Emeryville's John Bauters Featured in Viral 'Astroturf Map' of Conservative Dark Money Groups

 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.

Pro-Israel Lobby Take Over of Local Democratic Party Delegate Group Despite Emeryville Councilman Priforce ADEM Victory

'Progressive Populist' Priforce Manages to Beat Back Conservative Tide in Local ADEM Election

Northern Alameda County Democrats have selected Emeryville City Councilman Kalimah Priforce to serve as a delegate for the state party in Assembly District 18, the lone progressive among a field of 13 other winners backed by Washington DC based Israel lobbying concerns.  Mr Priforce was the only candidate to win from the ‘People’s Slate’, a group of 11 progressive candidates in the 18th District ‘ADEM’ race.  The other group of candidates, called the ‘Housing and Climate Progressive Democratic Slate’, was backed by the pro-Israel lobby.  A much more conservative slate than the People’s Slate, the ‘Housing’ group won every delegate seat except Mr Priforce, a marked difference in the race run two years ago when the Housing and Climate Progressive Democratic Slate won only one delegate to the People’s Slate's 13, a near total victory for progressives.  In 2022, Assembly member Mia Banta, an elected official characterized as a 'corporate Democrat' by some, endorsed the losing conservative slate. 

Emeryville City Councilman Kalimah Priforce
Progressive Populist Winner in ADEM Election Again
The sole progressive and independent to win the
18th Assembly District ADEM election. 
The rest of the winners are endorsed 
and supported by the Israel lobby.

White Faces

Council member Priforce will sit on a much changed 18th Assembly District ADEM delegate board moving forward.  Notably, he will be the only man of color on the new 14 member delegate board representing northern Alameda County, a remarkable change over previous 18th District ADEM boards.  

The near total victory for the white conservative slate this election, compared with the near total victory for the progressive slate last time, calls into question the influence of the nation-wide Israel lobby inserted into local Alameda County politics. 

The remarkable two year shift to the right demonstrated by District 18 Democrats as characterized by the vote this year has been challenged by at least two voting Democrats; a rank and file member, Paola Laverde, as well as David Weintraub of the Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club Coordinating Committee, both of whom registered complaints with Democratic Party of Alameda County honchos highlighting campaign irregularities that would tend to benefit conservatives in the election.  Responses to election integrity complaints have not been widely distributed by party officials if they came at all. 

The ADEM boards control what the Democratic Party statewide will prioritize, and as such, they are considered very influential within the party that controls politics in California.  The ADEM delegates help select the Democratic Party platform, among other duties.  Here, they serve under the statewide Assembly member representative Mia Bonta, for District 18. 

Illegal Campaigning and 
Unattended Ballots 
The conservative slate placed campaign
flyers directly on the table where voting 
happened, a violation of the rules.  Also, ballots
are not filed and are out in the open. 
Progressives registered complaints about
the rules violations, after the fact.

The Tattler reached out to Emeryville resident Sam Gould, who ran with the Housing and Climate Progressive Democratic Slate and won, but he didn’t respond to our queries.  Mr Gould was selected as a new Planning Commissioner last Tuesday by the City Council in a 4-1 vote (Priforce dissenting).  Emery School Board member Regina Chagolla, who also ran in the “Housing” slate, also won an ADEM position.  Emeryville City Council member Courtney Welch ran with the conservative Bonta backed slate in 2022 and lost, as did Ms Chagolla.

Council member Priforce, having won the delegate race in the two lopsided elections, speaks to his ability to transcend partisan politics, at least outside of Emeryville.  Here in highly partisan Emeryville, Mr Priforce has been frozen out by his more conservative Council colleagues, even suffering a censure and a sanction for violating Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) rules, the same violation as the anti-Priforce Mayor, David Mourra, who also violated FPPC rules.  The fact that the anti-Priforce majority on the Council has not censured and sanctioned Mayor Mourra for the same violation, is particularly informative as to the partisan culture that has seized control of and degraded Emeryville politics.

The 18th Assembly District is comprised of Oakland, Alameda and Emeryville.  It is considered one of the most progressive assembly districts in the United States.   Emeryville, now having three ADEM board members, is represented far over its population in the District it should be noted.

The Democratic Party election just completed for ADEM representatives for the 18th District, is now represented by seven men, six of whom are white; the highest albedo level for an 18th Assembly District ADEM board in more than a generation.