Campaign Funding
Richmond’s plan to seize underwater mortgages through eminent domain has come under sharp criticism. Opponents claim that the plan could depress property values, and end up costing the city millions of dollars in lost revenues and legal fees. The West Contra Costa Association of Realtors (WCCAR), which is receiving financial backing from the California Realtors Association, is the latest to join the fray. In mid-August, WCCAR began the campaign, “Stop Investor Greed,” which is trying to create opposition to the…
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 the seat vacated by retiring Councilmember Jeff Ritterman. The city’s proposed tax on sugar-sweetened beverages, Measure N, was defeated. Money was a major talking point…
On the day after the election, as folks were picking themselves up after a night spent celebrating or grieving, Nutiva CEO John Roulac, a major financial supporter of the failed genetically-modified-food-labeling Prop. 37, was putting his best GMO-free foot forward. “Obviously, I would have loved to have won, but 47 percent is respectable and demonstrates that 47 percent of Californians want the right to know what’s in their food,” Roulac said, referring to the 4.3 million Californians who voted yes…
West County voters came out strong for education Tuesday — both on a local and state level. Measure E, Measure G and Prop 30 passed. Todd Groves and Randy Enos will join the West Contra Costa School Board.
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 groups and the national soda industry, which spent more than $2.6 million to defeat the measure. A victory would have made Richmond the first city…
It’s Election Day in Richmond — and the only place safe from the constant barrage of campaign advertisements are the polls. Today Richmond joins the nation in deciding who will run the country for the next four years, but voters will also consider the fate of local issues that have garnered national attention, from the City Council to Measure N. Voters have been trickling into polling stations, like the one at Booker T Anderson Community Center on 47th Street, which…
An interactive explanation to statewide props!
The City Council’s attempt earlier this year to limit campaign contributions to council candidates seems to be working, last Thursday’s campaign finance deadline shows. But the limits might also be increasing the spending of outside groups on the election. Under the ordinance passed this summer, candidates must not accept more than $40,000 in campaign contributions to be eligible for up to $25,000 in public funds from the city. So far, none of the candidates have accepted more than the $40,000…
Campaign filings received by the City Clerk Friday show that the mainly Chevron-funded Moving Forward committee has now spent more than $1.1 million dollars in support of and in opposition to five City Council candidates.