Cryptocurrency Executive's Major Campaign Donations to Bauters & Congressional Republicans

 Connection Between Wealthy Bauters Donor and Republicans Exposed

Emeryville City Council member John Bauters and conservative Republicans in Congress.  What do they have in common?  Besides not being fans of a living minimum wage for workers, they both attract lot’s of cash from cryptocurrency executives. 

Councilman Bauters’ campaign for Alameda County Supervisor is packed with cryptocurrency cash heading into the final stretch of the 2024 election, with $40,000, the maximum legal amount, supplied by tech bro Jesse Pollak, of Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange that also is a major donor to some of the most hard right Republicans in Congress.  Mr Bauters has been unabashed in courting the right wing in the county in his run for the Supervisor position and it has paid off with lots of money to fend off his rival in the race, Nikki Fortunato Bas.  Ms Bas, a progressive who honors labor, has gotten donations from many East Bay labor unions and ordinary citizens in her race for Supervisor.

Trying to be everything for everybody, Council member Bauters has recently been attempting to soften his anti-labor reputation in the county, trying to siphon donations from progressives that would go to Ms Bas but he is alone in the race in attracting conservative donors.  To the extent he has been successful casting himself as a pro-labor progressive across the county, it is attributable to the fact that Mr Bauters’ work as a politician has been in tiny Emeryville, outside the glare of the Oakland/Berkeley political spotlight.  In this way, many progressives in the county are unaware of Bauters' anti-labor record, specifically when he led a drive to cut the wages of the poorest working poor people in Emeryville in 2019.   The flood of cash from the right side of the spectrum to Mr Bauters’ campaign coffers, especially from tech bros, demonstrates the extent they have been paying attention however.  

Attempting to expose the Bauters' anti-labor record, staffers at the Nikki Bas campaign have produced a website, ‘The Truth About Bauters’ to reveal the things he doesn’t want us to know about him.  Things like the time when he attempted to roll back Emeryville’s Minimum Wage Ordinance and the people that appreciate that.  People like the cryptocurrency whiz Jesse Pollak of Coinbase who took some time off donating to Republicans in Congress to give the maximum legal amount to Emeryville’s John Bauters.  

From the website 'The Truth About Bauters' produced by the campaign for 
his rival in the Alameda County Supervisor race, Nikki Fortunato Bas.

Campaign '24 Fact Check: It's Not Possible to Re-Elect Sukhdeep Kaur

Campaign '24 Fact Check:

How Can She Be "Re-Elected" when Sukhdeep Kaur Was Not Elected In The First Place?

It's all over her campaign website.  Council member Sukhdeep Kaur wants Emeryville voters to "re-elect" her.  But how can we re-elect her when she never won an election in the first place?  Council member Kaur just made that up.  Perhaps it makes her seem more than what she is.  Maybe that's why she is telling us this fib.  

We'll never know why she is spreading this disinformation because Council member Kaur doesn't believe in answering questions from her constituents.  She likes the perks of being an elected official but she doesn't like the accountability part.  That's a thing now in Emeryville.  Starting with John Bauters and now Courtney Welch and Sukhdeep too.  They're not accountable to the people.  Council member Kaur likes to imagine that she was elected by the people of Emeryville but she doesn't want to be accountable to the people of Emeryville.

Sukhdeep Kaur is running for election to the City Council, not re-election.  For the record, the actual fact is Ms Kaur was appointed to the Emeryville City Council in February 2023 by then Mayor Bauters.  She replaced Ally Medina who quit her position in December 2022 before her term was finished.  Sukhdeep Kaur did run for election to the City Council in November 2022 and SHE LOST.  Ms Kaur came in fourth out of five candidates running for two seats.

Council member Kaur: Stop misinforming the people of Emeryville.
You were never elected to the Emeryville City Council, got it?

The Tattler gives this a
'Pants on Fire'

Labor Day Lies From Bauters and Welch

 Bauters' Audacious Labor Day Message

Mayor Welch Joins the Prevaricating & Pontificating Prose

Opinion

Happy Labor Day, Emeryville community!  It’s a nice thought that people can wish happiness for the community on this day we honor labor but like nearly everything else in post Trump America, even this has been co-opted and wrapped up in a lie by politicians seeking personal gain at the expense of the community.  Even here in Emeryville.  

Take the audaciousness of Council member John Bauters in his social media blitz today as he campaigns for the Alameda County Board of Supervisors race.  It’s shocking but not surprising that Council member Bauters is going around telling potential voters in the county, he supports labor.  It’s a deceitful re-write of his record.

People who have lived in Emeryville for more than a few years remember how Council member Bauters led a drive to drive down the wages of the poorest working people in Emeryville when as mayor, he rolled back Emeryville’s landmark and progressive Minimum Wage Ordinance.  Actual low paid workers struggling to make it on minimum wage were going to have their wages cut if Bauters had been successful.  Luckily, the Alameda Labor Coalition fought back and by a massive last minute resident signature drive, forced Bauters to back down.

It’s true that Mr Bauters has gotten the endorsement of police and fire fighter’s associations (some call them “unions”).  But those associations are not real unions.  You can tell because police officers and fire fighters NEVER walk fellow union members’ union picket lines like all union members are supposed to do.  Remember, the word is UNION.  The Carpenter’s Union did endorse Bauters but that’s because his public policy works for large development corporations.  The Carpenters' are making a bad calculation that by breaking with their union brothers and sisters, they will get rewards from all the new development Bauters says he will bring.  Splitting unions like this is part of the anti-union corporate playbook it should be noted.

John Bauters and his protege, the corporatist Democrat Courtney Welch (who is now Mayor and who said she “supports Bauters 100%”) are using Labor Day to convince voters Bauters’ record on labor is not his record.  It’s Trumpian in its shamelessness and dark, calculating disposition.

 We know you and we remember, John.  You are lying when you tell voters who don’t know you that you will “fight to protect workers’ rights, fair wages and safe working conditions”.  We hate this kind of cynical politicizing and hoodwinking.  The truth will be told about your record and Alameda County voters will know you don’t value labor if we have anything to say about it.  You can say what you will about other things you have fought for, like LGBTQ+ rights.  We won’t take that away from you, John.  But we will intervene when you lie about your record on labor rights.  

Happy REAL Labor Day, Emeryville.  

Say what you will about Councilman Bauters, but 'willing to fight for
fair wages' is an outright lie. Many politicians lie, of course.  We're not so 
deluded to think otherwise but when we see a brazen lie like this, especially
by an elected official, we report it here at the Tattler.

This is not a politician trying to put a positive spin on something they are exposed on.  This is just 

a lie.