Committee for Responsible and Accurate Posters (CRAP) Corrects Richmond Chevron Billboards

The Committee for Responsible and Accurate Posters (CRAP) has decided that enough is enough in Richmond, and it’s time to drop a dump of truth onto this election situation. The face of Mr. Nat Bates, candidate for Richmond mayor in the next election, is visible pretty much anywhere in Richmond on the dozens upon dozens of billboards from "Moving Forward", a political action group paid for entirely by Richmond’s local oil giant. We decided to correct a few of these billboards last night:

Chevron (pronounced shev-wrong), those friendly folks at the second largest refinery in California who sent over 15,000 residents to the hospital after its refinery exploded in August 2012, is a bit out of control. If you can’t remember what that 2012 fire looked like, here’s a reminder:

So now Chevron, in exercising their completely hard-fought right to defecate unlimited cash into a small-town election (thanks, Citizens United), has flooded Richmond with $3 million in propaganda both to support their own prop candidates and to shamelessly attack Team Richmond, a courageous slate of candidates from the Richmond Progressive Alliance. Why? Because progressive city council candidates Eduardo Martinez, Vice Mayor Jovanka Beckles, and Mayor Gayle McLaughlin have a proven track record of holding Chevron accountable for polluting Richmond’s air, land, water, and democracy. Should Chevron elect its own candidates, perhaps the oil barons could avoid paying out hundreds of millions of dollars to settle this lawsuit filed by Richmond under those pesky progressives. From Chevron’s perspective, spending $3 million in a local election - amounting to a whopping ~$120 per voter, outspending their progressive opponents at least 25 to 1 - is chump change compared to what they’ll save by owning their very own city council.

Here at CRAP we call out bullshit when we see it. Richmond residents should know that Nat Bates isn’t running for Richmond’s mayor, he’s running to be Chevron’s puppet. And so are city council candidates Donna Powers, Charles Ramsey, and Al Martinez. Sorry Chevron, but Richmond’s election is not for sale.

Til’ next time,
The Committee for Responsible and Accurate Posters (CRAP)