Details behind the ‘Chevron’ donation

It is interesting to me how people, especially on political matters, will distort, modify or disregard the facts to try and prove a point or deceive others into believing things that are absolutely untrue.

A recent example of this was a January 24 letter to the editor in the E-R, where Marcie Ligammari contends that Tod Kimmelshue, a candidate for the 4th District Supervisorial Position, will be influenced by large contributions he has purportedly received from big corporations.

She specifically identifies “$2,500 from the Chevron Sacramento Lobbyist and $1,500 from Building California Together.” The facts are, the $2,500 was a personal contribution from Tod’s son Kirk, who at the time did work for Chevron, but no longer does, and the $1,500 represents less than 1% of the total contributions Tod has received. If you check the records, you’ll see Tod’s vast support is from local businesses and individuals in Butte County.

Taking this a step further, if we are to be concerned with large contributions made to a candidate, it should be acknowledged that Tod’s competitor has received a $15,000 contribution from a fund for the union representing a portion Butte County employees. This represents 35% of the total contributions of record that she has received to date. How might this affect her future decision making?

Putting contributions aside, my larger concern would be how influential, supporters of a candidate who openly work to deceive the electorate, would be on her decisions if she were elected.

— Mark Kimmelshue, Durham