Troubled campaign looking for some sort of boost

by Brian Leubitz

The gubernatorial candidate from Wall Street, Neel Kashkari, is struggling in the polls and fundraising is running dry. So, where to turn? How about trying to get some cash from the petroleum industry with some timely shout outs to his corporate friends in the business:

Republican gubernatorial candidate Neel Kashkari toured a drilling technology company here Wednesday and promised to rebuild the state’s economy in part by improving the business climate for oil and gas.

In the last three years that Jerry Brown has been governor, California has increased its crude oil production 3 percent to 199 million barrels, he said. During the same three years, Texas has increased its production 77 percent to 941 million barrels, and North Dakota has hiked production 105 percent to 313 million barrels.

California’s economy is improving slowly, Kashkari said, but added that far too many Californians remain out of work because the state isn’t business-friendly.(Bakersfield Californian)

Well, that is all well and good, but the numbers that the Kashkari campaign passed off in a press release are not really relevant. Even petroleum executives would allow that each state has different petroleum reserves. Not all wells are created equal. Part of that is the regulatory environment, but fracking is a technology that aims to get at deposits with a wildly varying levels of accessibility. Monterey shale isn’t the same as the deposits in Texas or North Dakota, and there are many other considerations. Like, hey, the fact that we are in a big drought. KQED has a great report on that subject in both audio and text formats.

The potential for higher water use doesn’t sit well with some San Joaquin Valley farmers. “They’re competing for the same water that we’re using for our farms,” says Keith Gardiner. “That’s taken away from the farm fields.”

“It is an added pressure,” says Greg Wegis of Wegis and Young, a farming operation near Bakersfield. “From what I’ve seen, in some of the fracking wells, they’re using 3-to-4 acre-feet per well. That’s not helping the situation.”(KQED)

But Kashkari has very little to work with. Brown has a huge warchest, and Donnelly is still polling above him. Kashkari needs more cash and attention. He can claim to be addressing with an appearance on Squawk Box, but appearing on CNBC won’t make the kind of big shake up that he needs to this race. So, why not try pandering to petroleum interests. It won’t help him win the governor’s office, but maybe he can squeeze into the November top-2.