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Is PowerLink the "missing link" tying Anderson donations from Hamann & SDG&E?
By Laura Cyphert, Co-founder
East County Community Action Coalition
December 1, 2009 (San Diego’s East County) -- In October, the East County Community Action Coalition, along with the Protect Our Communities Foundation, met with Assemblyman Joel Anderson to request that he take a position against the Sunrise Powerlink, and other related projects. Anderson declined the request, and stated candidly that he would rather “leave those types of issues to the experts.”
As we left the meeting, I scratched my head as I pondered the concept of a state representative for East County, leaving such a significant issue in his district “to the experts”. Who might these mystery experts be, I wondered?
My suspicions were answered this past month when the news broke that Joel Anderson is accused of receiving illegal campaign contributions from none other than SDG&E, and El Cajon developer, Hamann Construction. With a simple google search, the connection between these three became evident. I noticed that Joel Anderson’s office is located in the same building as Hamann Construction. Then I saw that Hamann received an award of nearly $230,000 from SDG&E in 2009 to build a renewable energy project in Otay. In addition, Hamann stands to benefit from other awards if the Sunrise Powerlink is built.
Then a search of the watchdog site www.followthemoney.org, revealed that Joel Anderson, while “opting out” of taking a position on this issue, had not opted out of taking money from the gas and electric utility providers, even receiving donations from utility companies that do not even operate in San Diego County.
While Anderson has stood behind East County on some significant issues, such as his bill to extend disaster relief for Cedar Fire victims, he has failed to take a stand on an issue that will “significantly increase the likelihood of catastrophic fires” in this same Cedar fire area.
While the ECCAC is committed to remaining a non-partisan organization, we must not allow corporations that are only motivated by maximizing profit to buy the silence of our representatives; and that holds true for representatives from all parties.
Please join the ECCAC and let Anderson and other representatives know that we demand an ethical government and a voice for our district.
Contacts for Anderson:
E-mail: http://arc.asm.ca.gov/member/77/?p=email
Sacramento: Phone (916) 319-2077; fax (916) 319-2177
El Cajon: Phone (619) 441-2322; fax (619) 465-7765
Website: http://arc.asm.ca.gov/member/77/
The views in this editorial reflect the views of its author and do not necessarily reflect the views of East County Magazine. To submit an editorial for consideration, contact editor@eastcountymagazine.org.
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