[EL] ELB News and Commentary 11/6/14

[Lorraine Minnite]

What does this example demonstrate about corporations openly sponsoring
candidates in elections (other than the obvious point that money does not
always determine the winner)?  As I recall much of the debate on this list
in the aftermath of the Citizens' United decision, especially, opponents of
campaign finance regulations argued that corporations would not do what
Chevron has done here because direct sponsorship was too risky, it could
damage the corporate brand.  Were they thinking that a city council race
was too far under the radar for detection (or relevance)?  Call me naive
but I am astonished at the fact that a huge, multi-international would feel
so threatened by a city council race in an economically depressed city
they'd throw $3 million at it.

Lori Minnite


Posted in election administration <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>,
pedagogy <http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=23>

>      “Chevron Spends Big, And Loses Big, In A City Council Race”
> <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=68079>
> Posted on November 5, 2014 8:33 pm <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=68079>
> by Rick Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
>
> NPR
> <http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/11/05/361875792/chevron-spends-big-and-loses-big-in-a-city-council-race?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=politics&utm_medium=social&utm_term=nprnews>
> :
>
> Early returns indicated the progressives’ grass roots strategy would be
> successful. By the end of election night, Butt had captured the mayor’s
> race with more than 51 percent of the votes cast, and the Chevron-backed
> candidate, City Councilman Nat Bates, garnered just over 35 percent.
>
> As a distraught Bates told the Richmond Confidential
> <http://richmondconfidential.org/2014/11/05/progressives-capture-city-hall-and-council-fending-off-chevron-money/>,
> “It’s a bloodbath, obviously. I think the citizens will suffer.”
>
> Butt, who had accused Chevron of trying to buy the Richmond Council
> election <http://www.tombutt.com/forum/2014/14-11-02a.html>, was ecstatic
> over his David versus Goliath victory.
>
> “To take on a campaign that’s funded with $3 million and our modest
> campaign budget was about $50,000,” he said, “but we had a lot of
> grassroots help and we pulled it off.”
>
>
>
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