Saturday, October 23, 2010

Corporate/Labor Interests Pour Money Into Measure J Coffers

Why Are They So Interested In Emeryville?
Out-Of-Town Corporations Suddenly Love Emeryville, Opening Up 
Their Wallets

Large corporations and labor unions are showering our town with money, hoping their gifts of cash will translate into big fat contracts resulting from the passage of Measure J.
The City of Emeryville has released the latest filing on Measure J financial donors and it adds to the previous  disclosure; more money from corporate construction concerns and more money from trade unions.
The campaign finance disclosure form 460 mandated from the State shows a $22,795 haul for Measure J in only 16 days ending on October 16 added to the previous take of $24,575 ending on September 30.  The total amount contributed until October 16 is $47,420 for our little town.
Building Emeryville Schools Together (BEST), the committee for Measure J, the Center of Community Life project, filed the latest form with City Hall that reveals a large lobbying effort by interested parties that want us to vote for Measure J.  Among the donors this period are:
  • Turner Construction, an Oakland based firm,  $10,000
  • UA Local 342 plumbing and steamfitters union,  $2000
  • PG&E,  $5000
  • Local 595 IBEW electricians union,  $2000
  • Concordia LLC, a New Orleans based architecture firm,  $1000
Last period, BEST filed the required finance disclosure for Measure J 11 days late resulting in cries from residents and a possible fine from the Fair Political Practices Commission, a Sacramento based government agency concerned with election fair play.  Many residents complained the campaign finance disclosures came too late for absentee voters and that the election results could be tainted.  BEST has filed the proper forms on time this period.


Readers may read about the previous form 460 filing by going to the October 15 Tattler story.
The Tattler will continue to report on the financial doings of the Measure J campaign.

4 comments:

  1. Thank you for keeping all of us informed. Keep up the research!

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  2. It's like a feeding frenzy.

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  3. BEST actually is a new political action committee co-chaired by Mayor Ruth Atkin and School Board President Miguel Dwin and stands for Building Emeryville Schools Together - not to be confused with the original BEST (Better Emeryville Schools Today) which was formed to support Measure A - the existing parcel tax. That committee was terminated last year.

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  4. Correction noted!
    The Tattler will correct this mistake in this story. Thank you Elizabeth for the correction.

    ReplyDelete