Fresno, CA – Adam Gray might call himself a Democrat, but campaign donations available in the public record show that he is bought and paid for by special interest groups that don’t care about people’s health, our children, or the environment. Gray has taken more than $600,000 from some of the worst political actors, including Big Tobacco, Big Pharma, Big Oil & Gas, private prisons, and a payday loan company. Gray has been one of their staunchest supporters in Sacramento in exchange for these generous donations. These revelations come as Democrats prepare to endorse either Gray or Democrat Phil Arballo, who has just been endorsed by SEIU California, at the state convention in March.
“Someone who cozies up to corporate interests and sells out his constituents like voting against raising the minimum wage has no business receiving the Democratic Party endorsement,” said Arballo. “Central Valley residents already lived through 20 years of Devin Nunes looking out for himself in Congress instead of his constituents. We shouldn’t be trading the worst member of Congress for the worst Democrat in the State Assembly. We need someone who will put the people first – fighting for clean air and water, lowering housing costs, creating more access to quality health care, and rebuilding our economy. Adam Gray would be a guaranteed vote for whoever pays the most.”
Public records show Gray has taken more than $150,000 from Big Tobacco, including $34,000 from Juul, to stop legislation preventing the sale of flavored vaping products that are designed to hook teens on e-cigarettes. Gray’s actions were called “reprehensible” by the American Cancer Society.
Gray has also accepted more than $260,000 from pharmaceutical companies since 2012, including almost $40,000 from Abbott Laboratories – one of the largest producers of OxyContin in the United States and a driver of the opioid epidemic that claims 100,000+ lives per year.
Gray has taken nearly $200,000 from oil and gas companies. He voted against a bill that would have had California using 100% green energy by 2045 and killed legislation that would have required a 50% cut in petroleum use in motor vehicles by 2030. He even wrote an op-ed defending President Trump’s environmental record and supporting his rollback on environmental regulations.
“The Central Valley has some of the worst air quality in the nation. The fact that Adam Gray takes money from the nation’s biggest polluters and defends Donald Trump’s anti-climate policies should tell Valley residents all they need to know about the lousy representative he would be in Congress,” added Arballo.
About Phil:
Phil Arballo is a lifelong Central Valley resident and he and his wife Cynthia are raising their two children in the same community he grew up in. Raised by a single mother, Phil was the first in his family to attend college, working minimum wage jobs to pay his own way through Fresno State. He believes we need an economy that offers middle-class families a pathway to good-paying jobs, supports our local farming communities and gives everyone a fair shot at success.
Learn more at philarballo.com.
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