The “NO on J Campaign” has tossed around a lot of accusations and misconceptions during this campaign cycle. I like to do my research and make informed decisions before I comment and have held off, but find it is just unbearable to listen to this any longer.
The main local person behind “No on J” is a woman who, as she states, has resided in Hollister for over 30 years. She also has been a business owner running a consulting firm, Farmhouse Communications, LLC. Ms. Kristina Chavez-Wyatt’s firm has collected over $70,177 from “Californians for Energy Independence, including Energy Producers” to spearhead this battle. So far, so good; a local businesswoman spearheading a local campaign and getting paid to do it.
But let’s look behind the scenes.
If you look at the Secretary of State’s website you will see that complete funding comes from 16 different Oil Company’s, $7,655,572 statewide. Of that, $1,741,289 was transferred into the “No on J – San Benito United for energy independence, a collation of Taxpayers, working families consumers, farmers ranchers and energy producers” account headquartered in SAN RAFAEL, Ca, Oh! So the headquarters for “No on J” is at 2350 Kerner Blvd. Suite 200, San Rafael, and the principal on the committee is Rock Zierman, (Who is also the CEO of California Independent Petroleum Producers) 1001 K Street, Sacramento.
Only when you get to Page 5 of their Form 410 filing do you find they have an “Additional committee address of 1700 Airline Highway, Hollister.” Not quite as local as I thought. So this is the out-of-town activist firms they keep warning about? Well, who are they? Remember all of those lovely, very misleading and half-truth ads you are getting right now? Yep, you guessed it, those same BIG OIL companies. No one locally appears to be paying for them.
Where are all those “coalition of taxpayers, working families, consumers, farmers, and ranchers” they say paid for this stuff on all of their ads? And why do they need $1.7 million for OUR local campaign? In fact, not one local person, farmer or rancher is shown on the Secretary of State’s official website of donors, just BIG OIL. So why say misleading and half-truth ads?
Well, let’s look at a few of them. First, the woman with a very nice smile, Elia Salinas, who tells us that “This will shut down all oil production in San Benito County.” She works for L & G, LLP, Attorneys at Law. Good; another local firm who has collected $92,000 from the same BIG OIL monies as stated on the Secretary of State’s filings. I am sure they hire competent help. As a paralegal, I would expect she knows this is a mistake since our county interim planning director, Byron Turner, has stated it allows conventional drilling in over 90 percent of the county. It would be nice for her to come back and clarify the statement.
I do not object to people making money; I object to misrepresentations of facts. How about that nice man who will be put out of work? Joaquin. He works for Patriot Oil who drills conventionally in South County. Kristina Wyatt loves to show his picture. Oh, that would still be allowed (again county chief planner says 90 percent of our county allows conventional drilling). So, Joaquin can stop worrying about being off work and take care of those nice kids they talk about.
Then there is the one about the “Shutting off your water.” The California Water System was built to provide EXTRA water in wet and abundant years throughout the state, our local San Benito Water District was smart enough to inject water and distribute it into our waterways in order to recharge the ground water table (that is the same water table which could be in jeopardy of being polluted). That is the way it was proposed to work; not by planting pistachios, almonds, cotton and other high water consumption crops down the I-5 corridor and then screaming foul when the drought comes along. But this was about little fishes wasn’t it? I am sure the fishing industry along the North Coast who was devastated in the last drought of the 1990s would have a difference of opinion on why this was necessary. We as farmers need water, so do they.
I could go on about Mr. Johnh Eade, who appears to own numerous oil wells and mineral rights in San Benito County, and how he may object to this measure, but he can still drill conventionally (again back to the county analysis). At least now I understand what that nice sign means “Protect San Benito County.” Couldn’t they just say, “Protect my Profits”? Oh, it was not designed for clarity. Why have they paid over $560,000 to Whitehurst Campaign Strategy and Media, 660 Mission St. in San Francisco, among various other out-of-town vendors too numerous to mention for a local election? To BUY it.
The thing at issue here is what would we like to see our county like in years to come? They say we do not need this measure because fracking is not “proposed” in San Benito County. Well, it was not “proposed” in Monterey County until the recent request for permits for fracking there were applied for. Do not be fooled by half-truths and misconceptions being placed in front of you. This is about BIG OIL trying to buy an election in our small county. Please don’t just believe me any more that you should believe them. Look it up; it is public information!
As a fourth-generation farming family, I hope to pass this property on to future heirs in the same condition of land stewardship my ancestors passed it to us. Please join myself and other farming families in voting “Yes on Measure J”.
Sincerely, Karl C. Skow