Group Calls on Chevron to Stop Spending Money on Politics

A capital management firm chose Richmond as its backdrop to announce a shareholder resolution today calling on Chevron to stop spending money to influence political campaigns across the nation. Green Century Capital Management, a national sustainable and socially responsible investment firm with a stake in Chevron, filed the shareholder resolution to ask management to refrain from making political contributions.

Standing at the base of Chevron’s refinery in Richmond, Erin Gray, a marketing and strategic analyst for Green Century, said the political contributions are not only unpopular with residents across political lines, but they also bring bad publicity to the company and they don’t work.

“The corporations’ recent rounds of expenditure provoked a backlash in its own backyard, worsening community relations and attracting negative media attention nationwide,” Gray said. “We believe that Chevron’s expenditures are risky bets that are neither prudent nor well-executed.”

Last November, Richmond became the battleground for what some politicians characterized as a fight between grassroots organizers and corporate interests. Chevron, which is one of Richmond’s largest employers, poured some $3 million into candidates for the mayoral and City Council elections.

All of Chevron’s candidates lost, which former mayor and current City Councilwoman Gayle McLaughlin said demonstrated residents’ aversion to corporate money in local elections.

“We made it clear to the community that we have a right to divine our own destiny and Chevron is just polluting our democracy because they had every billboard bought to support their candidates and attack us with lies and deceit,” McLaughlin said. “People said this is outrageous.”

McLaughlin was joined by councilmembers Jovanka Beckles and Eduardo Martinez, the Sierra Club and the Asian Pacific Environmental Network in supporting the shareholder resolution. Beckles and Martinez both said they were objects of smear campaigns directed at misleading voters. Beckles said she was called irresponsible and violent, but voters weren’t swayed.

“They said I was irresponsible because I went to a conference and bought food,” Beckles said. “It was wonderful though because the people didn’t buy it.” Michelle Myers, executive director of the San Francisco Bay chapter of the Sierra Club, said it is critical to move beyond Richmond and challenge corporate interests nationwide.

“Over the past several years it’s become increasingly apparent that we need to get corporate money out of our political system,” Myers said. “We need to insist that (Chevron stops) trying to win at the national level, the state level and the local level, like the small town of Richmond, California.”

Gray said that even if shareholders support the resolution, Chevron’s management is not bound to adopt it. Rather, Gray said she hoped other investors would recognize Chevron’s political spending as a risky bet and a waste of investors’ money.

In response to today’s event, Chevron spokesman Braden Reddall said, “After more than a century of operating here, it’s natural for us to be involved in the political sphere, as we are in many other aspects of the community.” Reddall said, “Our participation in the election last year was part of our long-term, ongoing engagement with the leaders of this community. We play an important role in the success of the city of Richmond as we are the largest employer and the largest taxpayer in the city.” He said, “Our participation in the election needs to be considered in the context of the $580 million we have spent or invested in this community over the past five years, and the $1 billion modernization project we hope to restart over the next year.”

By Bay City News

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