Mayor accuses Valero of scaring off candidates with campaign ‘war chest’

A political action committee mostly backed by Valero Energy is poised to pump $232,000 into the upcoming Benicia City Council race, according to the PAC’s campaign disclosure statement.

Working Families for a Strong Benicia has contributed thousands to past races, including the 2020 mayoral race, in which the PAC donated $250,000 to try to defeat candidate Steve Young, who ended up defeating the PAC’s preferred candidate.

However, in 2018, Valero-backed candidates Christina Strawbridge and Lionel Largaespada were both elected to the City Council.

Now Young is being vocal about Valero’s cash possibly influencing this year’s council race.

“Here we go again,” began the mayor’s Facebook post, which he says he put up last weekend “not as mayor, but rather as an interested Benicia resident and voter.”

Young said:

“There is only one purpose in making such a huge expenditure nine months before the election: to scare off any potential city council candidate who would consider running without first getting Valero’s stamp of approval. What candidate is willing to go up against that kind of war chest?”

Young believes that Valero attempted to defeat his mayoral candidacy based partly on his rejection of a proposed crude-by-rail initiative that the energy company pushed in 2016 when he was on the city’s planning commission.

Valero is the town’s largest employer and has a strong philanthropic presence, but Young has been vocal about the energy giant’s big cash infusion to local politics.

Young wrote:

“They should have the same right as any company or individual to support the candidate(s) of their choice. … But they should still play by the same rules that apply to everyone else under campaign finance regulations.”

Young argues that Valero or any of its employees can contribute up to $540 to the candidate of their choice, but that candidates in Benicia are only allowed to spend $35,000 on a campaign.

The mayor points to the Citizens United v. FEC ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court decision that allows corporations to contribute unlimited funds to campaigns.

The mayor added:

“Usually, this level of over-the-top spending is confined to national and statewide elections, not in small towns like Benicia. But Valero’s size and wealth gives them the belief that they can pick and choose who should be our elected representatives.”

Valero did not respond to a request for comment.

Young has made a public plea that all candidates for City Council this year “publicly, vociferously, and repeatedly” reject support from the PAC.