RIGHT SPEAK: Company That May Have Started L.A. Fires Donated Millions to Dems: Including Gov. Newsom, Mayor Karen Bass and Sen. Adam Schiff; Lawsuit Alleges Video Footage of Electric Spark Shows Origin of Eaton Fire: ‘Profits over safety’

Company That May Have Started L.A. Fires Donated Millions to Dems:

Including Gov. Newsom, Mayor Karen Bass and Sen. Adam Schiff.

In the first half of 2024, Edison International donated around a million dollars to political candidates, PACs and organizations. Much of that money went to Democrats.

Now the powerful energy giant is facing accusations that it’s responsible for the LA fires.

The New York Times and Los Angeles Times both reported on growing suspicions that the Eaton fire broke out around its power lines and two lawsuits have already been filed, one for wrongful death, and a judge has ordered the company to preserve evidence.

Edison’s contributions were directed to leading California politicians including Gov. Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, and State Sen. Susan Rubio, a formerly deported state politician who is under suspicion of soliciting a quarter million dollar bribe in another case, and who despite that heads the state senate’s insurance committee, who were at the center of the current wildfire disaster.

The energy company was listed among Newsom’s top 20 donors in the 2018 cycle with over $70,000 in contributions, just ahead of the California Democratic Party. A year later its financial disclosures showed that it “spent more than $95,000 on food and other expenses for lawmakers, staff of lawmakers and the governor.” By 2023, Edison was spending a massive $3 million on lobbying California politicians.

But Edison’s connections to California politicians could be more subtle than that. For example, Newsom’s wife, titled ‘First Partner’ Jennifer Siebel Newsom, created the California Partners Project (CPP), and Newsom’s office put out a press release celebrating that Edison became one of the eight companies to sign on to it. CPP operates as a 501(c)(4) that takes in money from companies that do business with the state including the failed Silicon Valley Bank.

Attorney General Rob Bonta, the politician being groomed by Newsom as his replacement, received $72,500 from lawyers at a firm representing SoCal Edison, including lawyers working on a case involving the company’s responsibility for causing a 2018 fire, in the days before he announced he wouldn’t put forward criminal charges. After media scrutiny, Bonta offered to return some of the money. The rest may be used for his future gubernatorial campaign.

During that fire, it was found that California assembly members were in Maui, being hosted by lobbyists, including for SoCal Edison, asking them for a bailout. The attendees included Ian Calderon, the nephew of ex-State Senator Ron Calderon, the former head of the senate’s insurance commission, before being ousted and arrested for the “largest insurance fraud case” in the history of the California Department of Insurance, Senator Tom Calderon, his brother, indicted for money laundering, who has since been replaced by his stepmother, Assemblywoman Lisa Calderon. Also in attendance was the half of yet another California dynasty, Assemblywoman Blanca Rubio, whose sister Senator Susan Rubio, is reportedly under FBI investigation, and multiple other Democrat elected officials most of whom have left office. --->READ MORE HERE

Lawsuit alleges video footage of electric spark shows origin of Eaton Fire: ‘Profits over safety’

A lawsuit against utility company Southern California Edison alleges poor equipment maintenance was the origin of the Eaton Fire, which destroyed thousands of homes and other buildings in Altadena, California earlier this month.

Attorney James Frantz, who is representing 15,000 victims of fire in Altadena, says the company has put “profits over safety.”

“It’s just destroyed lives and families all the way throughout. It’s really unconscionable that these public utilities don’t get it,” Frantz told the Washington Examiner.

“They cannot put the safety of the people and public at risk by not maintaining their equipment,” He continued.

One of the residents Franz is representing alleges that surveillance video from an area gas station proves the utility company’s power lines ignited the Eaton Fire.

Frantz said many residents are still displaced by the fires, noting one elderly woman who is still living in a nearby hotel with her 91-year-old mother, but may not be able to stay there much longer.

“You have other people who are more affluent, who have another house, but most of these people don’t have that luxury,” Frantz added.

A judge ordered Southern California Edison to preserve its equipment in the area for at least 21 days. Previously, the utility company had paid hundreds of millions in settlements for other wildfires, raising questions about their safety protocols. Investigators, however, have not determined what exactly sparked the fire.

“They put profits over safety just like they’ve always done,” Frantz said. “And they deny, deny, deny. They said their equipment was deenergized, it was not,” citing the video footage.