Assembly Candidate Susan Jordan Calls on Schwarzenegger to Return New Donations from Oil Companies During Bill-Signing Period

Democratic Assembly candidate Susan Jordan today called on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to return more than $65,000 in contributions from oil companies that he has received in the past three weeks, including $5,000 from a company involved in offshore oil and gas exploration in Santa Barbara County.

According to the Secretary of State’s office, Schwarzenegger’s “California Dream Team” has accepted $25,000 contributions from both Conoco Phillips and Occidental Petroleum; $5,000 from Breitburn Management, a Houston, Texas oil and gas company; $5,000 from Vaquero Energy, a Bakersfield-based oil company; and $5,000 from Venoco Inc., an oil company that operates in Santa Barbara County and has matters pending before the State Lands Commission.

“When Governor Schwarzenegger ran for office, he said that the legislature shouldn’t accept contributions during the budget process because, in his words, ‘when the contributions come in, the favors go out,’ ” noted Jordan, who is running for the 35th Assembly District. “He should practice what he preaches, particularly when it comes to money from oil companies with business before the State Lands Commission and his administration.”

Jordan noted that Schwarzenegger has opposed an oil severance tax, which would raise $1.5 billion for public health and safety, education, environmental protection, essential local services and green jobs development and help erase the state deficit. California, she says, is the only major oil-producing state in the nation without an oil severance tax.

The Governor also is supporting a plan to drill oil off the state’s coastline, which Jordan says she opposes. Last month, Schwarzenegger also said he approves of a recommendation by the state tax reform commission headed by Gerald Parsky that would vastly expand oil drilling off the entire California coast.

“You don’t have to have too much of an imagination to connect the dots,” she said. “The Governor should return these contributions, particularly while he is deciding the fate of legislation and executive actions that would affect the central California coast.”