Tom Steyer vs Xavier Becerra is the choice that matters for the world’s 4th largest economy What happens in California has BIG ripple effects for the pace of our global clean energy transition. With AI tech valuations ballooning, California is now the world’s 4th largest economy, ranking ahead of Japan, India, and the UK, and only a bit behind Germany, China, and the entire United States. On June 2nd California voters will decide which two of the top three leading candidates for governor will be on the ballot in November. After following the money, the track records, and the facts, I’m convinced there’s only one candidate who will lead my state in a better direction: Tom Steyer. I’ve spent my entire 20+yr career working on climate, clean energy, and social justice solutions, going back to growing up in a sustainability-minded farming community in Mendocino County, CA (which has since been devastated by wildfire). After starting as scientist and engineer, I now evaluate the sustainability and social responsibility of companies for my day job at Etho Capital, while sometimes teaching university courses, co-authoring a climate solutions textbook, and volunteering time to co-organize one of California’s longest-running communities of cleantech professionals (E-Discuss). I’m a scientist and engineer at heart. I like calm, rational, fact-based decision-making. With that said, I’ve come to realize the biggest key to solving our interconnected climate, health, inequity, and affordability crisis is better communication that moves hearts and minds. So I’m taking the time to share a few facts that hopefully at least some of you read, consider, and share with others. For California’s governor race on June 2nd, here are the facts that matter most: 1) Tom Steyer vs Xavier Becerra is the only meaningful choice for California voters concerned most about affordability, climate action, public health, education, and/or overall social justice and equity. In the “Jungle Primary” where the top two candidates of any party advance to the general election in November, the most recent polling has Xavier Becerra, Tom Steyer, and [Republican] Steve Hilton in the top three, with similar polls consistently showing other candidates, like [D] Katie Porter, [R] Chad Bianco, and [D] Matt Mahan, don’t have a chance of finishing in the top two on June 2nd to make it through to the November runoff, so a vote for them is wasted. 2) Tom Steyer has an impressive track record of progressive policy wins advancing clean energy, climate action, public health, and public education, often defeating big money fossil fuel, tobacco, and utility industry lobbyists in the process. Yes, Steyer is a billionaire, but he’s the only top candidate in the race calling for higher taxes on billionaires, and Steyer has consistently put his money and time into advancing clean energy and progressive causes since he left the hedge fund industry over a decade ago. 3) Xavier Becerra is backed by big money from some of the shadiest corporate donors in America, including Chevron (with Becerra saying Chevron is “not the bad guy”), PG&E (which burned my community to the ground in 2017), Meta (AI hyperscaler and the world’s largest social media conglomerate), Sempra / SoCal Gas and SoCal Edison (CA’s other largest investor-owned utility monopolies), alongside an offshore and onshore oil drilling company (California Resources Corp), other big tech companies, drug companies and the profit-driven side of the health care industry, and police unions pushing to minimize law enforcement accountability. Most companies donating millions to boost Becerra and/or attack Steyer through PACs and shady orgs fail the types of ESG sustainable investing screens my Etho Capital team conducts each year. Chevron, PG&E and Meta routinely rank as some of the worst bad-actor companies in the world, and they’re quite savvy about how to manipulate our political system to maximize their profits. What do you think they’re paying for when they support Becerra? 4) Tom Steyer has a strong moral compass, he’s surrounded himself with good people, and he’s running to be Governor for all the right reasons. We’re certainly not BFFs, and I’ve never been funded by Steyer or any of his orgs, but I’ve spoken with Steyer a number of times over the years through my own work in climate solutions and sustainable investing. I’ve been consistently impressed by Steyer’s depth of knowledge, thoughtfulness, honesty, passion, and commitment on clean energy and climate issues. I also have many friends in the energy and climate world who have worked much more closely with Steyer and his inner circles, and they only have positive things to say about Steyer as a leader who listens, deliberately surrounds himself with diverse voices, and works hard on solutions with honor and integrity. Many attacks on Steyer focus on fossil fuel and private prison investments from decades ago that impelled Steyer to leave the hedge fund world to dedicate his time and money to public service (and he’d be a lot wealthier if his moral compass didn’t make that choice). I know Steyer well enough to know his intentions are true, others I trust feel the same, and I know Steyer will surround himself with a talented, smart, ethical team as Governor of California. 5) Xavier Becerra has a concerning track record of incompetence, political posturing, and unethical campaigning mixed with protecting his big money donor interests behind the scenes. Becerra’s resume looks good on the surface, but through talking with people who’ve worked with him and my own research, I’ve learned Becerra’s track record is a disturbing mix of protecting big oil and utility profits (at the health and wealth expense of the rest of us), running shady campaigns to undercut Latino political rivals, and enriching drug companies (at the expense of cancer patients) while endangering 85,000+ kids as HHS Secretary [New York Times reporting]. While Attorney General, Becerra repeatedly worked to hide the identities of police officers accused of illegal misconduct, and Becerra even threatened UC Berkeley journalists for publishing police misconduct public records. I’ve also learned from a source I trust that Becerra has aggressively protected PG&E’s business interests behind the scenes, but the person with the most evidence hasn’t yet come forward for fear of retribution if Becerra becomes governor. Now two of Becerra’s top aides have pled guilty of stealing over $200,000 from Becerra’s campaign account for years, and they’ve taken plea deals leading to a wave of new subpoenas that could hand the California governor race to Steve Hilton in November, which has Katie Porter telling CNN Becerra is “too big of a risk to take” (more below). 6) The state Democratic Party establishment is supporting both Xavier Becerra and [Republican] Steve Hilton while trying to keep Tom Steyer out of a November runoff with Becerra. According to nonprofit, non-partisan CalMatters, “There’s been a semi-secret drive underway by Democratic operatives to trumpet Hilton’s ties to a very unpopular President Donald Trump, hoping that would spark an outpouring of Republican support that would boost him into one of the two top finishes, thus avoiding a Democrat-vs-Democrat showdown.” Why is the California democratic establishment boosting the top Republican? My cynical take is that it’s because many establishment Dems want a reflexive rally around Becerra, who will protect the profit margins of big donors like PG&E, which has been one of the largest donors to both California Democrats and Republicans for decades, while spending millions to lobby against rooftop solar and other distributed clean energy sources. Many establishment California Democrats, including Governor Gavin Newsom, continued taking PG&E money even after PG&E was convicted of manslaughter and multiple felonies from it’s negligence in gas explosions and deadly wildfires. I expect establishment Democrats don’t want the closer looks and uncomfortable questions a Steyer vs Becerra runoff will bring, especially now that Newsom’s former Chief of Staff has pled guilty to steeling Becerra’s campaign funds for years with a lot of unanswered questions and a wave of new investigations underway. 7) Tom Steyer is endorsed by most environmental, labor, and progressive leaders and organizations. Steyer has real plans to advance a fossil-free, affordable energy future, along with pretty much all the other progressive policies I support. Steyer’s track record and thoughtful policy platform are why he’s supported by many of the climate leaders, policymakers, and nonprofit orgs I most respect, including Bill McKibben, Chris Rogers, Leah Stokes, Nancy Skinner, David Roberts (who did this great podcast), Sammy Roth, Betty Yee, Lola Smallwood-Cuevas, the California Teachers Association, California Federation of Teachers, the California Nurses Association, the California Federation of Labor Unions AFL-CIO, the Sierra Club, Climate Action California, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), California Environmental Voters (formerly California League of Conservation Voters), United Domestic Workers, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and Bernie Sanders-founded Our Revolution. 8) Tom Steyer has the best chance of beating Steve Hilton in November, while Xavier Becerra may be dragged down by the growing chorus of negative news reports about his poor track record and his snowballing campaign-funding theft scandal. There’s a lot that still doesn’t add up about the facts so far, especially why Dana Williamson, Becerra’s former campaign manager, actually paid her own money into conspiring with Becerra’s longtime chief of staff Sean McCluskie and another Sacramento lobbyist to divert $225,000 from Becerra’s dormant state campaign account into McCluskie’s hands. Williamson had previously been a top lobbyist for Fortune 500 clients (including PG&E and Meta), before becoming a top aide and dealmaker for both Becerra and Governor Gavin Newsom. Politico describes Williamson as “California’s ultimate power broker.” Why was such a savvy and highly connected political operative paying her own money into helping someone else funnel $250,000 out of Xavier Becerra’s campaign accounts? How could that happen for years without Becerra knowing about it? If you’re still on the fence about Xavier Becerra, watch Becerra’s full KTLA TV interview as well as the follow-up reactions to it. Does Becerra look and sound like someone you’d trust to lead California, or someone with a lot to hide? Tom Steyer is clearly our best choice for governor, based on the facts that matter most. At least for me, the facts show Xavier Becerra and Steve Hilton are two smooth-talking sides of the same coin of crony capitalism. Hilton unabashedly welcomes corporate profiteering. Becerra panders with niceties and hollow promises, while cutting deals for big money donors in the shadows and making decisions for career-politician personal advancement over public good. Both are beholden to profiteering big money donors that pollute our democracy and fuel our climate and affordability crisis. From the facts I can see, Hilton and Becerra would both make California a worse place to live. If we’re stuck with a choice between the two of them in November, I won’t vote for either, because I’m honestly not sure which is worse. Trump-backed Hilton will likely be blocked by California’s Dem-dominated legislature from doing much damage before a recall election. Electing Becerra may entrench a corporate crony governor for the next decade, while his big oil, utility monopoly, drug company, and AI tech oligarch donors benefit at the expense of the rest of us. I’m sharing all this as a lifelong concerned citizen of California. I am not a paid part of Steyer’s campaign, nor am I a paid “influencer.” I’m taking the time to write this for my family, friends, and neighbors who have seen their California Dreams turn into nightmares. I’m writing this for my grandparents and their Japanese-American and Mexican-American neighbors, who were repeatedly pushed out of fruit farming in the bucolic Valley of Heart’s Delight by real estate moguls expanding suburbs in what’s now Silicon Valley. This is for my mom, who somehow raised me as a single parent on a public elementary teacher salary, while also keeping our small family farm in Mendocino County afloat and volunteering countless hours for environmental and progressive causes in our community. This is for my extended NorCal family and neighbors who keep supporting each other through the amplifying cycles of flooding, drought, heat waves, wildfire, and toxic smoke from our climate crisis, putting aside divisive identity politics. This is for my wife’s family, who fled war in Vietnam and China as refugees with small children and little more than the clothes on their backs, settling into the California Dream in Los Angeles and Ventura County neighborhoods now going through their own wildfire and unaffordability challenges. This is for my neighbors in the Bay Area, where obscene tech wealth somehow exists alongside underfunded public schools and thousands of homeless suffering through untreated drug addiction and mental health issues. Growing waves of AI-driven layoffs now have everyone from tech workers to rideshare drivers concerned about making ends meet, while new college graduates struggling to find jobs actually boo their AI-boosting commencement speakers, California communities rebel to block energy-hogging data centers, and tech companies promote humanoid robots to replace more human jobs. This is for my Redwood Valley community that lost far too many homes and lives in our 2017 firestorm, including our neighbor’s kids Kai Shepherd (14) and Kressa Shepherd (17), whose bright young lives were cut far too short. My cousin was Kressa’s high school art teacher. Kai was a close friend of another cousin’s son. Their aunt was my high school friend. I can’t remember ever meeting Kressa or Kai, but I can’t write about them without crying. PG&E powerlines started the fire that killed them, fueled by climate-driven drought and hurricane force winds. My community then waited years to get underpaid rebuilding costs from PG&E’s bankruptcy process, watching PG&E’s Wall Street owners cash out before us. Now we watch PG&E return to making record profits, while PG&E executives pay themselves tens of millions, and California PUC regulators keep rubber stamping PG&E rate increases. We literally can’t afford to have a California governor who’s deep in PG&E’s pocket, like Xavier Becerra. I’m writing this for my own kids, with hope they can live their own affordable, equitable, healthy, and fossil-free California Dreams. I hope someday their grandkids can live anywhere in our great Golden State without fear of their dreams going up in flames. For those still hesitant to back a billionaire for public office, I hear you, but know Tom Steyer is even strongly endorsed by Bernie Sanders’ organization Our Revolution, because of Steyer’s strong track record on “single-payer healthcare, taxing extreme wealth, bold climate action, and getting money out of politics.” America’s democracy is now so corrupted by big money donors that it may take a self-financing benevolent billionaire to drive real change. From now until June 2nd, California has a chance to vote for a trusted progressive leader and true climate champion who will govern our state to a better future. Where the world’s 4th largest economy leads, many others follow. Let’s not miss the chance to vote for a better future for all of us. About the Author: Ian Monroe is the President of Etho Capital, a leading sustainable investing firm behind the fossil-free ETHO ETF. Ian is also a founder of the Climate+Positive Investing Alliance (C+PIA), and he has taught climate solutions courses at Stanford and UC Berkeley for over a decade, co-authored the textbook Solving Climate Change: A Guide for Learners and Leaders, and co-organized the E-Discuss cleantech community for nearly two decades.