SAN MATEO, Calif., Nov. 5 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The No on Proposition 10 campaign claims an early landslide victory as election night results from throughout California indicate a lopsided defeat of T Boone Pickens' ballot measure.
"California voters didn't fall for a Texas oil tycoon's $10 billion money grab, no matter how much he spent camouflaging it as green," stated Richard Holober, spokesman for the No on Prop 10 campaign, and Executive Director of the Consumer Federation of California. "Proposition 10 is the ultimate example of a wealthy special interest abusing the ballot initiative process to enrich itself. We built a coalition of major environmental, consumer, business, labor, taxpayer and civic organizations that triumphed over Prop 10's $23 million war chest. The defeat of Prop 10 sends a signal that California's ballot initiative process is not for sale to the highest bidder."
Mr. Pickens' Clean Energy Fuels Corporation contributed nearly $19 million to the Yes on Prop 10 campaign. Chesapeake Energy and its owner Aubrey McClendon donated $3.5 million to the Yes on 10 campaign. Clean Energy is the nation's largest operator of natural gas fueling stations, and Chesapeake is the largest independent producer of natural gas in the U.S. Both corporations would have made a fortune under Prop 10's multibillion dollar giveaway program to create a market for natural gas-fueled trucks.
The No on Prop 10 campaign raised about $170,000.
The defeat of Proposition 10 is the first test of voter support for the self-styled "Pickens Plan." News reports state that Mr. Pickens has spent $58 million on national television ads since July promoting his plan. One key component of his plan is the conversion of vehicles to run on natural gas. Pickens Plan ads do not spell out who pays for this conversion, and who benefits from it.
"Proposition 10 pulled back the veil from the Pickens Plan, and revealed that taxpayers would be hit hard with the cost of funding giveaways designed to put money in Mr. Pickens' pockets. The Pickens' Plan flunked the smell test with California voters," Holober stated.
November 5, 2008, 6:45 am Link to This
California didn’t show T. Boone Pickens the love Tuesday.
Voters in the state shot down a proposal backed by the oil billionaire to give Californians rebates to buy alternative fuel vehicles and set aside money for research.
But voters, it seems heeded a coalition of critics, which included environmentalists, business and union groups, and top politicians from around the state, who warned that the $5 billion bond measure would have tarnish the state’s green image and steered taxpayer money to the Texas investor.
Mr. Pickens’s natural gas fueling company, Clean Energy Fuels, gave nearly $19 million to support the initiative.
Opponents of Proposition 10, as the measure was known, raised $125,000 to fight the bill.
“California voters didn’t fall for a Texas oil tycoon’s $10 billion money grab, no matter how much he spent camouflaging it as green,” Richard Holober, a spokesman for the No on Prop 10 campaign, and Executive Director of the Consumer Federation of California, said in a statement after the bill was defeated. “Proposition 10 is the ultimate example of a wealthy special interest abusing the ballot initiative process to enrich itself. ”
It’s been a rough year for the energy investor.
Mr. Pickens and his investment fund have lost $2 billion since peaking in late June.
And about half of the investors in Mr. Pickens’ energy-oriented equity hedge fund have asked to withdraw their money on the heels of losses of about 60 percent this year, The Wall Street Journal reportd recently.
Good for the despicable greedy bastard.
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