Let’s Talk About PACs + Review Our Latest Filing

Aug 9

There is no question that our Democracy would be better off without PACs (Political Action Committees). In a nutshell, the law limits what an individual can donate to a candidate. However, with a PAC there is virtually no limit on what individuals or more importantly, corporate interests can donate. While it is illegal for a PAC to directly collaborate with a candidate, the results are much the same, and the last 10 years have been disastrous for our country, and in 2020, for our town.

Safe Chico is a conservative PAC, and during the 2020 election cycle they spent more than 5 times the amount that had ever been spent by any PAC on a Chico City Council election. The nearest dollar amount was in 2018, when another conservative PAC spent $43,000 to influence the election.

They were funded by developers, builders and real estate interests, first and foremost, but also bolstered by the right, who saw this as an opportunity to “flip” Chico. As well, nearly 25% of the money they brought in was from people who don’t even live in Chico. James Gallagher donated $10,000 to them to get them started, and his Chief of Staff, Curtis Grima, in close collaboration with Kate Leyden from the Chico Builders Association, worked with Teri Dubose to hire high-paid political strategists, and fundraise effectively. With just shy of $250,000 to invest in our local council race, the results were predictable - the investment in Southern California political operatives to design and execute a year-long campaign of villainization swept out progressives and replaced them with an ultra-conservative, developer-friendly council.

As we watched what was happening with growing horror in early 2020, we had a choice to make. We couldn’t compete, and couldn’t invest money over the individual contribution limits in candidates or ads without forming our own PAC. We had a lot of ambivalence, but few options - a PAC was the only legal path to combat this unprecedented threat to local Democracy.

It’s with all this in mind that we want to be as transparent with you as we possibly can. During a non-election year, semi-annual filings are required that detail how much money a PAC received, from whom, and what it was spent on. We encourage you review our filling here, search by name for “Stand Up.”

In a broken system, the best we can do is to operate openly and share our information with you. If you have additional questions, please let us know.

We also want to take a moment to thank our donors. Your contributions, whether $5 or $1000, are making a difference, and we take the stewardship of your investment in us seriously. No one is getting paid for this work - everyone that works on Stand Up for Chico is a volunteer. Your donations go directly towards things like maintaining our website, education and directly to local initiatives/charities that better our community. We hope to expand on this in the coming year, and will continue to educate the public about how our Democracy has been hijacked by special interests. We will also intend to invest in supporting candidates in the 2022 election.

You can review the Safe Chico filings in the same place. Since January they have raised over $150,000, again, mostly from development interests. It’s certainly educational to read through their filings. If you want know who’s in the driver’s seat, follow the money.