A handful of local lawmakers recently received a deposit in their campaign bank account from Tesoro Corp., the company that would like to build the Northwest’s largest oil-by-rail terminal in Vancouver.
For Rep. Paul Harris, R-Vancouver, who has met with representatives from the corporation in previous election cycles, the $500 check “magically appeared in the mail” last month.
Tesoro Corp., along with Savage Companies, is hoping to build a transfer terminal that could handle as much as 380,000 barrels of crude per day at the Port of Vancouver.
Rep. Brandon Vick’s $750 check was hand-delivered. And Rep. Liz Pike, R-Camas, had a long conversation with a Tesoro official before receiving a $500 campaign donation from the company.
“Whenever someone gives me a campaign donation. … They are saying ‘We support you because we share the same business philosophy that you do,’ ” Pike said. “I would never accept a contribution if it were to curry favor. That would violate my own moral code.”
In this case, all three Republican lawmakers said they are in favor of the controversial proposed oil terminal, as long as they feel safety concerns are addressed.
“I’m not carte blanche saying let’s put in an oil terminal,” Harris said.
Out of the 13 individual state candidates Tesoro has given to in 2014, four of them are vying to represent this region, including Lynda Wilson, who is running to unseat Rep. Monica Stonier, a Democrat, for the 17th Legislative District, Position 1, according to information from the state’s Public Disclosure Commission website. Wilson’s war chest was given a $500 boost from Tesoro.
The maximum donation allowed per election cycle is $950.
‘A rigorous test’
Local lawmakers are quick to point out they will not be voting whether to approve the project. Gov. Jay Inslee will have the ultimate say over whether the proposed oil transfer terminal gets the go-ahead.
“It’s one of those things that, if it makes its way through the EFSEC (Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council) process and gets the governor’s signature, I think that’s a rigorous test,” Vick said. “And if it doesn’t pass through EFSEC, I don’t intend to try to circumvent that.”
The candidates said they did not solicit the donations from Tesoro and they do not feel obligated to, say, lobby the governor or his staff.
Vick remains skeptical of whether the governor, who the lawmaker noted is called the “green governor” based on his environmental record, would approve the project.
“If I were a betting man … I would say it’s a pretty big long shot, but you never know,” Vick said. “We’re in a place where we need jobs.”
Nothing to Democrats
U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Camas, received a $2,500 campaign from Tesoro at the end of March, according to her April quarterly report, the most recent itemized by the Federal Elections Commission.
Tesoro Corp. did not contribute to any local Democrats. The Clark County Democratic Party voted this week to oppose the terminal.
“It seems like jurisdictions, cities, counties throughout the state are weighing in, and I think the more groups that express their opinion, it gives the governor one more thing to look at to see there is opposition all over the state,” said Liz Campbell, vice chair of the Clark County Democrats.
Jennifer Minx, with Tesoro’s communications team, said in an email the company donates to candidates who “support a healthy economy and responsible economic growth.”
She added that Tesoro does not consider the donations to local candidates to be “an extraordinary amount of contributions to the Vancouver area.”
