Capitol Voice May 2021

By Daniel Barad

Another update to the Tracking the Dirty Dollars project is here!

The Sierra Club California launched the project to increase transparency around the fossil fuel industry and its allies’ use of campaign donations to influence elected leaders in California.

Our first report, released in November of last year, analyzed a select group of moderate democrats. Our second report, released this February, expanded to include republicans and newly elected democrats — and now, for the first time ever, our May update includes the fossil fuel donations received by every member of the state legislature, Governor Gavin Newsom, and both major political parties.

Flipping through this edition, you will notice that most legislators have received very few contributions. In the first quarter of a two-year term for lawmakers, this is unsurprising. Most donors — dirty and otherwise — tend to concentrate their contributions closer to key elections.

There were, however, a few notable exceptions. Assemblymember Akilah Weber and Senator Sydney Kamlager — both of whom ran in special elections this year, and therefore reported substantial campaign contributions — received a few thousand dollars each from fossil fuel industry allies. Both lawmakers have strong environmental voting records and progressive values, so we are not concerned that these small contributions will sway their future decision making.

Another key exception was the California Republic Party, which reported over $85,000 in contributions from the fossil fuel industry and its allies. This number, eye-popping as it is, is not surprising given the anti-environmental voting records of so many republican lawmakers.

Finally, and perhaps most disappointingly, Governor Newsom received a reported $32,400 in campaign contributions from the California Building Industry Association, a fossil fuel ally that has been a staunch opponent of policy to decarbonize new homes and buildings. The donation occurred just weeks before the release of a proposed building update that fell short of demands from the Sierra Club California and other climate and environmental groups.

We are encouraged to report only a trickle of fossil fuel dollars in the first quarter of this year—but we understand, of course, that this does not mean we can let our guard down. We will continue to carefully track the campaign finance of California’s leaders in coming months.

We urge you to take a look at your legislator’s dirty dollar contribution in this report—as well as previous reports—and to respectfully provide feedback based on what you find. When leaders know we are watching, they think twice about siding with fossil fuel interests at the expense of public health and the environment.

You can find the spreadsheets here and the report overview here.