Thank You Tom Campbell and Dan Smith – former Benicia City Council members – who both wrote Letters to the Editor in the March 1^st issue of the Benicia Herald. The loss of the Valero/City of Benicia water recycle plant because of indifference and inaction shouldn’t be ignored - $15M dollars supplied by Valero to help Valero use recycled water rather than Benicia drinking water for its industrial uses was agreed upon as mitigation when Valero sought approval for a 25% expansion in August of 2003. Now that stalling and rising costs have caused the project to be cancelled, Valero is released from its $15M obligation.

Dan Smith is correct in bringing up the Valero support for the election of Schwartzman and Hughes. I worked on a report about the sources of their campaign contributions from documents supplied to me by the City Managers’ Office. Not only did Valero (along with Business Park Developer Albert Seeno) fund an independent PAC which then spent $31,000 promoting the election of Schwartzman and Hughes (as well as another $13,000 advocating the defeat of Smith), but Hughes also received $2,500 from Valero/ San Antonio TX as well as $2,500 from a Valero Plumbers PAC in December, a couple months AFTER the election.

It was troubling to see Schwartzman and Hughes vote to cancel proposed safety regulations for Valero when we know that Valero spent $43,000 to help insure their elections.

It was troubling to see Schwartzman and Hughes vote for pay raises for our firefighters when we know that their union, Vallejo Firefighters local 1186, spent $24,673 promoting their elections.

It was troubling to see Schwartzman and Hughes vote to include Richard Bortolazzo’s housing proposal when considering the Arsenal draft EIR plans. Bortolazzo contributed $2,500 to both Schwartzman and Hughes’ campaigns (AFTER the election).

All of these practices may be quite legal (voting on measures that benefit contributors or independent supporters, receiving very large contributions from NON-LOCAL individuals, businesses, and PACs, and receiving contributions AFTER the election) – but they do not serve the needs of constituents, voters, and local small contributors. Unfortunately, it appears that Schwartzman and Messina’s currently proposed campaign finance ordinances will do nothing to prevent these practices from recurring in our upcoming 2007 elections.

Sabina Yates

(707) 746-6428

redfoxred@earthlink.net