CA Governor High-Speed Rail Analysis: Becerra’s donors vs Steyer
Was just perusing campaign finance metrics, as one does, for the two likely Democratic candidates for governor’s race. Following the money is always fun. Becerra’s contributors are…colorful to say the least. I was not expecting to see so many corporate donors that have such high potential to pose a threat to rail projects in the state:
BNSF RailPAC $7,500
Union Pacific Fund for Effective Govt $4,000
PG&E Corporation $6,500
Southern California Edison $7,800
Edison International & Affiliated Entities $5,200
Sempra Energy / SDG&E / SoCalGas $5,000
Chevron USA Inc $39,200
Toyota Motor North America Inc PAC $4,000
Specialty Equipment Market Association and Performance Racing Inc California PAC $10,000
Air Line Pilots Assn PAC $5,000
Boeing Company PAC Federal $4,000
California Cattlemen’s Association PAC $5,000
Western United Dairies PAC $5,000
American Crystal Sugar PAC $5,000
Stewart Resnick $7,800
Lynda Resnick $7,800
Realtors PAC $10,000
AECOM PAC - California Account $5,400
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP $20,000
KPMG LLP $14,000
Deloitte Federal PAC $4,000
Ernst & Young LLP - California PAC $7,000
Fox Corporation and Affiliated Entities $7,800
Twenty-First Century Fox PAC $4,000
Steyer has funded probably like 99.99% of hos campaign, there’s one other hedge fund dude there but it really is just him. He has criticized HSR, but has not straight up threatened to cancel it. Maybe he fell for the $231b figure in that criticism. He has said he wants permitting reform for large-scale infrastructure projects, which could be good for us. I would like to see more support for transit from Tom Steyer but at least there’s genuine support for renewables and housing, which could be aligned with HSR. As he’s trying to make himself out to be the so-called “climate candidate,” it’s impossible to lower emissions without transit, so I can see him supporting HSR in the future. However, with Becerra, I don’t think I have the confidence in him to fix our problems when his interests may be aligned with his corporate donors who have tried to block transit nationwide for decades. Thoughts?