[R-G] Big defeat for Chevron in San Francisco Bay Area

[Steven L. Robinson]

(The Mayor of Richmond, California is Gayle McLaughlin, a Green Party member
and a leader in the campaign to tax Chevron and defeat the pro-Chevron
members of the Richmond City Council. SR)

Richmond Voters to Chevron: Enough!

Robert Gammon
East Bay Express
November 13, 2008

Richmond voters delivered a body blow to Chevron last week, loosening its
stranglehold on city politics and forcing it to cough up more money for city
services. That's according to the most recent update in ballot counting by
the Contra Costa County Elections Division. The counting is nearly complete,
and the remaining provisional ballots are not expected to change the outcome
of the Richmond contests.

In the city council race, "The Chevron Five" is no more as two members of
the group that has voted with the oil giant over the years were voted out of
office. Political newcomer Jeff Ritterman, chief of cardiology at Kaiser
Richmond who ran a get-tough-on-Chevron campaign, won the most votes with
16.2 percent. Coming in second with 15.5 percent was incumbent Tom Butt, a
longtime critic of the oil giant's power over Richmond. And taking third was
incumbent Nat Bates, a Chevron supporter, with 15.2 percent. Those three
were all elected to the council, and as a result, Chevron will no longer
have a majority of supporters on the panel.

In addition, voters approved Measure T, a manufacturing tax that could
generate up to $26 million annually, of which up to $16 million could come
from Chevron each year. Both Butt and Ritterman were strong proponents of
the measure. Chevron attempted to defeat it.

Apparently just missing out on a council seat was Jovanka Beckles, another
political newcomer who ran on a slate with Ritterman, Butt, and Measure T.
Beckles got 14.8 percent of the vote. She is currently just 331 votes behind
Bates, but it doesn't appear likely that she can make up that ground when
the provisional ballots are counted. Provisionals are ballots that poll
workers hand out to voters on Election Day if their names do not appear on
the official registration rolls for that polling station.

Two members of the Chevron Five that were voted out of office were John
Marquez, who came in fifth with 12.8 percent of the vote, and Harpreet
Sandhu, who came in seventh with 7.7 percent.

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