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Friend, Every year, in every town from Shasta to San Diego, big money interests flood campaign coffers with donations -- trying to persuade politicians to prioritize corporate profits over people. And every year, Courage California is there to call them out. For the last 10 years, our Courage Score has spotlighted the Hall of Shame -- lawmakers who rake in oil, real estate, and other industry dollars and then vote accordingly. And it features All Stars, who never fail to vote for their constituents on key issues from affordable housing to curbing climate pollution.
Few California industries are more powerful -- or have deeper pockets -- than the oil & gas lobby. In one recent year, the industry spent nearly $100,000 every single day lobbying Sacramento legislators to protect its interests.(1) On our most recent Courage Score, the oil and gas lobby’s efforts paid off with many members of the Hall of Shame. Take Assembly member Avelino Valencia. Though he represents parts of Orange County especially vulnerable to pollution and wildfire smoke, he ducked the vote on three key measures to curb dangerous emissions -- all while taking tens of thousands from oil and gas interests.(2) And now he is running for a 2026 State Senate seat, where he’d be one of only 40 votes. Or, there’s Stephanie Nguyen. During her 2022 campaign for the State Assembly, Nguyen accepted over $900,000 in donations from a PAC funded primarily by Big Oil. She, too, failed to vote on a cross-section of progressive bills in the 2023 session.(3) And she’s in leadership as the Assistant Speaker pro Tempore of the Assembly. The list goes on and on. Now, with the 2024 session wrapped, we’re compiling a Courage Score to go with it, including progressive All Stars and Hall of Shamers who rarely fail to do corporations’ bidding. This is a resource-intensive project, and we need your help. But the good news is that if you donate before December 31, your gift will be MATCHED 100% by a generous donor! Thank you for being with us. –Irene, along with Annie, Angela, Isidra, Cecilia, Jen, and Lindsay (the Courage team)
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