Security at carnegie. Org. The ford foundation, working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide. The herb alpert foundation, supporting organizations Whose Mission is to promote compassion and creativity in our society. The john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. More information at macfound. Org. Park foundation, dedicated to heightening Public Awareness of critical issues. The kohlberg foundation. Barbara g. Fleischman. And by our sole corporate sponsor, mutual of america, designing customized individual and Group Retirement products. Thats why were your retirement company. Welcome. In tuesdays elections, money tore its way through our political system like a flash fire and burned its way right down to the foundations. The Nonpartisan Center for responsive politics finds that in races for the house of representatives, the candidate who spent the most money prevailed about 94 percent of the time; in senate races, about 81 percent of the time. Much of it was dark money from shadowy groups that do not have to disclose their donors. You may never know who really owns the senator or representative, the governor or state judge you voted for. In this penumbra of politics, where corporations and billionaires can safely and secretly purchase shares in america, inc. , the big winners on tuesday were the republican bag man karl rove, whose candidates prevailed in at least six senatorial races, and the organization americans for prosperity, backed by the oligarchs charles and david koch, who added at least five republican senators to their portfolios. And why not . The conservative majority on the Supreme Court wrote the prescription exercise all the free speech you can buy. Thats prompted the watchdog journalist Harvey Wasserman to write this week the gop corporate coup detat is nearly complete. But not quite. Look at what happened in richmond, california. Richmond is a city of more than a hundred thousand in the bay area. Chevron, one of the biggest and most powerful companies in the fortune 500, has a refinery there, with big pollution problems. After that refinery erupted in fire two years ago, the city, led by mayor gayle mclaughlin, sued chevron for what it alleges is a long history of negligence. Whats more, the city is making chevron pay an additional two hundred Million Dollars in taxes and other payments to make richmond, once a danger zone of poverty and crime, a better place to live. This election year, chevron came out with guns blazing, spending more than three Million Dollars against progressive candidates in richmond who refused to follow the company line. Chevron momoy bought expensive fliers and mailele, paid for billboards and slickly produced attack ads that tried to make the candidates they didnt like look bad. Vote no on eduardo martinez. Guess what . When the votes were counted this week, chevron lost. One of its targets is with me now gayle mclaughlin, mayor of richmond since 2007. Because of term limits, this year she ran for and won a seat on the city council, despite the efforts of chevron to beat her. Also with me is harriet rowan, a graduate student in journalism at the university of california, berkeley, where shes also a reporter for richmond confidential. Thats a real news site run by the school whose reporters cover richmond the way the Mainstream Media should, but doesnt. Harriet rowan uncovered the vast amounts of Campaign Cash chevron spent trying to turn richmond back into a company town. Welcome to you both. Thank you. Thank you, bill. Pleasure to be here. Whats it like to have a giant like chevron throwing all that money around, trying to defeat you . Well, you know, clearly its a challenge. Its a challenge but we have a community that is clear that we cannot be bought and that is what the voters said this past tuesday. They gave a resounding, resounding vote of saying, no, chevron, were not supporting your candidates. Were supporting the direction that the city has been going in with good, progressive candidates. So its been a real, real success for grassroots democracy, but youre right, it is a challenge and we have had to organize big time canvassing during the eleleion season. We started back in march, so months of huhundnd of volunteers, wonderful volunteers, going door to door, doing, going to community events, spreading the word. We not only won with all of our candidates, every single one of the candidates we supported won and we defeated all of the chevron candidates. Chevron spent more than 350,000, i understand from harriets reporting in negative spending just against you. Uhhuh. How much did you raisisand spend in your race for the city council . Right. Well, ive raised about 48,000 to 50,000 and i spent, i got a little matching funds from the city, so i spent about 60,000. So while chevron puts out, i think its 250plus per voter to g g their message across, we put out less than a dollar per voter. Has richmond ever experienced such a massive expenditure as chevron brought to bear on this race ever before . Well, this is the largest they have done. Every election, they have spent more and more. In 2010, they spent 900,000, 2012 they spent 1. 2 million, this year, they spent 3 million plus, so we knew it was going to be more. The more gains the Progressive Community makes, the more gains the city makes in a good direction, the more chevron feels threateted by those of us that cant be bought. And so they throw more money to try and defeat us. Chevronon h h money to burn. Its a smart investment for them, isnt it, if they win. Yeah, if they win. That was it. They certainly figured spending 3 million would be would be nothing. You know, they make 26 billion in profit a year and 10 percent of their global sales come from the refinery in richmond. So were e very highproductive refinery for their pocketbook. But yes, they thought it t wold be a small chump change, but we beat them. And, now they will have to understand that wee holding them accountable, as we have in the past to reduce their pollution further. We want it to be the cleanest, safest refinery possible. We also have a lawsuit against chevron for the fire of 2012, which sent 15,000 people to local hospitals for medical treatment. We believe our community deserves, you know, really substantial damages from that. It had a big impact on the health, and also on our economy because Property Values plummeted. So we plan to hold chevron accountable and it took a long, strong battle to get to this point. But werrready for the challenge going forward. Harriet, how did youou b b this story . So, in september, when we started with our schoolwork, and we were assigned to richmond confidential, i was assigned to the politics beat. And i had a little bit of experience, so my first thought when i was looking for stories to pitch was to go look at the Campaign Finance reports. Folollothe money . Yeah exactly, so thats what i did. First rule of journalism. Yes, so thats what i did and i went and i started looking through the reports, and there was somomthings that were, obviously, there was a lot of money being spent. But there was also some things that i couldnt quiuiteigure out. One of those being that chevron was giving 3 million to this Campaign Committee called moving forward, and then there was two other Campaign Committees with very similar names that both starteted d , also started with moving forward that were spending the money. Anan it took a while, but i finally figured out that what was happening was chevron was giving 3 million to this central Campaign Committee. That Campaign Committee was giving money to two other Campaign Committees and those campaign cocommttees were making the expenditures. Did i just hear you say there were three separate Campaign Committees . Yes, there were and i cant think of any reason and havent been able to find anyone whos given any reason why they would have three Campaign Committeeses except to obfuscsce where the money was coming from. Were you surprised by the amount of money that chevron was pouring into richchmomo . Yeah, i wasashocked by how mmh money was being spent in a very small, locaaelection. To be pouring half a a a m mon dollars into supporting a candidate for mayor in a city of about of 100,000 people, it was shocking to me. And then the next qqstion is obviously, why are they spending that money . Did you ask them that question . My colleagues at richmomondd confidential wrote a lot about the intentions that, why chevron was spending this much money. And the question kept coming back, although chevron has s denied this, that its most likely because they are concerned about how much money they might have to pay out in a settlement. What did you see when you went there for the first timeme . As soon as i got to richmond, there was a giant billboard with gayle on it. It was an attack billboard against her and that was the first thing i saw when i entered richmond. And beyond that, you know, every single part of richmond. It was amazing. One day i went to take pictures the billboards. I would drive down a street, stop five or six times to take pictures of the billboards and when i wouldld t tn around to g back, there were five or six more billboards that i hadnt seen facing the other direction. I was struck by the number of brochures, bulletins, cards, other things that werere s swin up in everybodys homes in richmond, including g thth one r one of the chevronbacked candidates. Hi im Charles Ramsey and im rurung for city council because i love richmond. Thats expensive to do yeah well, this was s s ththt talky mailer that was, that we got. But that whole pile is what comes into every registered voters mailbox, and came into our mailboxes this season in a remarkable way, more than ever before. We always got inundated from chevrons mailers. They have taken to our streets with buying up eveverery llboar. They have taken over air waves with all kinds of ads and the inteternrnt. So chevron pulled all the stops this election. And did you ask the candidates who were running with backing from chevron about the money coming from chevron . I did and they spoke about it often in debates. And, you know, they had a very solid, you know, their answer was, im not coordinating with chevron. They didnt ask me if they could spend this money. Theyre spending it on me because i will, you know, because im going to have a friendly relationship with them and ill work with them. I understand that chevron used to have a desk in the offices at the city council . Right yes, the, in the 90s, there, a chevron executive had a desk in the city managers office. And thats outrageous. Thats, you know, corporations taking over city government. How outraraous. But you need chevron to keep richmond thriving. Well, the fafafacc the matte is that chevron, you know, pays, if you l lk at our whole budgeg, they only pay 12 percent of the whole entire budget. Some people say 30 percent of f our general fund, but we think tttheheshould be paying m moror taxes. We did get that 114 million settlement in 2010 based on a multiyear public Pressure Campaign t thahaou know, called for fair taxation and we passed a ballot meaeare. The voters passed a ballot measure which wouldve taxed chevron more. Chevron brought it to court and the court overturned it. But thats why, they knew we were going to put it forward again. And so chevron sat down with the city and said, hey, you know, well come up with a Tax Settlement and they did. And you know, we considered that a public victory, and thats what its all about. After that massive fire at the refinery in what, 2012 was it . 2012. 22 yes. And as you said earlier, more than 15,000 people had to seek medical treatment for respiratory and other health problems, chevron plead no contest to six criminal charges. And you, as the acting mayor and the city council, voted then to sue chevron. Tell us what happened after that. Right, they were clear. I was, you know, been mayor for eight years, finishing up my eighth year. Theyre clear that i hold them accountable and that i work with the community and so when it became clear that t th had done this terrible d damame to us an traumumatated our community i wanted to make sure they were held accountable and so did the community. And we want to make sure the kind of settlement or the kind of ruling comes forward that hehelplpour community, not just getting peanuts. Not just, you know, having a council on board that would, you know, drop the lawsuit. So that was motivating u u do you think this money being spent by chevron in the election this fall was retaliation . You know, chevron has always, like, i would say basasng us, you know. A hundred years of chevron n ru. When the progressives came o on board, we stood up to them, so it isnt a question of, you know, bashing them. We want to work with them for the betterment of our community. But that means they have to adhere to our regulations, because we represent the people. So are they retaliating against us, you know, this particular election . Theyre trying to stop us. You know, you could call it retaliation. Certainly they dont lle what weve done. You know, Corporate America just cant have this, cant have a lowtomiddle income communitit standing up for itself. Thats unheardrd o oou know . You mean everyday people . Everyday people, thats what we are. Were everyday people too and thats the unique quality of what weve been able to accomplish. Wewerrt, you know, opportunists. Were people that really just want to define our own destiny with our community and without this onslaught of corporate influence. Talk about some of the other tactics you saw being used in town. Yeah, i think in retrospect, looking g the results of the election, i think chevron knew that they were, you k knono wer going to have some trouble buying the city council this time around, because they really went all out. They did everything they could to try to confuse voters, to try to discourage voters. I think a lot of the negative campaigning, the end result is that voters see all of this information thats negative, and they think that, you know, all the candidates are horrible. And then t tey dont want to vote. And that was unfortunately the turnnt in richmond was very low this election. And that is very unfortunate and i think definitely has to do wh all of the negative campaigning. Sosomemef the things true across the country, byby the way. Low yes. Yeah. One of the lowest turnouts in midterm history. Right and thats, you know, i think that thats not what our democracy y nenes. We neededeople to be informed, to be engaged, and t to o ally care about whats happening in their local city elections, because it matters to them. The policies that are implemented on a city level really do affect people on a daily basis and to have people didiscraged from voting in their local city elections is really unfortunate. Do either of you think that Citizens United, the Supreme Court decision in 2010 has had a downstream impact in richmond . Absolutely thats what has allowed chevron to give unlimited amounts of money to this Campaign Committee that is then allowed to spend unlimited amounts of money to influence voters. I think that thats, you know, a clear result of Citizens United ananits you grimaced when i said the words, Citizens United. Well, its cleaear at Citizens United is, you u knknan evil for our democracy and if its left standing, it will destroy our democracy. So i think richmond is a aerfect example of how cicitins united plays out on, you know, real life experiences. This 3 million plus of chevron money has just, you know, over, pervasively dominated the experience of the average richmond resident, walking through our streets and our, coming from our telephones and our airwaves, all over. Nd this is a big problem. And well h havav keep fighting it. Weve managed ththusar to keep our Progressive Movement going, and now were in a better situation than ever with the election. But we recognize that this is an ongoing threat to our democracy. I think s s somome ople migh look at this and say, well, heres an example of how big money didnt, wasnt able to influence the results of the election. But if you look at it, the ndidates that were supported by chevron werernot, donna powers, one of them, was not even a resididenenof richmo until right before and also charleles s s s s msmsy. And i i i i i w wento, tried to their c cmpaign headquarters. Donna Powers Campaign headquarters were in a ups store. It was a mailbox in a ups store and charles r ramams headquarters was an unidentified house next to a vacant lot that didnt even have any signs in front of it. It was very odd and it was, kind of made it clear that these were essentially shadow candidates that were supported by chevron, who didnt have any, very Much Community support. But they didnt win, but they did get t tusands of votes and the fact ththatathevron support them with that much money is the reason they got that many votes. So they didnt win, but they wouldnt have been candidates if it wewererenfor chevrons mone. And didnt chevron start its own online newspaper . u a eseseses, s run by a form reporter who works for the pr, one of the pr companies that works for chevron. They have quite a few pr companies and a lot of staff that work for them in the area. And this reporter writes, you know, the, richmond is somewhat of a news desert. Theres not very many people covering whats going on i in n richmond and thats where ichmond confidential comes in, that we have 20 reporters, and its essentially our job as students to report on whats going on in richmond. And we have the time and resources and support from the school to really dig into whats going on in that cityty. This is not the first time youve been involved in a big controversy and been fought by a big industry. Lets listen to this. Hi, this kelly on behalf of the national associatititionon o realtors. Im calling because the stakes are too high and your vote for corky booze for city council is crucial. So if you havent already, please consider requesting a vote by ballot for this years election. Its a great way to beat the lines on eleectctioday and show your support for corky booze. Thank you. This call was paid for by the nationanal l sociation of realts fund, 202 2 3 31020. Not authorized by any candidate or committee controlled by a candddddididat National Association of realtors. Now what was that about . . That was a phone call from the e tional association of realtors in washington dc with their washihihihihihihingngn dcr at the end of it. And i think that people who got that phone call were a little bit confused and surprised because not only was this National Association getting involved in this very small race, specifically corky boozes race, which was for a twoyear seat, but they pronounced his name wrong. He walks in lockstep with wall street and the big banks and the realtors and so they support him. The National Association of realtors started sending out mailers to support candidates that would oppose the Eminent Domain program that we have advanced and are continuing to move in the right direction in richmond. This is you used Eminent Domain, which is the power of the city, or any Governmental Authority to declare a public purpose for certain private lands. Thats right, thats right. We have stated that this is our intent to utilize Eminent Domain for acquiring underwater mortgages and then resetting, refinancing the mortgages into new loans that are in line with current home values. All in, you know, it keeps the homeowners in their home, it prevents foreclosures, it, you know, really, takes away the victimization of homeowners that have been victim to predatory lending practices. Our home values plummeted throughout the housing crisis. And of course, the chevron fire made them plummet even further. But what we do, so they now have these massive mortgages and their value of their houses is, you know, much smaller. We take those larger mortgages, we have a private firm that has social investors involved with it. And they put up the money, no cost to the city. And then we refinance them with into a new loan. Whereby the homeowner can afford to make the payments, because the new principal has been reduced to match the homes current value. So why was the association of realtors opposed to this . Well you know, ultimately, i think this is a win win, even for realtors. But apparently, they dont see it because when you have vacant homes because of foreclosure problems and neighborhoods are unsustainable, you have more crime, the home values in the neighborhoods go down, and realtors cant sell the homes. But when you have people staying in their homes with affordable mortgage payments sustainable neighborhoods, you have the opportunity for home values to rise. And that is better for the realtors. But they think short term, they dont want, you know, they line up with wall street, they line up with the big banks. They dont want us to utilize our local authority as a city government. Thats a threat to them. But, you know, those of us that support this program think its our responsibility to stand for our community thats been harmed so greatly. What have you learned about local politics that others around the country might want to know . What ive learned, that, you know, yes, corporations can have a lot of money and influence. But thats nothing compared to the power of people when united. You still believe that old cliche, that organized people are the best antidote to organized money . Oh, absolutely. Thats what has made change, you know, throughout the history of the world. You know, its the power of People United and weve done it before in this country. Were doing it again in richmond and we think that our nation as a whole could start forming this Grassroots Movement for real change in our nation that can really bring about the kind of healthy quality of life that we all deserve. Mayor mclaughlin, thank you for being with me. Harriet rowan, thank you for joining us. Thank you so much. Thank you bill, its been a pleasure. At our website billmoyers. Com, youll find further analysis of the election and the money behind it. Thats all at billmoyers. Com. Ill see you there, and ill see you here, next time. Announcer funding is provided by anne gumowitz, encouraging the renewal of democracy. Carnegie corporation of new york, supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of International Peace and security at carnegie. Org. The ford foundation, working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide. The herb alpert t welcome to first. What to the results of tuesday mean to delaware in the nation . We look back with our state of play panel and look ahead with the governor. We join with delaware today magazine to revisit the impact of a murderous crime spree. Mans best friend as seen through the eyes of famous artists. Thats our first experience. Your public media news magazine starts now. Dives into the impact of tuesdays vote. Will the republican strategy make a difference two years from now