the hands of about a tenth of its roughly 107,000 residents.
Richmond Confidential will be live covering the Nov 4. Richmond election.
A week ago, a website came to Richmond residents’ attention. It urges voters to support Chevron’s slate of favored candidates: Nat Bates for mayor, and Donna Powers and Charles Ramsey for City Council. And it also touts Jim Rogers and Jael Myrick for City Council. People immediately wondered, are Rogers and Myrick now on Chevron’s team?
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.
With the municipal election happening in less than a week, we’ve reached out to the councilmembers and asked them where they stand on a number of issues.
As of Oct. 24, the National Association of Realtors Fund has reported spending $37,800 supporting Booze, $26,700 supporting Rogers, $26,700 supporting Bates and $26,700 supporting Powers. The expenditure covers the cost of polling, voter list, mailers, telephone calls and online ads.
The ads take aim at current Mayor Gayle McLaughlin, councilmember Jovanka Beckles, and Eduardo Martinez, all running for seats on the City Council. The three candidates are running as a slate through the Richmond Progressive Alliance, and are critical of Chevron’s role in Richmond.
Chevron has poured millions into a campaign committee to influence Richmond’s mayoral and City Council elections, and the unprecedented spending has fueled questions about what the oil titan hopes to achieve with the best city government its money can buy.
When the votes are tallied and the likely next mayor is one of two longtime council members, a potentially power swinging decision will hang in the balance: Who will be appointed to fill that vacated council seat?