John Bauters' Election Campaign Received $1.29 Million From Conservative Corporate/Special Interest Groups
His Fall Campaign Revealed to be Astroturf
Former Emeryville mayor John Bauters received $1.29 million from tech venture capitalists, real estate billionaires and other corporate special interest groups for his November Alameda County Board of Supervisors race according to the Phoenix Project, a local collective of citizen activists who shine a light on dark money flooding Bay Area elections forwarding conservative interests. Mr Bauters, who during the campaign season denied connection with these interest groups, has been revealed to having had the single largest number of dark money connections chronicled by the Phoenix Project. He also gathered more money than any other candidate running for office the map shows. The money, from all manner of conservative donors, represent interests counter to his loudly proclaimed community values he made on the campaign trail.
Despite Mr Bauters near constant campaign homilies invoking equity and shared community interests, a perusal of the tangled web map of dark money flowing from right wing interest groups shows him to be deeply entangled. Cryptocurrency tech bros, hedge fund managers, tech investors, Big Real Estate, the Alameda County Sheriffs Association and various big business special interest groups all took a keen interest in Emeryville’s City Councilman.
During the Supervisor’s race, Mr Bauters tried to distance himself from his record on the City Council, specifically his infamous attempt to roll back Emeryville’s minimum wage ordinance. On the campaign trail, Bauters took to actively denying he had led a drive to roll back the poorest worker’s wages, thinking that could hurt his chances with Alameda County voters. Right wing power brokers and local billionaires were impressed however.
The Phoenix Project has been chronicling the flows of dark money in San Francisco much to the chagrin of corporate Democrats there and the release of the Oakland Astroturf Network Map represents their initial foray into East Bay politics. The map has been kicking up quite a stir in the April Oakland mayor's race politicos report.
The Map can be downloaded and seen in its glorious detail HERE.
