Schwarzenegger Accepts $100,000 from Chevron as Californians Get Hit with Record Gasoline Prices: Citizen Petition Calls for Special Session

Ramping up the rhetoric, Jamie Court, President of the FTCR said: “If Gov. Schwarzenegger keeps Chevron’s cash and continues his political silence while Chevron robs California motorists blind, he’s not just a girlie man, he’s Chevron’s girlie man. It is scandal enough that Governor is still accepting big corporate donations even though he won’t be running again for governor or any other state office. But to take $100,000 from Chevron at the same time as gas prices in California surpassed record highs is to spit in the face of Californians.”

Judy Dugan, research director of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights and their site OilWatchdog.org bluntly asked: "Can Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger break his peculiar silence on the biggest consumer crisis of his administration? Or will he be like Gov. Gray Davis during the California energy crisis of 2001, fumbling as the state nearly went dark?"

Dugan also said: “It is astonishing that no one in Schwarzenegger’s office, or the governor himself, could see that this stinks to high heaven. California is gripped by the highest gasoline prices in the nation as Chevron has doubled its profit margin on making gasoline in the West. Chevron’s donation can only be seen as a big thank-you for the governor’s silence on the issue. Arnold doesn’t have to care what it costs to fill his Hummer—that would be $112 for the H2. But he seems weighed down by the $3.8 million in contributions he and his committees have gotten from the oil industry."

FTCR is also asking the Governor to call a special session of the legislature on gasoline prices. They have launched a petition drive as part of their effort.

They say the most obvious solution is for the state to regulate refineries as though they were public utilities (like electric companies), and "require a supply that’s sufficient to prevent these ridiculous, profiteering price spikes."

FTCR also noted that California lawmakers have been silent on the price spikes, which are driven by the refusal of oil companies and refiners to provide sufficient gasoline supplies to California and the rest of the West.