TS - Letter to the Editor
On July 11, District Attorney Paul Gallegos appeared before Humboldt County's Code Enforcement Task Force and shared what the press reported as “his frustrations about” a “mutant” structure where he has no authority over code officers, yet all the responsibility for their actions in the field” (Eureka Reporter, 7-12), and he isn't “comfortable with deputizing code enforcement investigators if they are not his employees” (Times-Standard, 7-12). As is often the case with Mr. Gallegos, the truth is otherwise.
For over seven years I was employed by the California District Attorneys Association as a “circuit prosecutor,” in which I was deputized by elected district attorneys in three counties, including by Gallegos. As my legal authority flowed from these elected DA's to me, at all times I answered in my actions as a deputy DA directly to them. On numerous occasions I pointed out this fact to my supervisors in Sacramento, who sometimes felt that they, as my employer, could direct me in my exercise of the DA's authority.
Mr. Gallegos seeks to have it both ways. He has deputized these peace officers, who act under his authority as code enforcement officers, yet claims he cannot control them as his deputies. This is hogwash. The solution is obvious: Insist that these deputies operate subject to his oversight or remove their authority.
It remains unfortunate that our chief law enforcement officer refuses to take responsibility for his actions, placing blame elsewhere. Citizens should rightly expect leadership and honesty, not platitudes and excuses.
Paul Hagen
Eureka
***
Update: July 22, 2008 Well! That drew a response from the long dormant Salzman Communications Director, once again struggling to defend Paul Gallegos. What don't you know? The Emperor's clothes are spun of the finest silk! With 24 karat gold embroidery on the hem, and the finest jewels on the bodice. Can't you see it? If you can't, according to the chief deceptor Michael Twombly, you must be a "disgruntled" ex-employee. One who was FIRED thanks to Gallegos. Michael Twombly must be the last rat on this sinking ship. Looks like he's trying to thwart anyone running against his boy.
Hagen should do his homework - Letter to the Editor
Mr. Hagen's screed about the District Attorney's problems with Humboldt's code officers (Hogwash, Mr. Gallegos) a is little but a disgruntled ex-employee's self-serving run-up to challenging Gallegos in the next DA election.
Mr. Hagen's circuit prosecutor position with the DA's Association in years past is not comparable to the “mutant structure” in which Gallegos has no legal authority over code enforcers, but as DA has official responsibility for their irresponsible, dangerous and provocative activities.
This is an obviously intolerable position for any district attorney and needs to be fixed.
In fact, Gallegos states that that deputies must either operate responsibly under his authority or lose their deputy status under the DA's office.
This seems pretty reasonable.
Mr. Hagen needs to do his homework before throwing his hogwash hat in the ring.
Michael Twombly
Bayside
Scared, Mr. Twombly. So quick to jump to the defense. Of the utterly indefensible.
Showing posts with label "Local Solutions". Show all posts
Showing posts with label "Local Solutions". Show all posts
7.22.2008
10.17.2007
"Local Solutions" rears its ugly head again
This version of Salzman's Alliance for Ethical Business is once again positioning to affect local politics, with no accountability for their agenda. Once again they assume the respectability mantle and pretend to be just a member of the flock.
Virginia Graziani is one of Salzman's Orks - a vocal particiapnt in AEB, this bears further scrutiny. No word on whether the phony "Pacific Crest Research" is involved on this one.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 17, 2007
CONTACT: Virginia Graziani (923-1205)
Jim Lamport (923-4372)
Bill Thorington (496-4703)
or Dennis Huber (923-3292 / 498-4613)
SECOND DISTRICT GROUP POLLS NEIGHBORS
FORTUNA - An ad-hoc group of citizens from across the Second
Supervisorial District announced the results of a poll they conducted
over the last several months. The group formed out of concern that
issues of importance are not being adequately represented in County
government. "We question whether Supervisor Rodoni has really been
addressing the issues of the Second District in a way that reflects
majority opinion," said Virginia Graziani, a resident of Redway and one
of the group's spokespeople. "So we conducted a scientific survey to
learn what issues our neighbors think are important and what they think
our elected representatives should be doing."
The questions covered a wide range of topics of interest to the Second
District that included the General Plan, railroad issues, timber and
water questions as well as Fortuna's growth and development. "We were
surprised to see how much agreement there was amongst all the folks we
talked to," said Jim Lamport of Blocksburg. "That wasn't something we
expected."
Regarding the Humboldt County General Plan Update, the group found that
49% of Second District residents support Plan A, which provides for "the
least amount of commercial development in new areas." 35% of respondents
favored Plan B (the "middle-of the-road" approach). Plan C (the most
developer-friendly proposal) received only 12% support. In addition, a
whopping 71% of respondents feel that it is important that Fortuna
maintain its "small town feel."
"People frequently talk about how divided Humboldt County is and use the
Second District to illustrate the case. We found that folks in Fortuna
have a lot in common and share the same values as folks from Redway or
Garberville," said Bill Thorington of Fortuna. "Most of the people
consider themselves politically moderate - 39%. These truly are just
regular folks who represent the average voter in the Second District."
The group also found that 67% of voters think the Supervisors should
play an active role to stop the Eel River diversion to the Russian
River. Only 4% think the diversion should continue with no change.
70% of Second District voters believe that the Board of Supervisors
should "play a leadership role in developing sustainable energy policies
and practices," and 50% would support "Humboldt County Supervisors
spending public money to prepare for the possible impacts of global
climate change."
The question of rebuilding the railroad has made news recently, so the
group included questions about that as well. The results on this topic
showed no strong agreement, with 46% in support of rebuilding the
railroad to the Bay Area, 48% opposed and 5% with no opinion. However,
when asked if they would still support the railroad if it did not carry
passengers (freight only), 57% of respondents said they would not be
supportive.
The poll also asked about confidence in the timber industry's ability to
provide jobs, both now and in the past. Only 7% of the respondents feel
confident in the timber industry's ability to provide jobs today,
compared to 64% that felt confident just 20 years ago.
Voters are also concerned that large corporations have too much
influence in politics in Humboldt County. 44% of the respondents are
"very concerned," 25% are "somewhat concerned" and only 21% are "not
concerned at all."
The group worked with Local Solutions, a county-wide grassroots
political action committee. Local Solutions assisted the group by
facilitating the process and helping to write and administer the poll to
achieve a statically accurate sample. "We were pleased to lend a hand to
this effort," said Dennis Huber, a spokesperson for Local Solutions and
a Second District resident himself. "The group conducted this poll by
talking to a random sample of the registered voters in the Second
District. We used rigorous social research methodology and we have great
confidence in the results. I was especially impressed with the group's
energy and commitment. It isn't often that you see ordinary citizens
dedicate so much of their time to an all-volunteer effort to see what
their neighbors think."
"We're haven't decided what happens next," said Graziani. "We started
this process to get a discussion going amongst our neighbors. We want to
publicize the results to further the conversation. We hope our
representatives listen up. As far as we know, we're the only folks in
the Second District who are really asking how folks feel about the
issues. Our elected leaders owe us and our fellow voters the courtesy to
respond to our findings and show some leadership," she said.
To see the poll responses, along with the wording of questions the group
asked and the methodology for the process, go to
www.2ndDistrictPoll.blogspot.com.
###
Virginia Graziani is one of Salzman's Orks - a vocal particiapnt in AEB, this bears further scrutiny. No word on whether the phony "Pacific Crest Research" is involved on this one.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 17, 2007
CONTACT: Virginia Graziani (923-1205)
Jim Lamport (923-4372)
Bill Thorington (496-4703)
or Dennis Huber (923-3292 / 498-4613)
SECOND DISTRICT GROUP POLLS NEIGHBORS
FORTUNA - An ad-hoc group of citizens from across the Second
Supervisorial District announced the results of a poll they conducted
over the last several months. The group formed out of concern that
issues of importance are not being adequately represented in County
government. "We question whether Supervisor Rodoni has really been
addressing the issues of the Second District in a way that reflects
majority opinion," said Virginia Graziani, a resident of Redway and one
of the group's spokespeople. "So we conducted a scientific survey to
learn what issues our neighbors think are important and what they think
our elected representatives should be doing."
The questions covered a wide range of topics of interest to the Second
District that included the General Plan, railroad issues, timber and
water questions as well as Fortuna's growth and development. "We were
surprised to see how much agreement there was amongst all the folks we
talked to," said Jim Lamport of Blocksburg. "That wasn't something we
expected."
Regarding the Humboldt County General Plan Update, the group found that
49% of Second District residents support Plan A, which provides for "the
least amount of commercial development in new areas." 35% of respondents
favored Plan B (the "middle-of the-road" approach). Plan C (the most
developer-friendly proposal) received only 12% support. In addition, a
whopping 71% of respondents feel that it is important that Fortuna
maintain its "small town feel."
"People frequently talk about how divided Humboldt County is and use the
Second District to illustrate the case. We found that folks in Fortuna
have a lot in common and share the same values as folks from Redway or
Garberville," said Bill Thorington of Fortuna. "Most of the people
consider themselves politically moderate - 39%. These truly are just
regular folks who represent the average voter in the Second District."
The group also found that 67% of voters think the Supervisors should
play an active role to stop the Eel River diversion to the Russian
River. Only 4% think the diversion should continue with no change.
70% of Second District voters believe that the Board of Supervisors
should "play a leadership role in developing sustainable energy policies
and practices," and 50% would support "Humboldt County Supervisors
spending public money to prepare for the possible impacts of global
climate change."
The question of rebuilding the railroad has made news recently, so the
group included questions about that as well. The results on this topic
showed no strong agreement, with 46% in support of rebuilding the
railroad to the Bay Area, 48% opposed and 5% with no opinion. However,
when asked if they would still support the railroad if it did not carry
passengers (freight only), 57% of respondents said they would not be
supportive.
The poll also asked about confidence in the timber industry's ability to
provide jobs, both now and in the past. Only 7% of the respondents feel
confident in the timber industry's ability to provide jobs today,
compared to 64% that felt confident just 20 years ago.
Voters are also concerned that large corporations have too much
influence in politics in Humboldt County. 44% of the respondents are
"very concerned," 25% are "somewhat concerned" and only 21% are "not
concerned at all."
The group worked with Local Solutions, a county-wide grassroots
political action committee. Local Solutions assisted the group by
facilitating the process and helping to write and administer the poll to
achieve a statically accurate sample. "We were pleased to lend a hand to
this effort," said Dennis Huber, a spokesperson for Local Solutions and
a Second District resident himself. "The group conducted this poll by
talking to a random sample of the registered voters in the Second
District. We used rigorous social research methodology and we have great
confidence in the results. I was especially impressed with the group's
energy and commitment. It isn't often that you see ordinary citizens
dedicate so much of their time to an all-volunteer effort to see what
their neighbors think."
"We're haven't decided what happens next," said Graziani. "We started
this process to get a discussion going amongst our neighbors. We want to
publicize the results to further the conversation. We hope our
representatives listen up. As far as we know, we're the only folks in
the Second District who are really asking how folks feel about the
issues. Our elected leaders owe us and our fellow voters the courtesy to
respond to our findings and show some leadership," she said.
To see the poll responses, along with the wording of questions the group
asked and the methodology for the process, go to
www.2ndDistrictPoll.blogspot.com.
###
4.08.2007
Mck Press - Gallegos gets Democratic Party's endorsement after emotional debate
This article is posted here as supplemental background material. For discussion and more information visit watchpaul.blogspot.com.
The HCDCC voted to endorse one democrat over another. Worse, they characterized a lifelong Democrat as a "Republican Stalking Horse" - all part of the bizarre and twisted politics that surround District Attorney paul Gallegos nad his failed Palco lawsuit.
Gallegos gets Democratic Party's endorsement after emotional debate
By Daniel Mintz Press Staff Writer
An endorsement of District Attorney Paul Gallegos' re-election has put the county's Democratic Central Committee in his challenger's campaign gunsight and came after former and current prosecutors urged the group not to favor a candidate in the volatile power contest.
The committee's Gallegos endorsement was approved by a 20 to one vote at its Wednesday, April 12, meeting, yet a long and dramatic debate preceded it along with a public comment session with split opinions. Deputy District Attorney Worth Dikeman, the veteran prosecutor challenging Gallegos, had detailed his objections to the committee's endorsement during last month's meeting and in newspaper columns, portraying the group's stamp of approval as the spoil of political engineering.
Members of the influential committee, including Chairman Patrick Riggs, are well-known Gallegos supporters and Dikeman has accused them of "back room" manipulation. But committee members said the endorsement follows the group's bylaws and argued that free speech would be crimped if the action is squashed by political resentments.
Gallegos and Dikeman weren't at the meeting but their supporters debated the endorsement, sometimes with urgency, with comparisons to Republican behavior being a shared tactic. And after the pro-Gallegos vote, an attempt at blade-twisting came in the form of a motion to demand that Dikeman endorse his opponent and quit the race.
The motion was seconded but voted down, and finished a long night that began with objections from a veteran prosecutor who was fired by Gallegos in the aftermath of the internally explosive 2003 recall election.
'Gutted'
Allison Jackson, who prosecuted sex crimes and domestic violence cases for 10 years prior to being fired by Gallegos, is a non-voting member of the committee and said she's watched the D.A.'s office lose its grip on the types of prosecution she once specialized in.
She said the office's domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse units have been disassembled or "gutted," and added that "Democrats need to be aware of those issues and we should be discussing them as opposed to whether or not we're going to endorse one democrat over the next."
But Gallegos became a local hero to some when he filed a fraud lawsuit against the Pacific Lumber Company shortly after being elected. Dikeman has described the legal action as Gallegos' gift to the "special interests" that support him, and the lawsuit ran into trouble in court. It was dismissed but Gallegos has filed an appeal, and Committee Member Greg Conners portrayed the D.A. as an anti-corruption crusader who deserves another term.
A former Eureka city planning commissioner, Conners said he's "seen corruption at the local level as if it were a sewer I was walking through up to my waist" and "you couldn't get the local district attorney to touch those issues with a ten-foot pole."
But it's different now, Conners continued. "Paul Gallegos is the first district attorney that I know of, in my lifetime - and this a courthouse brat who's been involved in local politics talking - who's had the balls to go after corporate corruption and political corruption," he said.
Republican taints?
Conners is the chairman of the committee's Campaign Services Subcommittee, which unanimously voted to recommend the Gallegos endorsement the week prior. Deputy District Attorney and environmental crimes prosecutor Paul Hagen, however, said the "comprehensive review" of the process that he'd asked for at the previous meeting had been given only token consideration.
Hagen said he'd refuse to endorse any Democrat if there was more than one running in a race. And he told the committee its behavior is downright Republican.
"I don't think we look very good - to say the least," he continued, adding that party-line groupthink is a GOP trait. "We're supposed to be about debate, we're supposed to be about diversity, we're supposed to be about open process and transparency - did we have any of that last month in this very critical endorsement issue? The answer - obviously not."
Most of the other members of the committee spoke in favor of favoring Gallegos. Pam Service speculated that the reason why a Republican hasn't entered the D.A. race is because Dikeman is a "stalking horse" for the GOP, and is fulfilling that political role.
"In this race, although both are technically registered Democrats, we've got a fairly obvious situation where one is really the Republican candidate," she said.
Hagen's vote was the only dissenting one in the ensuing vote to endorse Gallegos. But another strong majority defeated Committee Member Betty Boyd's motion to ask Dikeman to endorse his boss and drop out of the contest.
Then the committee took up a somewhat related matter - Supervisor Jill Geist and Committee Member Pat Higgins, the leading candidates in the Fifth District supervisor race, had given presentations earlier and the group considered making an endorsement but voted not to do so.
Before the vote, one committee member explained that the supervisor election differs from the D.A. race because its most credible candidates are both progressive Democrats.
The HCDCC voted to endorse one democrat over another. Worse, they characterized a lifelong Democrat as a "Republican Stalking Horse" - all part of the bizarre and twisted politics that surround District Attorney paul Gallegos nad his failed Palco lawsuit.
Gallegos gets Democratic Party's endorsement after emotional debate
By Daniel Mintz Press Staff Writer
An endorsement of District Attorney Paul Gallegos' re-election has put the county's Democratic Central Committee in his challenger's campaign gunsight and came after former and current prosecutors urged the group not to favor a candidate in the volatile power contest.
The committee's Gallegos endorsement was approved by a 20 to one vote at its Wednesday, April 12, meeting, yet a long and dramatic debate preceded it along with a public comment session with split opinions. Deputy District Attorney Worth Dikeman, the veteran prosecutor challenging Gallegos, had detailed his objections to the committee's endorsement during last month's meeting and in newspaper columns, portraying the group's stamp of approval as the spoil of political engineering.
Members of the influential committee, including Chairman Patrick Riggs, are well-known Gallegos supporters and Dikeman has accused them of "back room" manipulation. But committee members said the endorsement follows the group's bylaws and argued that free speech would be crimped if the action is squashed by political resentments.
Gallegos and Dikeman weren't at the meeting but their supporters debated the endorsement, sometimes with urgency, with comparisons to Republican behavior being a shared tactic. And after the pro-Gallegos vote, an attempt at blade-twisting came in the form of a motion to demand that Dikeman endorse his opponent and quit the race.
The motion was seconded but voted down, and finished a long night that began with objections from a veteran prosecutor who was fired by Gallegos in the aftermath of the internally explosive 2003 recall election.
'Gutted'
Allison Jackson, who prosecuted sex crimes and domestic violence cases for 10 years prior to being fired by Gallegos, is a non-voting member of the committee and said she's watched the D.A.'s office lose its grip on the types of prosecution she once specialized in.
She said the office's domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse units have been disassembled or "gutted," and added that "Democrats need to be aware of those issues and we should be discussing them as opposed to whether or not we're going to endorse one democrat over the next."
But Gallegos became a local hero to some when he filed a fraud lawsuit against the Pacific Lumber Company shortly after being elected. Dikeman has described the legal action as Gallegos' gift to the "special interests" that support him, and the lawsuit ran into trouble in court. It was dismissed but Gallegos has filed an appeal, and Committee Member Greg Conners portrayed the D.A. as an anti-corruption crusader who deserves another term.
A former Eureka city planning commissioner, Conners said he's "seen corruption at the local level as if it were a sewer I was walking through up to my waist" and "you couldn't get the local district attorney to touch those issues with a ten-foot pole."
But it's different now, Conners continued. "Paul Gallegos is the first district attorney that I know of, in my lifetime - and this a courthouse brat who's been involved in local politics talking - who's had the balls to go after corporate corruption and political corruption," he said.
Republican taints?
Conners is the chairman of the committee's Campaign Services Subcommittee, which unanimously voted to recommend the Gallegos endorsement the week prior. Deputy District Attorney and environmental crimes prosecutor Paul Hagen, however, said the "comprehensive review" of the process that he'd asked for at the previous meeting had been given only token consideration.
Hagen said he'd refuse to endorse any Democrat if there was more than one running in a race. And he told the committee its behavior is downright Republican.
"I don't think we look very good - to say the least," he continued, adding that party-line groupthink is a GOP trait. "We're supposed to be about debate, we're supposed to be about diversity, we're supposed to be about open process and transparency - did we have any of that last month in this very critical endorsement issue? The answer - obviously not."
Most of the other members of the committee spoke in favor of favoring Gallegos. Pam Service speculated that the reason why a Republican hasn't entered the D.A. race is because Dikeman is a "stalking horse" for the GOP, and is fulfilling that political role.
"In this race, although both are technically registered Democrats, we've got a fairly obvious situation where one is really the Republican candidate," she said.
Hagen's vote was the only dissenting one in the ensuing vote to endorse Gallegos. But another strong majority defeated Committee Member Betty Boyd's motion to ask Dikeman to endorse his boss and drop out of the contest.
Then the committee took up a somewhat related matter - Supervisor Jill Geist and Committee Member Pat Higgins, the leading candidates in the Fifth District supervisor race, had given presentations earlier and the group considered making an endorsement but voted not to do so.
Before the vote, one committee member explained that the supervisor election differs from the D.A. race because its most credible candidates are both progressive Democrats.
3.24.2007
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Latest News
Finally: The Truth about PL/Maxxam's Lies
A Titan of Logging Threatens to Topple [L.A. Times]
'Room to Grow?' for Local Housing
Pacific Lumber Tries to Cut It Both Ways [LTE]
Maxxam Machinations Demand Local Solutions
[ More in News Section ]
The Alliance for Ethical Business
Humboldt County is one of the greatest places on earth. With our dramatic seascapes, our temperate climate, our magnificent forests and our small-town culture, Humboldt is truly one of America's hidden gems. But for the people of Humboldt to retain our high quality of life we need a strategy to create good, new jobs that protect our communities and respect the natural environment. For too long we have allowed outside companies to abuse our trust and disrespect the community. The Alliance for Ethical Business believes that Humboldt can grow and attract ethical businesses in a range of industries, including agriculture, manufacturing, sustainable forestry, crafts, and tourism. Sign-up here for action alerts so you can take action today for a prosperous and beautiful Humboldt County. And visit Healthy Humboldt for updates and information about the General Plan Update process at: http://www.HealthyHumboldt.org.
Finally: The Truth about PL/Maxxam's Lies
May 5, 2005
Responding to Pacific Lumber Company’s claims of financial crisis, the State Water Resources Control Board has released what is quite likely the most thorough and authoritative analysis of the PL’s finances ever made public, finding that the company’s dire predicatment “is the result of the risky business model that (parent company)MAXXAM has chosen to follow.”
This study was commissioned by the State Water Board to determine whether increased regulation by the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board (NCRWQCB) may be responsible for PL’s proclaimed economic crisis. The study specifically responds to various claims made by Pacific Lumber in a March 15, 2005 Economic White Paper, and analyzes Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings by Pacific Lumber, Scotia Pacific, and MAXXAM going back to 1993.
The report concludes that “MAXXAM has taken money out of PALCO in subtle and complex ways and has directed PALCO to harvest trees at rates that greatly exceeds sustainable forest practices. MAXXAM has put PALCO at risk by borrowing large sums of money, not paying down its long-term debt, and thereby keeping PALCO a highly leveraged company.” (Read More...)
Maxxam Machinations Demand Local Solutions
My Word by Michael Twombly
Times Standard - February 8, 2005
The Los Angeles Times reported last week on a closed-door meeting between Charles Hurwitz, CEO of Maxxam (parent of Pacific Lumber) and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. They conferred on the likelihood of Pacific Lumber’s impending bankruptcy. The meeting included Undersecretary of CAL-EPA James Branham, formerly of PL and “broker of the Headwaters deal.? The Times editorialized “Californians may get to see up close how well or ill the revolving door of public service/private industry serves the public’s purpose.?
Hurwitz, through his myriads of shell companies, took many hundreds of millions of dollars from this once proud, sustainable and responsible company by mortgaging PL’s vast timber assets. He intentionally burdened PL and its spin offs with so much debt that they cannot legally cut enough timber to pay off the approximately $100 million in annual interest on the debt while still covering operating costs, Rather than make up for this shortfall from the hundreds of millions he has taken from PL, Hurwitz has found it eminently more profitable and expedient to threaten PL’s bankruptcy and the termination of hundreds of its loyal employees. (Read More...)
Pacific Lumber Tries to Cut It Both Ways [LTE]
Letters to the Editor - L.A. Times
Pacific Lumber Tries to Cut It Both Ways
January 29, 2005
Re "Bankruptcy Threat With an Edge," Jan. 25: Perhaps Pacific Lumber Co. is "running out of logs" because timber companies such as Pacific Lumber have already deforested the vast majority of virgin forest in the United States.
Permits to cut protected stands should not be issued. Do we want to silt more streams, create more flooding and lose the last of our first-generation forests? To halt financial losses, Pacific Lumber should implement more sustainable business practices (i.e. don't clear-cut everything in sight).
Bjorn Fredrickson
Seattle (Read More...)
A Titan of Logging Threatens to Topple [L.A. Times]
By Tim Reiterman
Times Staff Writer
February 21, 2005
REDCREST, Calif. — Whenever Pacific Lumber Co. planned to dispatch helicopters to log its nearby redwood groves, the company would phone Christine Rising at her vine-draped bungalow above the Eel River.
After finding someone to care for her horses, dogs, cats and pot-bellied pig, Rising, 51, would pack her clothes and head down the dirt road toward a Eureka hotel about an hour's drive away. Then for days or weeks, she could escape the beat of helicopter blades that she says wreak havoc with her surgically repaired left ear, causing nausea, dizziness and even blackouts.
For Pacific Lumber, paying Rising's hotel bills for a few years was a cost of doing business — a relatively inexpensive goodwill gesture by a company that could ill afford more enemies or more obstacles to harvesting its valuable Humboldt County timberlands.
But early last year, Rising says, she had to start fending for herself. Although Pacific Lumber says it will help her out with her medical expenses, it has stopped paying to relocate her.
For Rising, who lives on an $850-a-month government disability payment, the development was a heartless move by one of California's most powerful natural resource companies. But it also was one more sign that a company that has been a pillar of California's north coast economy for nearly a century and a half is in trouble. (Read More...)
Palco's bad deal is everyone's bad deal [Times-Standard]
Sunday, February 13, 2005 -
The Times-Standard
The Pacific Lumber Co. has on many occasions warned courts, critics and boards that it rests on the verge of bankruptcy if things don't go its way. In this latest round, it offers what seems to be its most desperate cry.
Everyone is taking the company seriously this time. Employees are worried. Businesses are worried. Contractors are worried. Bondholders are worried. Standard and Poors is worried enough to put Palco's $750 million worth of timber notes on watch for another decline in rating.
And lots of people are worried that Palco's intonations that it might slip out from under the provisions of the Headwaters Forest agreement might be for real. Indeed, it already has skirted these requirements in some ways. When the Environmental Protection Information Center finally won its case against Palco's 100-year plan to cut timber, the logging didn't come to a grinding halt. Palco submitted plans under little-known state rules, and has been cutting in some areas without such a plan since. (Read More...)
Headwaters Headache [San Francisco Chronicle]
ONE OF CALIFORNIA'S biggest environmental deals is near a breaking point. A giant redwood lumber company wants speeded-up timber-cutting approvals -- or it may go out of business.
In 1999, the Pacific Lumber Co. sold 6,000 acres of primeval redwoods to the government in a landmark transaction that averted logging and saved cathedral-like stands of the world's largest trees. Now the company claims that restrictions on timber cutting are putting it in jeopardy of bankruptcy.
The firm is pressing state and regional regulators for logging permits, claiming better science and logging practices allow for more cutting on its 210,000 acres along the foggy North Coast. If the firm doesn't get its way, layoffs and possible bankruptcy are possible, its executives hint.
Coming from a company known for bare-knuckled bargaining, it's an offer that Sacramento should resist. Pacific Lumber must learn to live with logging rules that it crafted and signed barely six years ago. The public expects careful regulation in exchange for $480 million paid by federal and state government for the Headwaters groves. (Read More...)
Loggers' Sneak Play [L.A. Times]
Two questions: Why did Pacific Lumber Co. sign on to a deal with California six years ago if it was not going to be able to honor the agreement? And is it too late to get our $480 million back?
For that money, the state bought 7,000 acres of old-growth redwoods in the Headwaters area of Humboldt County, along with the logging company's agreement to follow strict conservation rules on 200,000 acres it kept. Now the company is demanding to log beyond what the deal allows in flood-prone watersheds. Pacific Lumber warns that if not given its way it will go bankrupt, laying off hundreds and, it says, leaving all environmental agreements dead. "We are running out of logs," one company exec said. That does happen when logging isn't accompanied by a good land-management plan. If there had been a plan, it would have forecast this problem. Which makes the company either incompetent or dissembling in accepting the half-billion-dollar handout. (Read More...)
Taxpayers League should disclose finances
Times Standard
Friday, December 17, 2004 -
My Word
by Richard Salzman
The Alliance for Ethical Business (AEB) applauds the Times-Standard for its Dec. 15 editorial calling for legislation to close the loophole in campaign finance disclosure laws that allowed contributors to the Eureka Coalition for Jobs to hide behind their Sacramento lobbyist Wayne Ordos. In this case, we agree that the law is inadequate and needs to be fixed so that we all know who is responsible.
But in the case of Leo Sears and the Humboldt Taxpayers' League, we feel the League continues to violate clear and well-understood campaign disclosure laws in an attempt to hide the identities of those who put up the money to defeat Measure L. It defies belief that Leo Sears, a former sales tax auditor, does not know who contributed the sudden infusion of $20,000 into the League's coffers, just in time to pay for their ads. Mr. Sears, are you willing to testify to that in court? Why not come clean now? (Read More...)
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Latest News
Finally: The Truth about PL/Maxxam's Lies
A Titan of Logging Threatens to Topple [L.A. Times]
'Room to Grow?' for Local Housing
Pacific Lumber Tries to Cut It Both Ways [LTE]
Maxxam Machinations Demand Local Solutions
[ More in News Section ]
The Alliance for Ethical Business
Humboldt County is one of the greatest places on earth. With our dramatic seascapes, our temperate climate, our magnificent forests and our small-town culture, Humboldt is truly one of America's hidden gems. But for the people of Humboldt to retain our high quality of life we need a strategy to create good, new jobs that protect our communities and respect the natural environment. For too long we have allowed outside companies to abuse our trust and disrespect the community. The Alliance for Ethical Business believes that Humboldt can grow and attract ethical businesses in a range of industries, including agriculture, manufacturing, sustainable forestry, crafts, and tourism. Sign-up here for action alerts so you can take action today for a prosperous and beautiful Humboldt County. And visit Healthy Humboldt for updates and information about the General Plan Update process at: http://www.HealthyHumboldt.org.
Finally: The Truth about PL/Maxxam's Lies
May 5, 2005
Responding to Pacific Lumber Company’s claims of financial crisis, the State Water Resources Control Board has released what is quite likely the most thorough and authoritative analysis of the PL’s finances ever made public, finding that the company’s dire predicatment “is the result of the risky business model that (parent company)MAXXAM has chosen to follow.”
This study was commissioned by the State Water Board to determine whether increased regulation by the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board (NCRWQCB) may be responsible for PL’s proclaimed economic crisis. The study specifically responds to various claims made by Pacific Lumber in a March 15, 2005 Economic White Paper, and analyzes Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings by Pacific Lumber, Scotia Pacific, and MAXXAM going back to 1993.
The report concludes that “MAXXAM has taken money out of PALCO in subtle and complex ways and has directed PALCO to harvest trees at rates that greatly exceeds sustainable forest practices. MAXXAM has put PALCO at risk by borrowing large sums of money, not paying down its long-term debt, and thereby keeping PALCO a highly leveraged company.” (Read More...)
Maxxam Machinations Demand Local Solutions
My Word by Michael Twombly
Times Standard - February 8, 2005
The Los Angeles Times reported last week on a closed-door meeting between Charles Hurwitz, CEO of Maxxam (parent of Pacific Lumber) and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. They conferred on the likelihood of Pacific Lumber’s impending bankruptcy. The meeting included Undersecretary of CAL-EPA James Branham, formerly of PL and “broker of the Headwaters deal.? The Times editorialized “Californians may get to see up close how well or ill the revolving door of public service/private industry serves the public’s purpose.?
Hurwitz, through his myriads of shell companies, took many hundreds of millions of dollars from this once proud, sustainable and responsible company by mortgaging PL’s vast timber assets. He intentionally burdened PL and its spin offs with so much debt that they cannot legally cut enough timber to pay off the approximately $100 million in annual interest on the debt while still covering operating costs, Rather than make up for this shortfall from the hundreds of millions he has taken from PL, Hurwitz has found it eminently more profitable and expedient to threaten PL’s bankruptcy and the termination of hundreds of its loyal employees. (Read More...)
Pacific Lumber Tries to Cut It Both Ways [LTE]
Letters to the Editor - L.A. Times
Pacific Lumber Tries to Cut It Both Ways
January 29, 2005
Re "Bankruptcy Threat With an Edge," Jan. 25: Perhaps Pacific Lumber Co. is "running out of logs" because timber companies such as Pacific Lumber have already deforested the vast majority of virgin forest in the United States.
Permits to cut protected stands should not be issued. Do we want to silt more streams, create more flooding and lose the last of our first-generation forests? To halt financial losses, Pacific Lumber should implement more sustainable business practices (i.e. don't clear-cut everything in sight).
Bjorn Fredrickson
Seattle (Read More...)
A Titan of Logging Threatens to Topple [L.A. Times]
By Tim Reiterman
Times Staff Writer
February 21, 2005
REDCREST, Calif. — Whenever Pacific Lumber Co. planned to dispatch helicopters to log its nearby redwood groves, the company would phone Christine Rising at her vine-draped bungalow above the Eel River.
After finding someone to care for her horses, dogs, cats and pot-bellied pig, Rising, 51, would pack her clothes and head down the dirt road toward a Eureka hotel about an hour's drive away. Then for days or weeks, she could escape the beat of helicopter blades that she says wreak havoc with her surgically repaired left ear, causing nausea, dizziness and even blackouts.
For Pacific Lumber, paying Rising's hotel bills for a few years was a cost of doing business — a relatively inexpensive goodwill gesture by a company that could ill afford more enemies or more obstacles to harvesting its valuable Humboldt County timberlands.
But early last year, Rising says, she had to start fending for herself. Although Pacific Lumber says it will help her out with her medical expenses, it has stopped paying to relocate her.
For Rising, who lives on an $850-a-month government disability payment, the development was a heartless move by one of California's most powerful natural resource companies. But it also was one more sign that a company that has been a pillar of California's north coast economy for nearly a century and a half is in trouble. (Read More...)
Palco's bad deal is everyone's bad deal [Times-Standard]
Sunday, February 13, 2005 -
The Times-Standard
The Pacific Lumber Co. has on many occasions warned courts, critics and boards that it rests on the verge of bankruptcy if things don't go its way. In this latest round, it offers what seems to be its most desperate cry.
Everyone is taking the company seriously this time. Employees are worried. Businesses are worried. Contractors are worried. Bondholders are worried. Standard and Poors is worried enough to put Palco's $750 million worth of timber notes on watch for another decline in rating.
And lots of people are worried that Palco's intonations that it might slip out from under the provisions of the Headwaters Forest agreement might be for real. Indeed, it already has skirted these requirements in some ways. When the Environmental Protection Information Center finally won its case against Palco's 100-year plan to cut timber, the logging didn't come to a grinding halt. Palco submitted plans under little-known state rules, and has been cutting in some areas without such a plan since. (Read More...)
Headwaters Headache [San Francisco Chronicle]
ONE OF CALIFORNIA'S biggest environmental deals is near a breaking point. A giant redwood lumber company wants speeded-up timber-cutting approvals -- or it may go out of business.
In 1999, the Pacific Lumber Co. sold 6,000 acres of primeval redwoods to the government in a landmark transaction that averted logging and saved cathedral-like stands of the world's largest trees. Now the company claims that restrictions on timber cutting are putting it in jeopardy of bankruptcy.
The firm is pressing state and regional regulators for logging permits, claiming better science and logging practices allow for more cutting on its 210,000 acres along the foggy North Coast. If the firm doesn't get its way, layoffs and possible bankruptcy are possible, its executives hint.
Coming from a company known for bare-knuckled bargaining, it's an offer that Sacramento should resist. Pacific Lumber must learn to live with logging rules that it crafted and signed barely six years ago. The public expects careful regulation in exchange for $480 million paid by federal and state government for the Headwaters groves. (Read More...)
Loggers' Sneak Play [L.A. Times]
Two questions: Why did Pacific Lumber Co. sign on to a deal with California six years ago if it was not going to be able to honor the agreement? And is it too late to get our $480 million back?
For that money, the state bought 7,000 acres of old-growth redwoods in the Headwaters area of Humboldt County, along with the logging company's agreement to follow strict conservation rules on 200,000 acres it kept. Now the company is demanding to log beyond what the deal allows in flood-prone watersheds. Pacific Lumber warns that if not given its way it will go bankrupt, laying off hundreds and, it says, leaving all environmental agreements dead. "We are running out of logs," one company exec said. That does happen when logging isn't accompanied by a good land-management plan. If there had been a plan, it would have forecast this problem. Which makes the company either incompetent or dissembling in accepting the half-billion-dollar handout. (Read More...)
Taxpayers League should disclose finances
Times Standard
Friday, December 17, 2004 -
My Word
by Richard Salzman
The Alliance for Ethical Business (AEB) applauds the Times-Standard for its Dec. 15 editorial calling for legislation to close the loophole in campaign finance disclosure laws that allowed contributors to the Eureka Coalition for Jobs to hide behind their Sacramento lobbyist Wayne Ordos. In this case, we agree that the law is inadequate and needs to be fixed so that we all know who is responsible.
But in the case of Leo Sears and the Humboldt Taxpayers' League, we feel the League continues to violate clear and well-understood campaign disclosure laws in an attempt to hide the identities of those who put up the money to defeat Measure L. It defies belief that Leo Sears, a former sales tax auditor, does not know who contributed the sudden infusion of $20,000 into the League's coffers, just in time to pay for their ads. Mr. Sears, are you willing to testify to that in court? Why not come clean now? (Read More...)
©2005 Alliance for Ethical Business • Web Site Design by Antinomia
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"Local Solutions'" True Colors
To:
"North Coast Earth First!"
From:
"Shunka Wakan" Add to Address Book
Date:
Mon, 7 Mar 2005 19:46:24 -0800 (PST)
Subject:
[NCEF!] National Public Radio on Pacific Lumber
For the North Coast wrote:
Date: Tue, 1 Mar 2005 01:31:14 -0500 (EST)
From: For the North Coast
To: shunka_2002 at yahoo.com
Subject: National Public Radio on Pacific Lumber
To: For The North Coast subscribers:
On Monday, February 28th, National Public Radio featured the story of Humboldt County and the challenges we face with Pacific Lumber's request to cut additional Timber Harvest Plans on endangered Freshwater Elk watersheds.
In case you missed this national story, here is a link to NPR's news broadcast:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4516875
We are all seeking local solutions - how to save Pacific Lumber and our timber industry from Maxxam's junkbond bankruptcy plans...before it's too late.
We hope you will join us- http://www.localsolutions.org
Michael Twombly
Local Solutions Political Action Committee
129 5th Street, Eureka
(707) 443-3921
--
To unsubscribe from: For the North Coast, just follow this link:
http://www.ourhumboldt.org/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi?
"North Coast Earth First!"
From:
"Shunka Wakan"
Date:
Mon, 7 Mar 2005 19:46:24 -0800 (PST)
Subject:
[NCEF!] National Public Radio on Pacific Lumber
For the North Coast
Date: Tue, 1 Mar 2005 01:31:14 -0500 (EST)
From: For the North Coast
To: shunka_2002 at yahoo.com
Subject: National Public Radio on Pacific Lumber
To: For The North Coast subscribers:
On Monday, February 28th, National Public Radio featured the story of Humboldt County and the challenges we face with Pacific Lumber's request to cut additional Timber Harvest Plans on endangered Freshwater Elk watersheds.
In case you missed this national story, here is a link to NPR's news broadcast:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4516875
We are all seeking local solutions - how to save Pacific Lumber and our timber industry from Maxxam's junkbond bankruptcy plans...before it's too late.
We hope you will join us- http://www.localsolutions.org
Michael Twombly
Local Solutions Political Action Committee
129 5th Street, Eureka
(707) 443-3921
--
To unsubscribe from: For the North Coast, just follow this link:
http://www.ourhumboldt.org/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi?
1.22.2007
Eye - Humboldt County Democratic Party corruption
Arcata Eye - Letters to the Editor – Jan. 16, 2007
Humboldt County Democratic Party corruption
I stated in a previous Letter to the Editor that although I felt that the leadership of the Humboldt County Democratic Central Committee had violated the party’s by-laws and at the very least had some very serious ethical issues in endorsing Dave Meserve, a Green Party candidate, over Mark Wheetley, a Democrat and that I would remain a Democrat. Well, being true to my word this past Wednesday, Jan. 10, I went with my check in hand along with my completed application to become an Associate Member of the party and attend the monthly meeting.
Upon entering the room where the meeting was to take place I submitted my check and application to Mr. Riggs, who then told me that it would be taken to the Executive Committee. Does this mean that not all Democrats are welcome to become Associate Members of the Central Committee? Is there a screening process? Time will tell.
Shortly after that, at 7:10 in the evening the meeting began, and considering that it was after the election and that there would be no elections till 2008, it was well attended. The agenda moved quickly and was for the most part routine.
However, there are some very interesting changes coming up as to how our Central Committee is going to operate our party on our behalf as Democrats. As a result, two questions come to mind upon reflecting on the meeting. Is it going to advance mainstream Democratic principles or continue to move farther to the extreme and continue to merge with Local Solutions and the Green Party? Or is it going to look to achieve a balance that welcomes and is inclusive of all Democrats?
The first item that gives rise to these questions was the discussion and motion to approve on the budget for 2007. This year the budget will be devoted to building the party’s infrastructure, offer training for those wishing to run for political office in 2008, and staff development. These are great places to put the party’s funds and could certainly aid in providing better and stronger candidates in the future. However, it could also be used to weed out those potential candidates that do not toe the line of the party as defined by the present leadership of the Central Committee as was evident in this past election when the leadership attempted to keep the party from endorsing Mark Wheetley for Arcata City Council.
The next item that should give some concern to us rank-and-file Democrats was the “draft” of the Questionnaire for Individuals Seeking to Run for Elected Office. On the surface, like the new direction for using the budget this appears to be a great tool to help a potential candidate reflect and sell assess his/her real desires to run for an elected office, and how much work that entails. It would be an excellent way for a non-judgmental “mentor” to assist a future candidate prepare for what lays ahead in running for office.
However, When the chair of the Campaign Services Committee, Connie Stewart, went through and explained this tool, it became clear that although it may be a tool for potential candidates to use to assess their own readiness to run for elected office, it began to sound a lot more like a screening device. Therefore it became apparent, especially when one looks over the questionnaire and listens to the explanation of its use, that it will be used to screen out Democrats that are not walking the Party line as defined by the present leadership.
If you took each of these items on their own merits and we had a more open leadership that better reflected all aspects of the party or at the very least governed that way, these two items would be a real move forward in the party becoming proactive in assisting future candidates and helping members of the party to grow.
Yet, we rank-and-file Democrats need to be very cautious! This last election clearly demonstrated that our Central Committee leadership suffers from some real flaws in their ethics and their own commitment to the party as demonstrated by their personal endorsement of a Green Party candidate over the officially endorsed Democratic candidate. In addition, our party for the most part appears to be the predominant political party in Humboldt County and thus maintains the greatest power. As a result, the leadership may be suffering from that old saying; “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
Thus, given the change in the way the budget will be used and the new tool for “mentoring” potential candidates, will our Central Committee continue to slide into the mind-meld with Local Solutions and the Green Party and further alienating the rank-and-file Democrat? Time will tell and so will our involvement in the party to assure that it represents Democrats and does not try to impose or define for us a single definition of a Democrat or our party.
We need a guiding philosophy, not demagoguery. I fear that left to their own devices and unattended scrutiny by the majority of the party membership we will not long be the party of FDR, Truman, Kennedy or Clinton here in Humboldt County.
Sincerely,
Rick Greene
Still a Democrat and maybe even and Associate
Arcata
Humboldt County Democratic Party corruption
I stated in a previous Letter to the Editor that although I felt that the leadership of the Humboldt County Democratic Central Committee had violated the party’s by-laws and at the very least had some very serious ethical issues in endorsing Dave Meserve, a Green Party candidate, over Mark Wheetley, a Democrat and that I would remain a Democrat. Well, being true to my word this past Wednesday, Jan. 10, I went with my check in hand along with my completed application to become an Associate Member of the party and attend the monthly meeting.
Upon entering the room where the meeting was to take place I submitted my check and application to Mr. Riggs, who then told me that it would be taken to the Executive Committee. Does this mean that not all Democrats are welcome to become Associate Members of the Central Committee? Is there a screening process? Time will tell.
Shortly after that, at 7:10 in the evening the meeting began, and considering that it was after the election and that there would be no elections till 2008, it was well attended. The agenda moved quickly and was for the most part routine.
However, there are some very interesting changes coming up as to how our Central Committee is going to operate our party on our behalf as Democrats. As a result, two questions come to mind upon reflecting on the meeting. Is it going to advance mainstream Democratic principles or continue to move farther to the extreme and continue to merge with Local Solutions and the Green Party? Or is it going to look to achieve a balance that welcomes and is inclusive of all Democrats?
The first item that gives rise to these questions was the discussion and motion to approve on the budget for 2007. This year the budget will be devoted to building the party’s infrastructure, offer training for those wishing to run for political office in 2008, and staff development. These are great places to put the party’s funds and could certainly aid in providing better and stronger candidates in the future. However, it could also be used to weed out those potential candidates that do not toe the line of the party as defined by the present leadership of the Central Committee as was evident in this past election when the leadership attempted to keep the party from endorsing Mark Wheetley for Arcata City Council.
The next item that should give some concern to us rank-and-file Democrats was the “draft” of the Questionnaire for Individuals Seeking to Run for Elected Office. On the surface, like the new direction for using the budget this appears to be a great tool to help a potential candidate reflect and sell assess his/her real desires to run for an elected office, and how much work that entails. It would be an excellent way for a non-judgmental “mentor” to assist a future candidate prepare for what lays ahead in running for office.
However, When the chair of the Campaign Services Committee, Connie Stewart, went through and explained this tool, it became clear that although it may be a tool for potential candidates to use to assess their own readiness to run for elected office, it began to sound a lot more like a screening device. Therefore it became apparent, especially when one looks over the questionnaire and listens to the explanation of its use, that it will be used to screen out Democrats that are not walking the Party line as defined by the present leadership.
If you took each of these items on their own merits and we had a more open leadership that better reflected all aspects of the party or at the very least governed that way, these two items would be a real move forward in the party becoming proactive in assisting future candidates and helping members of the party to grow.
Yet, we rank-and-file Democrats need to be very cautious! This last election clearly demonstrated that our Central Committee leadership suffers from some real flaws in their ethics and their own commitment to the party as demonstrated by their personal endorsement of a Green Party candidate over the officially endorsed Democratic candidate. In addition, our party for the most part appears to be the predominant political party in Humboldt County and thus maintains the greatest power. As a result, the leadership may be suffering from that old saying; “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
Thus, given the change in the way the budget will be used and the new tool for “mentoring” potential candidates, will our Central Committee continue to slide into the mind-meld with Local Solutions and the Green Party and further alienating the rank-and-file Democrat? Time will tell and so will our involvement in the party to assure that it represents Democrats and does not try to impose or define for us a single definition of a Democrat or our party.
We need a guiding philosophy, not demagoguery. I fear that left to their own devices and unattended scrutiny by the majority of the party membership we will not long be the party of FDR, Truman, Kennedy or Clinton here in Humboldt County.
Sincerely,
Rick Greene
Still a Democrat and maybe even and Associate
Arcata
1.20.2007
Touting himself as the "Lead Campaign Consultant"
Read this carefully - and think about the scope of work Shellenberger is detailing. What did it cost Gallegos to have this man working on his behalf, intensely, not just garnering him national headlines, but involved in the day to day running of his campaign, planning his ad campaigns, and campaign strategies... who paid for this? Where is it reported?
The ENVIRONMENTAL GRANTMAKER'S ASSOCIATION
Framing Democracy: How We Defeated a Corporate Recall in Humboldt County
by Michael Shellenberger, Breakthrough Institute
You’ve heard of corporations sponsoring political candidates, athletes, stadiums, and even schools. But did you hear about the corporation that paid for a special election to recall a District Attorney who had sued it for fraud?
That’s exactly what happened in Humboldt County, California, home to giant redwoods, endangered salmon, and a timber company called Pacific Lumber (PL).
Fortunately, on March 2, 2004 we beat back the Houston-owned company’s attempt to recall Paul Gallegos, the county’s new DA. The margin of our victory—61 to 39—gave Humboldt County activists new hope that they could create an economic future free of control by big corporations. This is their story.
The Headwaters Forest Deal
In 1996 I was hired by activists in Humboldt County (population: 130,000) to help increase environmental protections for the Headwaters redwood forest. That work resulted in the Headwaters deal, finalized in 1999, in which the US and California governments paid an astounding $480 million for about 7,500 acres of PL’s old-growth redwood forest. In addition to the money, the Headwaters deal granted PL a “Habitat Conservation Plan” (HCP)—a provision in the Endangered Species Act that allows private landowners to destroy habitat critical for endangered species (in this case, other old-growth redwoods).
One person who understood the complexities of the Headwaters deal inside and out was my friend, Dr. Ken Miller, a retired emergency room doctor who moved to Humboldt from the Bay Area in 1997. He and several other north coast activists founded the Humboldt Watershed Council to organize property owners whose homes had flooded due to PL’s logging.
Along with the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC), the Humboldt Watershed Council filed lawsuit after lawsuit against PL. In 2003 a judge ruled in EPIC’s favor against the timber giant, invalidating a major component of the Headwaters Deal—the “Sustained Yield Plan” —but rather mysteriously refused to penalize the company or slow the logging.
Just when local environmentalists were beginning to despair, Paul Gallegos was elected District Attorney in March, 2002, in an upset victory over a 20-year incumbent. Gallegos took office in January, 2003. Within weeks he had discovered evidence that PL committed fraud as part of the Headwaters deal. Miller paid the 41 year-old DA a visit and became a key expert for the case.
The DA’s lawsuit alleges that PL lied about the science so it could cut far more trees than is possible before Humboldt’s steep hillsides collapse—setting off mudslides and destroying watersheds that are critical habitat for endangered salmon and other animals.
Gallegos’ deputies warned him that crossing PL would end his career. An avid surfer of Humboldt’s big waves, Gallegos told a local reporter about the time he realized a shark was circling him in the ocean, “Sometimes when you get afraid and you try to paddle out of danger, you paddle into worse danger. So you can’t let fear dictate your conduct.”
Two months into office, Gallegos sued the company for fraud and deceptive concealment, seeking $250 million in damages.
Recall Reaction
Gallegos’ lawsuit hit like a tidal wave in provincial Humboldt County. Overnight Gallegos became a hero to some and a villain to others. A week after filing the suit a self-appointed representative of the “good old boy network” announced he would pay to gather signatures for a recall.
Paul responded with an op-ed for the local paper titled, “Nobody is above the law.”
Richard Salzman, a recent Bay Area transplant to Humboldt who had helped Gallegos raise money and run TV ads for his 2002 campaign, rushed to Gallegos’ defense. Salzman hired me to help start the Alliance for Ethical Business and defend Gallegos. We did a poll and discovered that while most people opposed the idea of a recall, the community was evenly divided about PL—about 40 percent were pro-PL and 40 percent were anti-PL. (Gallegos, who has a portrait of his hero Abe Lincoln hanging in his office, often referred to Humboldt as “a house divided.”)
To avoid the traditional fault lines we focused our attention on the fraud—not the company’s environmental track record—and put forward a former PL logger to drive home the point that you can be pro-timber and anti-PL. We created special bumper stickers and ended each TV, radio and print ad with our new slogan: “Timber Yes, Fraud No.” (TV ads are extraordinarily cheap in Humboldt—$40 buys you a 30-second spot on Wheel of Fortune; $150 gets you on the local news).
After a three month quiet period—just as people were wondering whether the recall would happen at all—Salzman discovered aggressive signature gatherers in front of the local supermarkets. He found out they were being paid a record-breaking $8 per signature to get the signatures in on time.
Richard called the media and the local press played the story big. Not only was the recall election on, it was being financed almost entirely by Pacific Lumber.
Competing Frames: “F is for Fraud” vs. “Soft on Crime”
In late November Salzman become campaign manager for the anti-recall committee. We held a strategy retreat and invited a large group of supporters.
Inspired by the documentary, “The War Room”, I encouraged Salzman to emulate Clinton campaign manager James Carville’s relatively open meetings to get everyone on message. During that campaign, Carville held strategy sessions in large rooms and invited literally dozens of campaign volunteers to attend, trusting that the benefit of energizing campaign volunteers outweighed the risks of secrets leaking out.
During the final three weeks of the campaign, Salzman held daily 6:15 PM war room meetings and conference calls so that activists from across the sprawling, rural county could participate. After the 15-minute meeting, volunteers would start phone banking. Tied to the volunteer effort, these War Room meetings dramatically expanded the number of people who felt like they were part of a movement.
Realizing that PL would pull out all the stops, my wife and son and I moved up to Humboldt—about five hours from the Bay Area by car—for the final three weeks of the campaign. Shortly after we arrived, PL struck with a barrage of attacks: glossy, three-page direct mail pieces; full-page newspaper ads; wall-to-wall radio and TV ads; and calls from paid, out-of-state phone bankers to voters.
The most disturbing aspect of the campaign was the way the local police unions jumped on board the recall bandwagon. They persuaded a veteran deputy DA to run against his boss. And they attacked Gallegos for having liberalized medical marijuana enforcement guidelines and for emphasizing the need for crime prevention. Gallegos was, they said, “soft on crime.”
The label troubled me. I had seen how such a tag could hurt progressive politicians, from San Francisco District Attorney Terrence Hallinan to Michael Dukakis.
The opportunity for our opponents was that plea bargains—which are a routine part of the DA’s work—sound like ways to let criminals off the hook. The truth is that every DA, however “tough” makes plea bargains based on the strength of the evidence and the circumstances of the crime. It’s easy sport for political consultants to dig up a plea bargain and blow it up into a major scandal.
Our strategy was to frame the recall as PL vs. the DA whereas PL’s strategy was to frame it as Cops vs. the DA
Aiming to get PL into the news as much as possible, our campaign filed a complaint with the California Fair Political Practices Commission saying that because PL was funding more than 90 percent of the recall they had to change the name of the committee from “Safety Yes” to “The Pacific Lumber Committee to Recall Paul Gallegos.” We got no action out of the commission but the complaint generated headlines and reminded voters that this recall was all about PL.
As expected, Pacific Lumber brought in top political professionals to create its TV ads. Its first ad was beautifully shot in a sun-lit warehouse.
The ad started with a couple saying that “drive-by shooters” (teenagers who hadn’t injured a soul) had fired at their house and that “Paul” (they always referred to him by his first name) “did nothing.” The camera then cut to a mayor from a local timber town saying that cops arrested marijuana dealers in a safe-school zone and “Paul didn’t even file charges.” The next shot was of the head of the Eureka Police Officers Association saying that Gallegos had let a child rapist off the hook. In its closing seconds the ad had the spokespersons repeat, mantra-like, “We can’t wait. We can’t wait. We can’t wait.”
The ad sent chills up my spine. As the father of a four-year old boy, if I had no other information than the ad, I would have voted to “recall Paul” right then and there. (Always good for a metaphor, Gallegos said this part of the campaign was “like a knife fight in a phone booth.”)
Their ads got more and more gruesome. Towards the end they unleashed a series of rough attacks that focused on a Mexican immigrant father who had molested his daughter. The TV, newspaper, ads and direct mail pieces put the Latino man’s face underneath headlines that read, “This man raped a little girl 1,900 times and Paul let him off with one count.”
The truth was that Gallegos prosecuted the particular individual with “one continuous count” so that, if the case went to trial, the eight year old girl in question wouldn’t have to be ripped apart by a defense attorney seeking verification of each count.
Because the family members were Mexican immigrants in the country illegally, the DA’s office considered the victim child and her witness mother a flight risk. If the mother and daughter fled (fearing deportation) before trial, Gallegos would have had no case––and the molester would have gone free for lack of evidence. Gallegos actually got the toughest sentence possible for the man––16 years in prison.
The challenge for us was, how do you answer such charges without allowing the frame to shift to whether or not Gallegos is “soft on child rapists”?
For the year before the campaign I had been studying “strategic framing” with George Lakoff, a University of California linguistics professor introduced to me by Peter Teague of the Nathan Cummings Foundation. One of Lakoff’s axioms is that “negating a frame elevates the frame.” By going into the media to deny that Gallegos was soft on child rapists we would be elevating the frame “soft on child rapists” ––and thus perpetuate a discussion we simply could not win.
We did two things. First, we emphasized that Gallegos has three young children and has their protection at the top of his mind at all times. We emphasized the Gallegos children at every opportunity.
Second, we bracketed our defense of Gallegos by starting and ending our ads with, “This recall is a fraud” and “PL is lying about the DA.” It helped that the recall was listed as “Measure F.” In all of our ads we said, “F is a Fraud” and “Vote No On Fraud.” Within the ad we had a local judge say that PL was lying about the child molester case.
Amazingly, the more we were attacked, the more the grassroots responded. The campaign was flooded with volunteers asking to help phone bank and walk precincts. The money flooded in. Copying MoveOn.org’s email style, we raised about $28,000 on-line––over $3,000 per day toward the end of the campaign. We raised $240,000 in total––an unprecedented sum of money for a county with only 130,000 residents.
There were a few scary moments. In the final two weeks of the campaign the Gallegos home was broken into twice. Nothing was stolen either time, but in the first instance the perpetrators raised the thermostat to 90 degrees––literally “turning up the heat” on the DA. PL was also sending private investigators to dig up dirt on all of our campaign spokespersons.
A poll taken a week and half before election day showed we had lost 15 points since June and were in a statistical dead heat. The soft-on-crime attacks appeared to be working.
Victory and Beyond
On Election Day my stomach was tied in knots. If we lost I would share much of the blame with Salzman and Miller (all three of us had become public figures). But I was scared less of the finger-pointing and more of the possibility that Maxxam-PL would get away with it—and set a precedent. That afternoon I went for a long run along the Mad River and practiced what to say if we lost.
The results were expected to come in between 8 and 9 PM. Hungry but unable to eat, we joined about three hundred other Gallegos supporters at the Eureka’s Lost Coast Brewery starting at 7 PM.
At 8:15 PM I called the Elections office. Only the absentee ballots had been counted so far – and we were losing. I was upset, but I kept in mind that conservatives vote absentee in higher numbers than progressives.
At 8:30 PM I called back. We were up—but just slightly.
By 8:45 PM we were up by 60 percent. Other people were calling too, and a cautious whoop went through the crowd.
Finally, at 9 PM, all the votes were counted and a supporter shouted from the balcony, “The recall has been defeated, 61-39!”
The Brewery erupted. People jumped up and down, and literally started pounding the rafters. The building shook. The floor wobbled. People were screaming, laughing and crying—in some cases all at the same time. Flashbulbs were everywhere and people mobbed those of us in the campaign leadership. For about 15 minutes we felt like rock stars.
It was time for Paul to make a victory speech. The whole brewery quieted down. From the balcony Gallegos thanked the crowd and said he was going to read a quote from Gandhi:
“There are seven sins in the world: wealth without work, pleasure without conscience, knowledge without character, commerce without morality”…
—at this last sin the crowd interrupted with applause and hoots before Gallegos finished—
— “science without humanity, worship without sacrifice, and politics without principle."
It may have been the first time any American politician had ever quoted Gandhi in a victory speech.
Maintaining the Momentum
We took almost no time to savor our win. The next day the campaign leadership met to figure out what to do with the grassroots energy the attempted recall had generated. (One astounding fact was that, thanks to the intensity of the campaign, over 60 percent of eligible voters went to the polls in Humboldt—twice the percentage that voted in the Bay Area).
At the top of everyone’s list was stopping energy giant Calpine’s liquid natural gas plant—proposed to be built right on Humboldt Bay—which would have had a devastating impact on the marine environment. Rather than attack it on environmental grounds we decided to frame the proposed facility as unsafe and as a job-killer because of its expected impact on the fishing economy.
Again our team came together. Five days before the Council meeting, Richard emailed his 2,000 person list asking them to call and fax Council members and show up at the March 16 meeting. Salzman’s email read: “Stop the Dangerous, Job-Killing LNG Plant.” And we released to the media a copy of a poll that found that six out of ten Eureka residents opposed the plant.
Still high from our victory against the recall, over 1,500 Humboldt citizens turned out to the city council meeting to oppose the plant. The front page of the next day’s Eureka Times-Standard showed a picture of a man holding up a sign reading, “Cal-Pine’s LNG Plant = Job Killer.” Within hours of the paper hitting the newsstands, Calpine sent a letter saying it was dropping the project because of the public opposition.
In the end, defeating PL and Calpine were small steps for corporate responsibility but giant leaps for Humboldt County. What we learned in Humboldt went beyond technical campaign skills. We learned that building a movement and framing a political debate require a moral imperative. By making a moral argument around justice, democracy and freedom, we both mobilized our base and appealed to swing voters.
As Humboldt’s progressive community looks ahead, Salzman and other campaign leaders are fleshing out a Humboldt-specific strategy for sustainable economic development and crime prevention—the intellectual ground on which Gallegos and other politicians can stand to articulate a new politics grounded in old values.
Michael Shellenberger is the president of Lumina Strategies (www.luminastrategies.com) and is executive eirector of the nonprofit Breakthrough Institute (www.thebreakthrough.org). He can be contacted at Michael@thebreakthrough.org.
The ENVIRONMENTAL GRANTMAKER'S ASSOCIATION
Framing Democracy: How We Defeated a Corporate Recall in Humboldt County
by Michael Shellenberger, Breakthrough Institute
You’ve heard of corporations sponsoring political candidates, athletes, stadiums, and even schools. But did you hear about the corporation that paid for a special election to recall a District Attorney who had sued it for fraud?
That’s exactly what happened in Humboldt County, California, home to giant redwoods, endangered salmon, and a timber company called Pacific Lumber (PL).
Fortunately, on March 2, 2004 we beat back the Houston-owned company’s attempt to recall Paul Gallegos, the county’s new DA. The margin of our victory—61 to 39—gave Humboldt County activists new hope that they could create an economic future free of control by big corporations. This is their story.
The Headwaters Forest Deal
In 1996 I was hired by activists in Humboldt County (population: 130,000) to help increase environmental protections for the Headwaters redwood forest. That work resulted in the Headwaters deal, finalized in 1999, in which the US and California governments paid an astounding $480 million for about 7,500 acres of PL’s old-growth redwood forest. In addition to the money, the Headwaters deal granted PL a “Habitat Conservation Plan” (HCP)—a provision in the Endangered Species Act that allows private landowners to destroy habitat critical for endangered species (in this case, other old-growth redwoods).
One person who understood the complexities of the Headwaters deal inside and out was my friend, Dr. Ken Miller, a retired emergency room doctor who moved to Humboldt from the Bay Area in 1997. He and several other north coast activists founded the Humboldt Watershed Council to organize property owners whose homes had flooded due to PL’s logging.
Along with the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC), the Humboldt Watershed Council filed lawsuit after lawsuit against PL. In 2003 a judge ruled in EPIC’s favor against the timber giant, invalidating a major component of the Headwaters Deal—the “Sustained Yield Plan” —but rather mysteriously refused to penalize the company or slow the logging.
Just when local environmentalists were beginning to despair, Paul Gallegos was elected District Attorney in March, 2002, in an upset victory over a 20-year incumbent. Gallegos took office in January, 2003. Within weeks he had discovered evidence that PL committed fraud as part of the Headwaters deal. Miller paid the 41 year-old DA a visit and became a key expert for the case.
The DA’s lawsuit alleges that PL lied about the science so it could cut far more trees than is possible before Humboldt’s steep hillsides collapse—setting off mudslides and destroying watersheds that are critical habitat for endangered salmon and other animals.
Gallegos’ deputies warned him that crossing PL would end his career. An avid surfer of Humboldt’s big waves, Gallegos told a local reporter about the time he realized a shark was circling him in the ocean, “Sometimes when you get afraid and you try to paddle out of danger, you paddle into worse danger. So you can’t let fear dictate your conduct.”
Two months into office, Gallegos sued the company for fraud and deceptive concealment, seeking $250 million in damages.
Recall Reaction
Gallegos’ lawsuit hit like a tidal wave in provincial Humboldt County. Overnight Gallegos became a hero to some and a villain to others. A week after filing the suit a self-appointed representative of the “good old boy network” announced he would pay to gather signatures for a recall.
Paul responded with an op-ed for the local paper titled, “Nobody is above the law.”
Richard Salzman, a recent Bay Area transplant to Humboldt who had helped Gallegos raise money and run TV ads for his 2002 campaign, rushed to Gallegos’ defense. Salzman hired me to help start the Alliance for Ethical Business and defend Gallegos. We did a poll and discovered that while most people opposed the idea of a recall, the community was evenly divided about PL—about 40 percent were pro-PL and 40 percent were anti-PL. (Gallegos, who has a portrait of his hero Abe Lincoln hanging in his office, often referred to Humboldt as “a house divided.”)
To avoid the traditional fault lines we focused our attention on the fraud—not the company’s environmental track record—and put forward a former PL logger to drive home the point that you can be pro-timber and anti-PL. We created special bumper stickers and ended each TV, radio and print ad with our new slogan: “Timber Yes, Fraud No.” (TV ads are extraordinarily cheap in Humboldt—$40 buys you a 30-second spot on Wheel of Fortune; $150 gets you on the local news).
After a three month quiet period—just as people were wondering whether the recall would happen at all—Salzman discovered aggressive signature gatherers in front of the local supermarkets. He found out they were being paid a record-breaking $8 per signature to get the signatures in on time.
Richard called the media and the local press played the story big. Not only was the recall election on, it was being financed almost entirely by Pacific Lumber.
Competing Frames: “F is for Fraud” vs. “Soft on Crime”
In late November Salzman become campaign manager for the anti-recall committee. We held a strategy retreat and invited a large group of supporters.
Inspired by the documentary, “The War Room”, I encouraged Salzman to emulate Clinton campaign manager James Carville’s relatively open meetings to get everyone on message. During that campaign, Carville held strategy sessions in large rooms and invited literally dozens of campaign volunteers to attend, trusting that the benefit of energizing campaign volunteers outweighed the risks of secrets leaking out.
During the final three weeks of the campaign, Salzman held daily 6:15 PM war room meetings and conference calls so that activists from across the sprawling, rural county could participate. After the 15-minute meeting, volunteers would start phone banking. Tied to the volunteer effort, these War Room meetings dramatically expanded the number of people who felt like they were part of a movement.
Realizing that PL would pull out all the stops, my wife and son and I moved up to Humboldt—about five hours from the Bay Area by car—for the final three weeks of the campaign. Shortly after we arrived, PL struck with a barrage of attacks: glossy, three-page direct mail pieces; full-page newspaper ads; wall-to-wall radio and TV ads; and calls from paid, out-of-state phone bankers to voters.
The most disturbing aspect of the campaign was the way the local police unions jumped on board the recall bandwagon. They persuaded a veteran deputy DA to run against his boss. And they attacked Gallegos for having liberalized medical marijuana enforcement guidelines and for emphasizing the need for crime prevention. Gallegos was, they said, “soft on crime.”
The label troubled me. I had seen how such a tag could hurt progressive politicians, from San Francisco District Attorney Terrence Hallinan to Michael Dukakis.
The opportunity for our opponents was that plea bargains—which are a routine part of the DA’s work—sound like ways to let criminals off the hook. The truth is that every DA, however “tough” makes plea bargains based on the strength of the evidence and the circumstances of the crime. It’s easy sport for political consultants to dig up a plea bargain and blow it up into a major scandal.
Our strategy was to frame the recall as PL vs. the DA whereas PL’s strategy was to frame it as Cops vs. the DA
Aiming to get PL into the news as much as possible, our campaign filed a complaint with the California Fair Political Practices Commission saying that because PL was funding more than 90 percent of the recall they had to change the name of the committee from “Safety Yes” to “The Pacific Lumber Committee to Recall Paul Gallegos.” We got no action out of the commission but the complaint generated headlines and reminded voters that this recall was all about PL.
As expected, Pacific Lumber brought in top political professionals to create its TV ads. Its first ad was beautifully shot in a sun-lit warehouse.
The ad started with a couple saying that “drive-by shooters” (teenagers who hadn’t injured a soul) had fired at their house and that “Paul” (they always referred to him by his first name) “did nothing.” The camera then cut to a mayor from a local timber town saying that cops arrested marijuana dealers in a safe-school zone and “Paul didn’t even file charges.” The next shot was of the head of the Eureka Police Officers Association saying that Gallegos had let a child rapist off the hook. In its closing seconds the ad had the spokespersons repeat, mantra-like, “We can’t wait. We can’t wait. We can’t wait.”
The ad sent chills up my spine. As the father of a four-year old boy, if I had no other information than the ad, I would have voted to “recall Paul” right then and there. (Always good for a metaphor, Gallegos said this part of the campaign was “like a knife fight in a phone booth.”)
Their ads got more and more gruesome. Towards the end they unleashed a series of rough attacks that focused on a Mexican immigrant father who had molested his daughter. The TV, newspaper, ads and direct mail pieces put the Latino man’s face underneath headlines that read, “This man raped a little girl 1,900 times and Paul let him off with one count.”
The truth was that Gallegos prosecuted the particular individual with “one continuous count” so that, if the case went to trial, the eight year old girl in question wouldn’t have to be ripped apart by a defense attorney seeking verification of each count.
Because the family members were Mexican immigrants in the country illegally, the DA’s office considered the victim child and her witness mother a flight risk. If the mother and daughter fled (fearing deportation) before trial, Gallegos would have had no case––and the molester would have gone free for lack of evidence. Gallegos actually got the toughest sentence possible for the man––16 years in prison.
The challenge for us was, how do you answer such charges without allowing the frame to shift to whether or not Gallegos is “soft on child rapists”?
For the year before the campaign I had been studying “strategic framing” with George Lakoff, a University of California linguistics professor introduced to me by Peter Teague of the Nathan Cummings Foundation. One of Lakoff’s axioms is that “negating a frame elevates the frame.” By going into the media to deny that Gallegos was soft on child rapists we would be elevating the frame “soft on child rapists” ––and thus perpetuate a discussion we simply could not win.
We did two things. First, we emphasized that Gallegos has three young children and has their protection at the top of his mind at all times. We emphasized the Gallegos children at every opportunity.
Second, we bracketed our defense of Gallegos by starting and ending our ads with, “This recall is a fraud” and “PL is lying about the DA.” It helped that the recall was listed as “Measure F.” In all of our ads we said, “F is a Fraud” and “Vote No On Fraud.” Within the ad we had a local judge say that PL was lying about the child molester case.
Amazingly, the more we were attacked, the more the grassroots responded. The campaign was flooded with volunteers asking to help phone bank and walk precincts. The money flooded in. Copying MoveOn.org’s email style, we raised about $28,000 on-line––over $3,000 per day toward the end of the campaign. We raised $240,000 in total––an unprecedented sum of money for a county with only 130,000 residents.
There were a few scary moments. In the final two weeks of the campaign the Gallegos home was broken into twice. Nothing was stolen either time, but in the first instance the perpetrators raised the thermostat to 90 degrees––literally “turning up the heat” on the DA. PL was also sending private investigators to dig up dirt on all of our campaign spokespersons.
A poll taken a week and half before election day showed we had lost 15 points since June and were in a statistical dead heat. The soft-on-crime attacks appeared to be working.
Victory and Beyond
On Election Day my stomach was tied in knots. If we lost I would share much of the blame with Salzman and Miller (all three of us had become public figures). But I was scared less of the finger-pointing and more of the possibility that Maxxam-PL would get away with it—and set a precedent. That afternoon I went for a long run along the Mad River and practiced what to say if we lost.
The results were expected to come in between 8 and 9 PM. Hungry but unable to eat, we joined about three hundred other Gallegos supporters at the Eureka’s Lost Coast Brewery starting at 7 PM.
At 8:15 PM I called the Elections office. Only the absentee ballots had been counted so far – and we were losing. I was upset, but I kept in mind that conservatives vote absentee in higher numbers than progressives.
At 8:30 PM I called back. We were up—but just slightly.
By 8:45 PM we were up by 60 percent. Other people were calling too, and a cautious whoop went through the crowd.
Finally, at 9 PM, all the votes were counted and a supporter shouted from the balcony, “The recall has been defeated, 61-39!”
The Brewery erupted. People jumped up and down, and literally started pounding the rafters. The building shook. The floor wobbled. People were screaming, laughing and crying—in some cases all at the same time. Flashbulbs were everywhere and people mobbed those of us in the campaign leadership. For about 15 minutes we felt like rock stars.
It was time for Paul to make a victory speech. The whole brewery quieted down. From the balcony Gallegos thanked the crowd and said he was going to read a quote from Gandhi:
“There are seven sins in the world: wealth without work, pleasure without conscience, knowledge without character, commerce without morality”…
—at this last sin the crowd interrupted with applause and hoots before Gallegos finished—
— “science without humanity, worship without sacrifice, and politics without principle."
It may have been the first time any American politician had ever quoted Gandhi in a victory speech.
Maintaining the Momentum
We took almost no time to savor our win. The next day the campaign leadership met to figure out what to do with the grassroots energy the attempted recall had generated. (One astounding fact was that, thanks to the intensity of the campaign, over 60 percent of eligible voters went to the polls in Humboldt—twice the percentage that voted in the Bay Area).
At the top of everyone’s list was stopping energy giant Calpine’s liquid natural gas plant—proposed to be built right on Humboldt Bay—which would have had a devastating impact on the marine environment. Rather than attack it on environmental grounds we decided to frame the proposed facility as unsafe and as a job-killer because of its expected impact on the fishing economy.
Again our team came together. Five days before the Council meeting, Richard emailed his 2,000 person list asking them to call and fax Council members and show up at the March 16 meeting. Salzman’s email read: “Stop the Dangerous, Job-Killing LNG Plant.” And we released to the media a copy of a poll that found that six out of ten Eureka residents opposed the plant.
Still high from our victory against the recall, over 1,500 Humboldt citizens turned out to the city council meeting to oppose the plant. The front page of the next day’s Eureka Times-Standard showed a picture of a man holding up a sign reading, “Cal-Pine’s LNG Plant = Job Killer.” Within hours of the paper hitting the newsstands, Calpine sent a letter saying it was dropping the project because of the public opposition.
In the end, defeating PL and Calpine were small steps for corporate responsibility but giant leaps for Humboldt County. What we learned in Humboldt went beyond technical campaign skills. We learned that building a movement and framing a political debate require a moral imperative. By making a moral argument around justice, democracy and freedom, we both mobilized our base and appealed to swing voters.
As Humboldt’s progressive community looks ahead, Salzman and other campaign leaders are fleshing out a Humboldt-specific strategy for sustainable economic development and crime prevention—the intellectual ground on which Gallegos and other politicians can stand to articulate a new politics grounded in old values.
Michael Shellenberger is the president of Lumina Strategies (www.luminastrategies.com) and is executive eirector of the nonprofit Breakthrough Institute (www.thebreakthrough.org). He can be contacted at Michael@thebreakthrough.org.
1.07.2007
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Religious group calls for police review
James Faulk/The Times-Standard
Eureka Times Standard
Article Launched:01/06/2007 04:27:08 AM PST
EUREKA -- The Humboldt Buddhist Peace Fellowship is sending a letter to
the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors and the Eureka City Council
asking for a police review board.
The letter became public after the fourth police-involved shooting in
the past eight months occurred Thursday, but the letter was written
before the most recent shooting.
”The members of the Humboldt Area Chapter of the Buddhist Peace
Fellowship are alarmed and disturbed by the three fatal shootings in the
past eight months by officers of the Eureka police, and by the behavior of
members of other law enforcement agencies in Humboldt County,” said
the letter.
The letter states that data from Bureau of Justice Statistics, an arm
of the U.S. Department of Justice, indicate that Humboldt County should
have roughly one police-involved shooting every three to four years.
”We've had three in eight months,” said the letter.
”We believe it is urgent that civilian institutions with substantial
powers of investigation be created and assigned the task of reviewing
the behavior of law enforcement officers in Eureka and throughout
Humboldt County,” it reads. “We would like to see a civilian police
review board be created by the county and/or the city, and provided with
subpoena powers.”
If officials at the county or city fail to take action, the group says,
it will take the case to the Grand Jury.
”While we commend law enforcement officers for the protection they
provide us all under sometimes difficult conditions, we still believe
civilian review is imperative. We must all take responsibility for the
manner in which our government enforces laws.”
Mitch Trachtenberg, a member of the group, said the calls for police
review are not an attack on police.
”Law enforcement is the responsibility of everyone,” he said.
“When the police are behaving appropriately, there's no problem with
civilian oversight. If someone is worried about police review, then perhaps
they're behaving inappropriately.”
Eureka Police Chief Murl Harpham said he doesn't see a need for a
police review board. “We do a pretty good job of policing ourselves,”
Harpham said.
He said the last three people fired from the department were fired for
things discovered from internal investigations, not from a citizen's
complaint.
”We see a problem, we take care of it,” Harpham said.
----
[Was the public ever told what these officers were doing that got them
fired? Can we trust that our public servants serve us? What else
would the EPD keep secret if they could? Here is a quote from Harpham:]
http://www.times-standard.com/local/ci_4962830
Harpham said the names of the three officers who fired at Cook would
not be released until the investigation is complete, which would take up
to 60 days. “If I had my way, you'd never get them,” Harpham said.
--
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Religious group calls for police review
James Faulk/The Times-Standard
Eureka Times Standard
Article Launched:01/06/2007 04:27:08 AM PST
EUREKA -- The Humboldt Buddhist Peace Fellowship is sending a letter to
the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors and the Eureka City Council
asking for a police review board.
The letter became public after the fourth police-involved shooting in
the past eight months occurred Thursday, but the letter was written
before the most recent shooting.
”The members of the Humboldt Area Chapter of the Buddhist Peace
Fellowship are alarmed and disturbed by the three fatal shootings in the
past eight months by officers of the Eureka police, and by the behavior of
members of other law enforcement agencies in Humboldt County,” said
the letter.
The letter states that data from Bureau of Justice Statistics, an arm
of the U.S. Department of Justice, indicate that Humboldt County should
have roughly one police-involved shooting every three to four years.
”We've had three in eight months,” said the letter.
”We believe it is urgent that civilian institutions with substantial
powers of investigation be created and assigned the task of reviewing
the behavior of law enforcement officers in Eureka and throughout
Humboldt County,” it reads. “We would like to see a civilian police
review board be created by the county and/or the city, and provided with
subpoena powers.”
If officials at the county or city fail to take action, the group says,
it will take the case to the Grand Jury.
”While we commend law enforcement officers for the protection they
provide us all under sometimes difficult conditions, we still believe
civilian review is imperative. We must all take responsibility for the
manner in which our government enforces laws.”
Mitch Trachtenberg, a member of the group, said the calls for police
review are not an attack on police.
”Law enforcement is the responsibility of everyone,” he said.
“When the police are behaving appropriately, there's no problem with
civilian oversight. If someone is worried about police review, then perhaps
they're behaving inappropriately.”
Eureka Police Chief Murl Harpham said he doesn't see a need for a
police review board. “We do a pretty good job of policing ourselves,”
Harpham said.
He said the last three people fired from the department were fired for
things discovered from internal investigations, not from a citizen's
complaint.
”We see a problem, we take care of it,” Harpham said.
----
[Was the public ever told what these officers were doing that got them
fired? Can we trust that our public servants serve us? What else
would the EPD keep secret if they could? Here is a quote from Harpham:]
http://www.times-standard.com/local/ci_4962830
Harpham said the names of the three officers who fired at Cook would
not be released until the investigation is complete, which would take up
to 60 days. “If I had my way, you'd never get them,” Harpham said.
--
The following information is a reminder of your current mailing
list subscription:
You are subscribed to the following list:
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The following physical address is associated with this mailing list:
po box 387 Eureka CA 95502
1.06.2007
ER - Partisan politics doesn’t bode well for Eureka
Partisan politics doesn’t bode well for Eureka
by Leo Sears Op-Ed The Eureka Reporter
2/16/05
“Today, I am speaking to you with a sense of urgency. Some special interests are not only urging the rejection of Robert Fasic but advocating a local developer, who gave nearly $2,000 in reported campaign donations to Rex Bohn's run for council, be appointed instead,” said Councilmember Chris Kerrigan in a Jan. 25 e-mail.
“Special-interest developers with very deep pockets are attempting to stack the Planning Commission. They'd like to see it become a rubber stamp for their personal projects – to pave the way for unchecked subdivisions and development in Eureka,” said Mayor Peter La Vallee in his Jan. 30 “My Word” article in the Times-Standard.
“I must be concerned about politicizing a nonpartisan, nonpolitical commission. Every community, including Eureka, is made up of different political groups. I am not willing to appoint anyone to this nonpolitical committee who would be perceived as a ‘win’ for one group and a ‘loss’ for another group,” is what Councilmember Jeff Leonard said about the Eureka Planning Commission appointments.
La Vallee went on to say that “proponents of rampant development are forever using words like ‘jobs,’ ‘the economy’ and ‘our youth have to leave the area.’ But if you look a bit more closely at all these buzzwords, you find that Eureka's diversified economy is already the most effective and sustainable way to deal with all those issues.”
Those of you who have been reading my weekly columns are familiar with my use of words such as "jobs," "the economy," and "our youth have to leave the area,” and you know I’m a long way from supporting “rampant development.”
I’ve have advocated long and hard for economic development that creates sustainable living-wage jobs, and I continue to write about the failure of our local economy in providing the living-wage jobs we need for a healthy and vibrant community.
The mayor’s statement that our present “economy is already the most effective and sustainable way to deal with all those issues” appears to simply parrot the mantra of the “no-growth” elements of our community in their efforts to draw the Redwood Curtain even tighter.
The quote from Kerrigan seems to speak for itself – if you didn’t support my re-election, you’re an undesirable special interest.
As to the other the councilmembers, I believe they would agree when Leonard says: “The important issue is that our community must have confidence in our Planning Commission being both fair and impartial. We need a Planning Commission that does not reflect the political agenda of any single group. We need a Planning Commission whose judgment is respected – not questioned because of their political motivations.”
Although Leonard always seems to say a great deal more than is necessary, this time around he said a great deal that needed to be said.
Patrick Riggs, Humboldt County Democratic Central Committee chairman, and founding member of the Local Solutions Political Action Committee, said he will ask the DCC to take a position on the Planning Commission issue.
The DCC has a record of supporting candidates for local office (their support of La Vallee and Kerrigan being prime examples) and politicizing nonpartisan elected and volunteer positions.
The PAC said, “The momentum in winning the initial Paul Gallegos for district attorney campaign in 2003, defeating the MAXXAM-funded DA recall campaign a year later, turning away the LNG proposal in April 2004 and winning the elections of Chris Kerrigan and Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap in November 2004 inspired us to formally establish.
“(They) believe that the quality of life in Humboldt County is being threatened by unsustainable development and resource extraction practices in the pursuit of private profit.”
Translation: “no growth” – “slam the door on any progress.”
The PAC founders include Michael Twombly, a founding member of the Green Party of California.
Twombly is currently a director of the Redwood Peace and Justice Center, as is Dave Meserve who recently received a national Courageous Resisters Award from Refuse and Resist! for his acts against “today’s national agenda of oppression.”
The RPJC is home to the Humboldt County Conscientious Objectors, Campus Greens, EarthSave Humboldt, Food Not Bombs and other like-minded endeavors.
According to its Web site, the PAC:
• Identifies opportunities for public service in elected and appointed positions;
• Recruits, advises and trains selected candidates;
• Raises contributions and provides direct financial support to local political campaigns;
• Coordinates volunteer campaign support;
• Fashions, frames and implements media and advertising campaigns;
• Assists in establishing and maintaining campaign and volunteer databases; and
• Provides critical campaign counsel and infrastructure needs to selected candidates.
Leonard is correct when he says, “We need a Planning Commission whose judgment is respected – not questioned because of their political motivations,” and is “concerned about politicizing a nonpartisan, nonpolitical commission.”
It is quite clear where the “politicizing” is coming from, and it doesn’t bode well for our community.
by Leo Sears Op-Ed The Eureka Reporter
2/16/05
“Today, I am speaking to you with a sense of urgency. Some special interests are not only urging the rejection of Robert Fasic but advocating a local developer, who gave nearly $2,000 in reported campaign donations to Rex Bohn's run for council, be appointed instead,” said Councilmember Chris Kerrigan in a Jan. 25 e-mail.
“Special-interest developers with very deep pockets are attempting to stack the Planning Commission. They'd like to see it become a rubber stamp for their personal projects – to pave the way for unchecked subdivisions and development in Eureka,” said Mayor Peter La Vallee in his Jan. 30 “My Word” article in the Times-Standard.
“I must be concerned about politicizing a nonpartisan, nonpolitical commission. Every community, including Eureka, is made up of different political groups. I am not willing to appoint anyone to this nonpolitical committee who would be perceived as a ‘win’ for one group and a ‘loss’ for another group,” is what Councilmember Jeff Leonard said about the Eureka Planning Commission appointments.
La Vallee went on to say that “proponents of rampant development are forever using words like ‘jobs,’ ‘the economy’ and ‘our youth have to leave the area.’ But if you look a bit more closely at all these buzzwords, you find that Eureka's diversified economy is already the most effective and sustainable way to deal with all those issues.”
Those of you who have been reading my weekly columns are familiar with my use of words such as "jobs," "the economy," and "our youth have to leave the area,” and you know I’m a long way from supporting “rampant development.”
I’ve have advocated long and hard for economic development that creates sustainable living-wage jobs, and I continue to write about the failure of our local economy in providing the living-wage jobs we need for a healthy and vibrant community.
The mayor’s statement that our present “economy is already the most effective and sustainable way to deal with all those issues” appears to simply parrot the mantra of the “no-growth” elements of our community in their efforts to draw the Redwood Curtain even tighter.
The quote from Kerrigan seems to speak for itself – if you didn’t support my re-election, you’re an undesirable special interest.
As to the other the councilmembers, I believe they would agree when Leonard says: “The important issue is that our community must have confidence in our Planning Commission being both fair and impartial. We need a Planning Commission that does not reflect the political agenda of any single group. We need a Planning Commission whose judgment is respected – not questioned because of their political motivations.”
Although Leonard always seems to say a great deal more than is necessary, this time around he said a great deal that needed to be said.
Patrick Riggs, Humboldt County Democratic Central Committee chairman, and founding member of the Local Solutions Political Action Committee, said he will ask the DCC to take a position on the Planning Commission issue.
The DCC has a record of supporting candidates for local office (their support of La Vallee and Kerrigan being prime examples) and politicizing nonpartisan elected and volunteer positions.
The PAC said, “The momentum in winning the initial Paul Gallegos for district attorney campaign in 2003, defeating the MAXXAM-funded DA recall campaign a year later, turning away the LNG proposal in April 2004 and winning the elections of Chris Kerrigan and Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap in November 2004 inspired us to formally establish.
“(They) believe that the quality of life in Humboldt County is being threatened by unsustainable development and resource extraction practices in the pursuit of private profit.”
Translation: “no growth” – “slam the door on any progress.”
The PAC founders include Michael Twombly, a founding member of the Green Party of California.
Twombly is currently a director of the Redwood Peace and Justice Center, as is Dave Meserve who recently received a national Courageous Resisters Award from Refuse and Resist! for his acts against “today’s national agenda of oppression.”
The RPJC is home to the Humboldt County Conscientious Objectors, Campus Greens, EarthSave Humboldt, Food Not Bombs and other like-minded endeavors.
According to its Web site, the PAC:
• Identifies opportunities for public service in elected and appointed positions;
• Recruits, advises and trains selected candidates;
• Raises contributions and provides direct financial support to local political campaigns;
• Coordinates volunteer campaign support;
• Fashions, frames and implements media and advertising campaigns;
• Assists in establishing and maintaining campaign and volunteer databases; and
• Provides critical campaign counsel and infrastructure needs to selected candidates.
Leonard is correct when he says, “We need a Planning Commission whose judgment is respected – not questioned because of their political motivations,” and is “concerned about politicizing a nonpartisan, nonpolitical commission.”
It is quite clear where the “politicizing” is coming from, and it doesn’t bode well for our community.
ER - PAC representative says PALCO is laying bankruptcy groundwork
Local Solutions formed under the pretense of supporting local "Progressive" candidates. But their rhetoric and claims to fame on their website mirrored that of Salzman's so-called "Alliance for Ethical Business." Palco and Gallegos. Twombly, quoted in this story in the Eureka Reporter, is Salzman's communications director, handles all of the listserves, mass e-mailings for all of the shadow groups, all of the morphs of the AEB.
PAC representative says PALCO is laying bankruptcy groundwork
by Glenn Franco Simmons The Eureka Reporter
2/10/05
Another Pacific Lumber Co. critic has spoken out on PALCO’s claim that it could face dire economic ramifications if its timber harvest plans are not approved.
Michael Twombly, of the newly formed Local Solutions Political Action Committee, (www.localsolutions.org), said, "Mr. Manne is laying the PR groundwork for PL's bankruptcy strategy while Charles Hurwitz and MAXXAM walk away from Humboldt County with the proceeds."
Twombly said he is speaking as an individual because the Local Solutions board was not able to meet to approve his comments.
“This is one more example of the corporate piracy,” he said, “which has decimated local economies. … And the sad thing is, Mr. Hurwitz could care less what we think of him. His only concern is to protect himself. …
“Mr. Manne is trying to blame our last remaining redwoods and endangered watersheds for MAXXAM's own bad financial decisions and bankruptcy strategy. And we don't buy it.”
PALCO has timber harvest plans before the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board, which will determine if it will approve or disprove them.
The plans have already been approved by the California Department of Fish and Game, California Department of Forestry, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries.
Yesterday, PALCO President and Chief Executive Officer Robert Manne said, “At PALCO, virtually all revenue comes from sales of lumber and other products produced from timber owned by our subsidiary, Scotia Pacific Co. LLC. This is why the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board should sign off on timber harvesting plans already approved by the California Department of Forestry and every other applicable state and federal regulatory agency. …”
If the plans are not approved, PALCO faces serious financial problems, Manne said.
PAC representative says PALCO is laying bankruptcy groundwork
by Glenn Franco Simmons The Eureka Reporter
2/10/05
Another Pacific Lumber Co. critic has spoken out on PALCO’s claim that it could face dire economic ramifications if its timber harvest plans are not approved.
Michael Twombly, of the newly formed Local Solutions Political Action Committee, (www.localsolutions.org), said, "Mr. Manne is laying the PR groundwork for PL's bankruptcy strategy while Charles Hurwitz and MAXXAM walk away from Humboldt County with the proceeds."
Twombly said he is speaking as an individual because the Local Solutions board was not able to meet to approve his comments.
“This is one more example of the corporate piracy,” he said, “which has decimated local economies. … And the sad thing is, Mr. Hurwitz could care less what we think of him. His only concern is to protect himself. …
“Mr. Manne is trying to blame our last remaining redwoods and endangered watersheds for MAXXAM's own bad financial decisions and bankruptcy strategy. And we don't buy it.”
PALCO has timber harvest plans before the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board, which will determine if it will approve or disprove them.
The plans have already been approved by the California Department of Fish and Game, California Department of Forestry, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries.
Yesterday, PALCO President and Chief Executive Officer Robert Manne said, “At PALCO, virtually all revenue comes from sales of lumber and other products produced from timber owned by our subsidiary, Scotia Pacific Co. LLC. This is why the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board should sign off on timber harvesting plans already approved by the California Department of Forestry and every other applicable state and federal regulatory agency. …”
If the plans are not approved, PALCO faces serious financial problems, Manne said.
ER - Local Solutions forms
And, surprise, surprise, Salzman's latest group - gasp - takes a stand on Palco!
New committee in county forms to foster change
by Glenn Franco Simmons The Eureka Reporter
2/10/05
Local Solutions PAC is a new political action committee that seeks to effect change in Humboldt County.
Speaking as an individual, and founding member of Local Solutions PAC, but not as an official committee representative, Michael Twombly said the committee began when “several key volunteers who worked together to oppose the recall Gallegos campaign decided to continue to work together countywide for progressive candidates.”
The group officially started this past fall, “with the campaigns – and successful elections – of Chris Kerrigan and Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap,” he said.
The PAC just opened its office at 129 Fifth St. in Eureka.
The political action committee’s Web site is www.localsolutions.org/.
“Local Solutions PAC seeks to unite the citizens of Humboldt County in identifying, recruiting and supporting those appointed and elected officials who will work together to protect and nurture the highest possible sustainable quality of life for us, our children and our grandchildren,” according to the committee’s Web site.
The committee leaders are:
• Patrick Riggs, who is the chairman of the Humboldt County Democratic Central Committee;
• Dennis Huber, who was the Southern Humboldt Gallegos campaign coordinator;
• Alice Woodworth, who was the office manager of the Gallegos campaign; and
• Twombly, who was a Gallegos campaign volunteer.
Twombly said a PAC “most often provides financial support to candidates under the Fair Political Practices Commission’s rules.
The PAC’s goal is “to support the election and appointment of progressive candidates for office in Humboldt County,” he said.
The emphasis will be on elections and campaigns, Twombly added, “to keep the campaign mechanisms and databanks and volunteer lists up to date between actual elections.”
Local Solutions will “also support the appointment of progressives to various commissions and committees – i.e., the Eureka Planning Commission and the Humboldt County Planning Commission,” he said.
Twombly also said the group wants to recruit potential candidates for public office and “to assist in campaign strategies and fund-raising.”
He said the PAC is nonpartisan.
“(It) supports progressive candidates from the Republican, Democratic, Green or any other party affiliation,” Twombly said. “The (PAC’s) board is multiparty. We seek to unify and build on the majorities of the 60 percent Gallegos and Kerrigan victories.
“We want to help nurture a spirit of electoral and participatory democracy, where officials are more accessible and where more community involvement is encouraged in electoral politics and campaigns year-round.”
The PAC also seeks to assist progressive candidates in running for office and obtaining appointments for commissions, Twombly said.
“… The PAC gratefully accepts donations and especially ongoing pledges,” he said. “These contributions are not tax-deductible. They are all reported to the FPPC. In amounts above $99, Local Solutions PAC must report the contributor’s address and occupation, as well, to the FPPC.”
Funding for the PAC comes from individual contributors at a number of fund-raising events, he said.
Local Solutions supports the District Attorney’s Office’s civil lawsuit against Pacific Lumber Co.
“We believe that the DA should be provided all the support and resources necessary to determine the truth of the allegations that MAXXAM/PL lied in order to close the Headwaters Agreement … in court.”
In fact, the PAC takes a stand on PALCO.
“Pacific Lumber was once a responsible and sustainable timber company,” Twombly said. “Charles Hurwitz’ (MAXXAM’s) strategy is to mortgage and take all of PL’s assets and to bankrupt the company while ignoring safe and sustainable logging practices.
“PL’s employees are unwitting victims of Hurwitz and face termination because of MAXXAM’s strategy. Hurwtiz wants PL’s employees and the community to blame the water board, the tree-sitters and the DA, but PL’s bankruptcy was part of Hurwtiz’ original plan.
“The politicians at the time … knowingly or unknowingly bought into it,” Twombly continued. “We believe that a local solution needs to be found to save Pacific Lumber and make it a sustainable community operation again, and we are researching employee stock ownership plans, community buy-outs and legal actions against Hurwitz and MAXXAM to recover damages to workers, land and watersheds.”
Mike Harvey of the Humboldt County Republican Party had no comment on the new group.
Local Solutions related stories:
Salzman's Empire The Local Solutions sham
No connection?
It's in the Headers
Local Solutions' 460 Campaign Statements
Any doubt what Local Solutions' agenda is?
What happened to Local Solutions?
Where is "Local Solutions"?
TS - Local Solutions by Michael Twombly
ER - Another local group decries toxins and big boxes
Use the labels function of this blog (both watchpaul and watchpaul-ARTICLES) for more
New committee in county forms to foster change
by Glenn Franco Simmons The Eureka Reporter
2/10/05
Local Solutions PAC is a new political action committee that seeks to effect change in Humboldt County.
Speaking as an individual, and founding member of Local Solutions PAC, but not as an official committee representative, Michael Twombly said the committee began when “several key volunteers who worked together to oppose the recall Gallegos campaign decided to continue to work together countywide for progressive candidates.”
The group officially started this past fall, “with the campaigns – and successful elections – of Chris Kerrigan and Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap,” he said.
The PAC just opened its office at 129 Fifth St. in Eureka.
The political action committee’s Web site is www.localsolutions.org/.
“Local Solutions PAC seeks to unite the citizens of Humboldt County in identifying, recruiting and supporting those appointed and elected officials who will work together to protect and nurture the highest possible sustainable quality of life for us, our children and our grandchildren,” according to the committee’s Web site.
The committee leaders are:
• Patrick Riggs, who is the chairman of the Humboldt County Democratic Central Committee;
• Dennis Huber, who was the Southern Humboldt Gallegos campaign coordinator;
• Alice Woodworth, who was the office manager of the Gallegos campaign; and
• Twombly, who was a Gallegos campaign volunteer.
Twombly said a PAC “most often provides financial support to candidates under the Fair Political Practices Commission’s rules.
The PAC’s goal is “to support the election and appointment of progressive candidates for office in Humboldt County,” he said.
The emphasis will be on elections and campaigns, Twombly added, “to keep the campaign mechanisms and databanks and volunteer lists up to date between actual elections.”
Local Solutions will “also support the appointment of progressives to various commissions and committees – i.e., the Eureka Planning Commission and the Humboldt County Planning Commission,” he said.
Twombly also said the group wants to recruit potential candidates for public office and “to assist in campaign strategies and fund-raising.”
He said the PAC is nonpartisan.
“(It) supports progressive candidates from the Republican, Democratic, Green or any other party affiliation,” Twombly said. “The (PAC’s) board is multiparty. We seek to unify and build on the majorities of the 60 percent Gallegos and Kerrigan victories.
“We want to help nurture a spirit of electoral and participatory democracy, where officials are more accessible and where more community involvement is encouraged in electoral politics and campaigns year-round.”
The PAC also seeks to assist progressive candidates in running for office and obtaining appointments for commissions, Twombly said.
“… The PAC gratefully accepts donations and especially ongoing pledges,” he said. “These contributions are not tax-deductible. They are all reported to the FPPC. In amounts above $99, Local Solutions PAC must report the contributor’s address and occupation, as well, to the FPPC.”
Funding for the PAC comes from individual contributors at a number of fund-raising events, he said.
Local Solutions supports the District Attorney’s Office’s civil lawsuit against Pacific Lumber Co.
“We believe that the DA should be provided all the support and resources necessary to determine the truth of the allegations that MAXXAM/PL lied in order to close the Headwaters Agreement … in court.”
In fact, the PAC takes a stand on PALCO.
“Pacific Lumber was once a responsible and sustainable timber company,” Twombly said. “Charles Hurwitz’ (MAXXAM’s) strategy is to mortgage and take all of PL’s assets and to bankrupt the company while ignoring safe and sustainable logging practices.
“PL’s employees are unwitting victims of Hurwitz and face termination because of MAXXAM’s strategy. Hurwtiz wants PL’s employees and the community to blame the water board, the tree-sitters and the DA, but PL’s bankruptcy was part of Hurwtiz’ original plan.
“The politicians at the time … knowingly or unknowingly bought into it,” Twombly continued. “We believe that a local solution needs to be found to save Pacific Lumber and make it a sustainable community operation again, and we are researching employee stock ownership plans, community buy-outs and legal actions against Hurwitz and MAXXAM to recover damages to workers, land and watersheds.”
Mike Harvey of the Humboldt County Republican Party had no comment on the new group.
Local Solutions related stories:
Salzman's Empire The Local Solutions sham
No connection?
It's in the Headers
Local Solutions' 460 Campaign Statements
Any doubt what Local Solutions' agenda is?
What happened to Local Solutions?
Where is "Local Solutions"?
TS - Local Solutions by Michael Twombly
ER - Another local group decries toxins and big boxes
Use the labels function of this blog (both watchpaul and watchpaul-ARTICLES) for more
ER - Gallegos to be honored at upcoming benefit
Gallegos to be honored at upcoming benefit
8/30/2005
District Attorney Paul Gallegos will be the guest of honor for the benefit “Democracy Rocks Again,” sponsored by Local Solutions PAC on Sept. 24 at the Bayside Grange at 6 p.m..
The purpose of the benefit is to meet and raise funds for local progressive candidates, according to a news release.
Reservations are required for the event, which will include dinner and dancing. Tickets for the event are $25 per person and $40 for couples. Tickets for children under the age of 10 are free. The dance begins at 8 p.m. and tickets for the dance only are $10 to $20 at the door.
For more information, phone (707) 822-5391.
Copyright (C) 2005, The Eureka Reporter. All rights reserved.
8/30/2005
District Attorney Paul Gallegos will be the guest of honor for the benefit “Democracy Rocks Again,” sponsored by Local Solutions PAC on Sept. 24 at the Bayside Grange at 6 p.m..
The purpose of the benefit is to meet and raise funds for local progressive candidates, according to a news release.
Reservations are required for the event, which will include dinner and dancing. Tickets for the event are $25 per person and $40 for couples. Tickets for children under the age of 10 are free. The dance begins at 8 p.m. and tickets for the dance only are $10 to $20 at the door.
For more information, phone (707) 822-5391.
Copyright (C) 2005, The Eureka Reporter. All rights reserved.
ER - Committee endorses board candidates
Note: "Local Solutions" struck out on all three.
Committee endorses board candidates
9/7/2005
Local Solutions Political Action Committee has endorsed candidates for the three open seats on the Northern Humboldt Union High School District School Board.
The endorsed candidates are Don Avant, Rebecca Bair Kurwitz and Stephen J. Cole.
“These three people are highly qualified candidates from diverse backgrounds who will bring a thoughtful, open- minded perspective to board deliberations,” said Local Solutions spokesman Michael Twombly.
“The Northern Humboldt District, which governs the Arcata and McKinleyville high schools, has been plagued by controversy in recent years,” according to a Local Solutions news release. “Community members and parents have complained about restrictive policies on comprehensive sex education, restrictions on students’ constitutional rights and an excessive military presence on campuses.
“Don, Rebecca, and Steve will consider such matters with the needs of the whole community in mind, and will deal with such issues in a fair and even-handed manner,” Twombly said.
Residents may meet these candidates on Sept. 24 at a Local Solutions-sponsored community meeting at the Bayside Grange beginning with dinner at 6 p.m.
Copyright (C) 2005, The Eureka Reporter. All rights reserved.
Committee endorses board candidates
9/7/2005
Local Solutions Political Action Committee has endorsed candidates for the three open seats on the Northern Humboldt Union High School District School Board.
The endorsed candidates are Don Avant, Rebecca Bair Kurwitz and Stephen J. Cole.
“These three people are highly qualified candidates from diverse backgrounds who will bring a thoughtful, open- minded perspective to board deliberations,” said Local Solutions spokesman Michael Twombly.
“The Northern Humboldt District, which governs the Arcata and McKinleyville high schools, has been plagued by controversy in recent years,” according to a Local Solutions news release. “Community members and parents have complained about restrictive policies on comprehensive sex education, restrictions on students’ constitutional rights and an excessive military presence on campuses.
“Don, Rebecca, and Steve will consider such matters with the needs of the whole community in mind, and will deal with such issues in a fair and even-handed manner,” Twombly said.
Residents may meet these candidates on Sept. 24 at a Local Solutions-sponsored community meeting at the Bayside Grange beginning with dinner at 6 p.m.
Copyright (C) 2005, The Eureka Reporter. All rights reserved.
ER - Local Solutions denies allegations
Local Solutions denies allegations
by Shane Mizer, 10/23/2005
At a Humboldt County Democratic Central Committee meeting on Oct. 18, Stephen Lewis challenged the political affiliations of committee Chairman Patrick Riggs.
Lewis, a Rio Dell resident and registered Democrat, was concerned about his fears that the Local Solutions Political Action Committee’s agenda has blurred party lines between local Democrats and Greens.
“The time has come for Democrats here to decide if they are going to allow our local Democratic Party to be the political arm of a special interest group that destroys jobs and creates severe community antagonisms or if our Democratic Party stands for helping Democratic families and the whole community,” Lewis said.
Lewis was also concerned about Riggs’ membership with Local Solutions. During the committee’s meeting, Riggs did not respond to Lewis’ accusations.
Riggs provided a statement to The Eureka Reporter in regard to the matter, which read: “To the best of my knowledge, Stephen Lewis has no education, background or any other qualifications to comment on political affairs. Despite his professing grave concerns about the impact on (The Pacific Lumber Co. regarding) the district attorney’s lawsuit against that company, he failed … to vote in the March 2004 recall election. He failed to vote in the 2004 presidential primary election; he failed to vote in the November 2003 election; he failed to vote in the 2003 special election; he failed to vote in the November 2001 general election as well as the 2000 presidential election.
“In fact, as far back as the November 1999 election, he has voted only once. I have absolutely no interest in responding to any allegations such a person would make.”
Lewis’ statement also attempted to draw correlations between Richard Salzman’s Alliance for Ethical Business and Local Solutions in an effort to create controversy.
Currently, Salzman is being investigated by the Trinidad Police Department for allegedly submitting e-mails to local newspapers – including The Eureka Reporter – under false names to support a number of his political causes.
The Eureka Reporter initiated the investigation by asking the Trinidad Police Department to investigate Salzman.
“(Local Solutions is) not involved in this investigation,” Trinidad Police Chief Thrailkill said. “I am not aware of any such connection.”
One of the founding members of Local Solutions, Dennis Huber, also denies that his committee has had any direct involvement with Salzman or the Alliance for Ethical Business.
Local Solutions identifies itself as a nonpartisan political action committee that supports progressive leaders and ideas around the community.
Local Solutions does not claim affiliations with any party, Huber said.
“I found that party politics often prevent people from coming together,” Huber said. “I would support anybody that makes sense.”
Local Solutions emerged last year after members had previously worked together on campaigns and fundraisers for local officers, including District Attorney Paul Gallegos, Eureka City Councilman Chris Kerrigan and Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap of the Humboldt Municipal Bay Water District.
The defeat of both the 2004 recall of Gallegos and the liquid nitrogen gas proposal are other issues that helped unite Local Solutions PAC’s founding members: Huber, Michael Twombly, Alice Woodworth and Riggs.
Local Solutions has a goal to raise $100,000 in donations and contributions for 2005. It intends to achieve this milestone by requesting membership pledges of $99 from Web site subscribers.
According to Huber, Local Solutions has a few hundred members, but it anticipates further growth as elections near.
Local Solutions recently held a campaign event at the Wharfinger Building in Eureka that was designed to create opposition to propositions backed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Nov. 8 special election.
(Shane Mizer can be reached at shane@eurekareporter.com.)
Copyright (C) 2005, The Eureka Reporter. All rights reserved.
Local Solutions related stories:
Salzman's Empire The Local Solutions sham
No connection?
It's in the Headers
Local Solutions' 460 Campaign Statements
Any doubt what Local Solutions' agenda is?
What happened to Local Solutions?
Where is "Local Solutions"?
TS - Local Solutions by Michael Twombly
ER - Another local group decries toxins and big boxes
by Shane Mizer, 10/23/2005
At a Humboldt County Democratic Central Committee meeting on Oct. 18, Stephen Lewis challenged the political affiliations of committee Chairman Patrick Riggs.
Lewis, a Rio Dell resident and registered Democrat, was concerned about his fears that the Local Solutions Political Action Committee’s agenda has blurred party lines between local Democrats and Greens.
“The time has come for Democrats here to decide if they are going to allow our local Democratic Party to be the political arm of a special interest group that destroys jobs and creates severe community antagonisms or if our Democratic Party stands for helping Democratic families and the whole community,” Lewis said.
Lewis was also concerned about Riggs’ membership with Local Solutions. During the committee’s meeting, Riggs did not respond to Lewis’ accusations.
Riggs provided a statement to The Eureka Reporter in regard to the matter, which read: “To the best of my knowledge, Stephen Lewis has no education, background or any other qualifications to comment on political affairs. Despite his professing grave concerns about the impact on (The Pacific Lumber Co. regarding) the district attorney’s lawsuit against that company, he failed … to vote in the March 2004 recall election. He failed to vote in the 2004 presidential primary election; he failed to vote in the November 2003 election; he failed to vote in the 2003 special election; he failed to vote in the November 2001 general election as well as the 2000 presidential election.
“In fact, as far back as the November 1999 election, he has voted only once. I have absolutely no interest in responding to any allegations such a person would make.”
Lewis’ statement also attempted to draw correlations between Richard Salzman’s Alliance for Ethical Business and Local Solutions in an effort to create controversy.
Currently, Salzman is being investigated by the Trinidad Police Department for allegedly submitting e-mails to local newspapers – including The Eureka Reporter – under false names to support a number of his political causes.
The Eureka Reporter initiated the investigation by asking the Trinidad Police Department to investigate Salzman.
“(Local Solutions is) not involved in this investigation,” Trinidad Police Chief Thrailkill said. “I am not aware of any such connection.”
One of the founding members of Local Solutions, Dennis Huber, also denies that his committee has had any direct involvement with Salzman or the Alliance for Ethical Business.
Local Solutions identifies itself as a nonpartisan political action committee that supports progressive leaders and ideas around the community.
Local Solutions does not claim affiliations with any party, Huber said.
“I found that party politics often prevent people from coming together,” Huber said. “I would support anybody that makes sense.”
Local Solutions emerged last year after members had previously worked together on campaigns and fundraisers for local officers, including District Attorney Paul Gallegos, Eureka City Councilman Chris Kerrigan and Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap of the Humboldt Municipal Bay Water District.
The defeat of both the 2004 recall of Gallegos and the liquid nitrogen gas proposal are other issues that helped unite Local Solutions PAC’s founding members: Huber, Michael Twombly, Alice Woodworth and Riggs.
Local Solutions has a goal to raise $100,000 in donations and contributions for 2005. It intends to achieve this milestone by requesting membership pledges of $99 from Web site subscribers.
According to Huber, Local Solutions has a few hundred members, but it anticipates further growth as elections near.
Local Solutions recently held a campaign event at the Wharfinger Building in Eureka that was designed to create opposition to propositions backed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Nov. 8 special election.
(Shane Mizer can be reached at shane@eurekareporter.com.)
Copyright (C) 2005, The Eureka Reporter. All rights reserved.
Local Solutions related stories:
Salzman's Empire The Local Solutions sham
No connection?
It's in the Headers
Local Solutions' 460 Campaign Statements
Any doubt what Local Solutions' agenda is?
What happened to Local Solutions?
Where is "Local Solutions"?
TS - Local Solutions by Michael Twombly
ER - Another local group decries toxins and big boxes
ER - Organizing on the 'track'
You really need a big wall with a big chart to keep track of all the "groups" and their relationships.
Organizing on the 'track'
by Wendy Butler, 2/16/2006
A forum held on Wednesday served as both an historic lesson, told from the perspective of the organizers, and a call to come together as a community to stop a development plan still in its infant stages.
Healthy Humboldt Coalition, Local Solutions and Democracy Unlimited’s information and organizing forum included five speakers: Humboldt County Supervisor Bonnie Neely; Mark Lovelace, project coordinator for the Healthy Humboldt Coalition; Larry Glass, owner of The Works; David Cobb of Democracy Unlimited; and Michelle Smith, attorney for Humboldt Baykeeper.
The latter organization has issued a notice of intent to sue Union Pacific Railroad Co. over what the group claims are violations of federal Clean Water Act and other state and federal laws on the railroad’s Eureka Rail Yard, or “Balloon Track.”
Before the five roughly 10-minute presentations began on Wednesday, forum attendees were told that the purpose of this event was a “move toward organizing” by those opposed to Security National’s proposed Marina Center to be built on the Balloon Track.
Attendees were also told that if they didn’t want to be part of the organizing effort, they should exit the Wharfinger Building at the end of the presentations.
The “break-out” organizing groups would include discussions of how to write letters to newspaper editors, the business of community organizing, reaching out to local merchants and organizing the next step.
Media was told that these groups were not going to be a public forum, so they would be closed to media.
SN is in the process of purchasing the 29.45-acre parcel from Union Pacific and also will purchase adjacent land from private owners, for a total of approximately 38.55 acres.
SN has received from the Eureka City Council authorization to submit an application for an amendment to the General Plan land-use designation for nine parcels on the Union Pacific site and adjacent land.
Currently the Balloon Track is zoned “public,” which prevents SN from utilizing the parcel for retail development.
SN plans to have retail development on the site, which includes Home Depot and Best Buy. It also plans offices and light industry.
It is planning to have residences on the adjacent parcels, which are currently zoned “limited industrial.”
The land-use zoning change request is a combination of “limited industrial,” “service commercial,” “Waterfront commercial” and “office/residential.”
SN will present an open house today from 4-7 p.m. at the Wharfinger Building manned by people, including Home Depot, who will provide written information and will answer questions about categories from traffic to economic and environmental impacts that could be caused by Marina Center.
SN, aware of opposition, has recently purchased about a dozen Web site names with key words related to the proposed development, SN Senior Vice President Brian Morrissey said.
It is “standard practice … now in these large projects,” he said. “If the name is not taken, you can buy it.
“We own the Web site names now. …We haven’t decided what we’re going to do.”
Neely opened Wednesday’s meeting with what she called an “historical perspective” about the Balloon Track, which is between Waterfront Drive and Washington Street.
The centerpiece of her presentation was the defeat of Measure J by voters in 1999.
Neely was co-chairwoman of the “No on Measure J” campaign.
Eureka voters rejected Measure J in a 61 to 39 percent vote in a special election on Aug. 24 of that year.
“I have never been prouder of my hometown than I was on Aug. 24,” she said.
The measure would have changed the city’s General Plan, rezoning the property from “public” to “commercial.”
That would have enabled Wal-Mart to build there.
Neely, also a member of the California Coastal Commission, referred to the Balloon Track as “prime coastal property” which entities attempted to rezone “for their own narrow purpose.”
Glass began his presentation, which was also about Wal-Mart and Measure J, by calling that a “battle.”
Glass said that in 1999 local businesses were “scared” and they are now.
Smith spoke about contamination on the site.
She said that the Balloon Track is 250 feet from the bay and adjacent to Clark Slough, and that shallow and deep aquifers drain into the bay.
Smith talked about different toxins remaining on the site, including waste oil, lead, zinc and copper.
She said that even if Union Pacific “capped” or paved over the toxins, that doesn’t lessen toxicity and the ground water draining into the bay.
Security National has said that, per contractual agreements, after the sale it would be responsible for the remainder of the cleanup, not Union Pacific.
Lovelace called a store like Home Depot a “category killer,” because it focuses on a single product line and “tries to knock out all the competition.”
Cobb said that because the City Council has given the go-ahead to a private developer, there is no “community dialogue.”
The Balloon Track, he said, is “a gripping story, but the end hasn’t been told yet.”
“We have to stop this project now,” he said.
After the presentations and before media left, Cobb said that as SN’s development process moved forward there would be “numerous opportunities for litigation.”
Cobb said that residents could initiate a “popular referendum.”
“Maybe it’s time for us to generate a little … heat on our City Council members,” he said.
(Rob and Cherie Arkley own Security National, which owns The Eureka Reporter.)
Copyright (C) 2005, The Eureka Reporter. All rights reserved.
Organizing on the 'track'
by Wendy Butler, 2/16/2006
A forum held on Wednesday served as both an historic lesson, told from the perspective of the organizers, and a call to come together as a community to stop a development plan still in its infant stages.
Healthy Humboldt Coalition, Local Solutions and Democracy Unlimited’s information and organizing forum included five speakers: Humboldt County Supervisor Bonnie Neely; Mark Lovelace, project coordinator for the Healthy Humboldt Coalition; Larry Glass, owner of The Works; David Cobb of Democracy Unlimited; and Michelle Smith, attorney for Humboldt Baykeeper.
The latter organization has issued a notice of intent to sue Union Pacific Railroad Co. over what the group claims are violations of federal Clean Water Act and other state and federal laws on the railroad’s Eureka Rail Yard, or “Balloon Track.”
Before the five roughly 10-minute presentations began on Wednesday, forum attendees were told that the purpose of this event was a “move toward organizing” by those opposed to Security National’s proposed Marina Center to be built on the Balloon Track.
Attendees were also told that if they didn’t want to be part of the organizing effort, they should exit the Wharfinger Building at the end of the presentations.
The “break-out” organizing groups would include discussions of how to write letters to newspaper editors, the business of community organizing, reaching out to local merchants and organizing the next step.
Media was told that these groups were not going to be a public forum, so they would be closed to media.
SN is in the process of purchasing the 29.45-acre parcel from Union Pacific and also will purchase adjacent land from private owners, for a total of approximately 38.55 acres.
SN has received from the Eureka City Council authorization to submit an application for an amendment to the General Plan land-use designation for nine parcels on the Union Pacific site and adjacent land.
Currently the Balloon Track is zoned “public,” which prevents SN from utilizing the parcel for retail development.
SN plans to have retail development on the site, which includes Home Depot and Best Buy. It also plans offices and light industry.
It is planning to have residences on the adjacent parcels, which are currently zoned “limited industrial.”
The land-use zoning change request is a combination of “limited industrial,” “service commercial,” “Waterfront commercial” and “office/residential.”
SN will present an open house today from 4-7 p.m. at the Wharfinger Building manned by people, including Home Depot, who will provide written information and will answer questions about categories from traffic to economic and environmental impacts that could be caused by Marina Center.
SN, aware of opposition, has recently purchased about a dozen Web site names with key words related to the proposed development, SN Senior Vice President Brian Morrissey said.
It is “standard practice … now in these large projects,” he said. “If the name is not taken, you can buy it.
“We own the Web site names now. …We haven’t decided what we’re going to do.”
Neely opened Wednesday’s meeting with what she called an “historical perspective” about the Balloon Track, which is between Waterfront Drive and Washington Street.
The centerpiece of her presentation was the defeat of Measure J by voters in 1999.
Neely was co-chairwoman of the “No on Measure J” campaign.
Eureka voters rejected Measure J in a 61 to 39 percent vote in a special election on Aug. 24 of that year.
“I have never been prouder of my hometown than I was on Aug. 24,” she said.
The measure would have changed the city’s General Plan, rezoning the property from “public” to “commercial.”
That would have enabled Wal-Mart to build there.
Neely, also a member of the California Coastal Commission, referred to the Balloon Track as “prime coastal property” which entities attempted to rezone “for their own narrow purpose.”
Glass began his presentation, which was also about Wal-Mart and Measure J, by calling that a “battle.”
Glass said that in 1999 local businesses were “scared” and they are now.
Smith spoke about contamination on the site.
She said that the Balloon Track is 250 feet from the bay and adjacent to Clark Slough, and that shallow and deep aquifers drain into the bay.
Smith talked about different toxins remaining on the site, including waste oil, lead, zinc and copper.
She said that even if Union Pacific “capped” or paved over the toxins, that doesn’t lessen toxicity and the ground water draining into the bay.
Security National has said that, per contractual agreements, after the sale it would be responsible for the remainder of the cleanup, not Union Pacific.
Lovelace called a store like Home Depot a “category killer,” because it focuses on a single product line and “tries to knock out all the competition.”
Cobb said that because the City Council has given the go-ahead to a private developer, there is no “community dialogue.”
The Balloon Track, he said, is “a gripping story, but the end hasn’t been told yet.”
“We have to stop this project now,” he said.
After the presentations and before media left, Cobb said that as SN’s development process moved forward there would be “numerous opportunities for litigation.”
Cobb said that residents could initiate a “popular referendum.”
“Maybe it’s time for us to generate a little … heat on our City Council members,” he said.
(Rob and Cherie Arkley own Security National, which owns The Eureka Reporter.)
Copyright (C) 2005, The Eureka Reporter. All rights reserved.
ER - The Progressives political machine
lThe Progressives political machine
4/4/2006
By Stephen Lewis
Well, well, Humboldt County has its own political machine and it isn’t even Republican or Democratic, but Green, the darling of the “Green community” as Larry Evans of EPIC calls it, and he should know since EPIC is such a solid gear driving the Progressives political machinery.
Other major cogs in the Progressives’ political machine now includes the host of anti-democracy groups pushing their undemocratic, un-Constitutional Measure T and the other myriad assortment of anti-Arkley, anti-PALCO, anti-Evergreen Pulp, anti-anything that doesn’t look like another Arcata under the thumb of anti-corporate lefties.
So welcome to the Progressive elitist and well-organized activist minority. But don’t be fooled that our local Progressives’ political machine isn’t capable of running over its political opposition.
That’s what they are busily trying to do with all these coordinated political attacks on Arkleys’ Balloon Track plans, on affordable housing in Humboldt County, on Evergreen Pulp, and on PALCO. They have a clear agenda to get rid of any and all large corporate businesses in Humboldt County and they don’t give a rat’s behind who suffers the consequences as long as they win.
I pity Greg Allen, steering committee chairperson for the Humboldt Greens, as he finds himself the target of ouster by fellow Greens for having a lawyer’s sense and knowledge of the un-Constitutionality of Measure T that the Green Party cog of the Progressives political machine has endorsed.
These people don’t care about Constitutional rights if Constitutional rights interfere with their overriding political agenda — which is destruction of the corporate capitalist system; in other words, the perennial goal of militant lefties for the past 150 years. Militancy means no deviation from the chain of command so Allen must go.
Democrats not affiliated with the Progressives political machine also pay the price of dissent as Local Solutions member of the Progressive political machine’s P.A.C., Patrick Riggs, guides the HCDCC to scrap its own democratic principles in order to derail fellow Democrats running for office like Worth Dikeman and Jill Geist. No deviation from the Progressives political machine’s agenda allowed.
Some will remember my column last year when Patrick Riggs used his Progressives Local Solution’s control over the HCDCC to rig Democratic Party rules in order to silence my or any other Democrat’s critical input at HCDCC meetings.
Months after the fact one recently reads that HCDCC rules are officially changed but the old rules were in place that allowed me to speak when I did but was formally banned by Riggs from doing so again to my fellow Democrats.
This is how Worth Dikeman is limited to three whole minutes to explain his platform to fellow Democrats while Paul Gallegos enjoys virtually unlimited access because Gallegos is the Progressives man carrying the Progressives political machine’s anti-PALCO, anti-corporate, anti-democracy agenda into the District Attorney’s Office.
This is the agenda that continues to bankrupt our county with ill-conceived lawsuits we end up paying for. This is the agenda that has taken away hundreds of jobs at PALCO through the environmental lawsuiting arms of the Progressives political machine, EPIC and Humboldt Watershed Council.
This is the agenda that wants to shut down Evergreen Pulp and take away 170 jobs. This is the agenda that seeks to stop Humboldt residents from finding reasonably priced homes; this is the agenda that seeks to stop Humboldt residents from finding the best prices for goods by derailing any discount department store building such as Home Depot.
Local shopkeepers fearing discount stores and eatery prices like Larry Glass, owner of The Works, and Jim Ferguson, owner of the Organically Delicious Cafe, have joined the Progressives political machine’s protest against Arkleys’ Home Depot and other Marina Center stores in order to thwart competition.
Humboldt County residents employed by corporations such as PALCO or Evergreen have already felt the Progressives political machine’s jaws. Who will be next in line to become political victims? Anyone who speaks out against the Progressive political machine such as Debi August, who paid the price for dissent.
Wake up, residents and take back your county from the Progressives political machine run by those who care only for their own politically correct anti-corporate Green community.
(Stephen Lewis is a Rio Dell resident who is a guest columnist.)
Copyright (C) 2005, The Eureka Reporter. All rights reserved.
4/4/2006
By Stephen Lewis
Well, well, Humboldt County has its own political machine and it isn’t even Republican or Democratic, but Green, the darling of the “Green community” as Larry Evans of EPIC calls it, and he should know since EPIC is such a solid gear driving the Progressives political machinery.
Other major cogs in the Progressives’ political machine now includes the host of anti-democracy groups pushing their undemocratic, un-Constitutional Measure T and the other myriad assortment of anti-Arkley, anti-PALCO, anti-Evergreen Pulp, anti-anything that doesn’t look like another Arcata under the thumb of anti-corporate lefties.
So welcome to the Progressive elitist and well-organized activist minority. But don’t be fooled that our local Progressives’ political machine isn’t capable of running over its political opposition.
That’s what they are busily trying to do with all these coordinated political attacks on Arkleys’ Balloon Track plans, on affordable housing in Humboldt County, on Evergreen Pulp, and on PALCO. They have a clear agenda to get rid of any and all large corporate businesses in Humboldt County and they don’t give a rat’s behind who suffers the consequences as long as they win.
I pity Greg Allen, steering committee chairperson for the Humboldt Greens, as he finds himself the target of ouster by fellow Greens for having a lawyer’s sense and knowledge of the un-Constitutionality of Measure T that the Green Party cog of the Progressives political machine has endorsed.
These people don’t care about Constitutional rights if Constitutional rights interfere with their overriding political agenda — which is destruction of the corporate capitalist system; in other words, the perennial goal of militant lefties for the past 150 years. Militancy means no deviation from the chain of command so Allen must go.
Democrats not affiliated with the Progressives political machine also pay the price of dissent as Local Solutions member of the Progressive political machine’s P.A.C., Patrick Riggs, guides the HCDCC to scrap its own democratic principles in order to derail fellow Democrats running for office like Worth Dikeman and Jill Geist. No deviation from the Progressives political machine’s agenda allowed.
Some will remember my column last year when Patrick Riggs used his Progressives Local Solution’s control over the HCDCC to rig Democratic Party rules in order to silence my or any other Democrat’s critical input at HCDCC meetings.
Months after the fact one recently reads that HCDCC rules are officially changed but the old rules were in place that allowed me to speak when I did but was formally banned by Riggs from doing so again to my fellow Democrats.
This is how Worth Dikeman is limited to three whole minutes to explain his platform to fellow Democrats while Paul Gallegos enjoys virtually unlimited access because Gallegos is the Progressives man carrying the Progressives political machine’s anti-PALCO, anti-corporate, anti-democracy agenda into the District Attorney’s Office.
This is the agenda that continues to bankrupt our county with ill-conceived lawsuits we end up paying for. This is the agenda that has taken away hundreds of jobs at PALCO through the environmental lawsuiting arms of the Progressives political machine, EPIC and Humboldt Watershed Council.
This is the agenda that wants to shut down Evergreen Pulp and take away 170 jobs. This is the agenda that seeks to stop Humboldt residents from finding reasonably priced homes; this is the agenda that seeks to stop Humboldt residents from finding the best prices for goods by derailing any discount department store building such as Home Depot.
Local shopkeepers fearing discount stores and eatery prices like Larry Glass, owner of The Works, and Jim Ferguson, owner of the Organically Delicious Cafe, have joined the Progressives political machine’s protest against Arkleys’ Home Depot and other Marina Center stores in order to thwart competition.
Humboldt County residents employed by corporations such as PALCO or Evergreen have already felt the Progressives political machine’s jaws. Who will be next in line to become political victims? Anyone who speaks out against the Progressive political machine such as Debi August, who paid the price for dissent.
Wake up, residents and take back your county from the Progressives political machine run by those who care only for their own politically correct anti-corporate Green community.
(Stephen Lewis is a Rio Dell resident who is a guest columnist.)
Copyright (C) 2005, The Eureka Reporter. All rights reserved.
They do eat their own...
Greens should make sure their voices are heard
by Michael Smith, 4/14/2006
David Giarrizzo ’s April 4, 2006, views sure are debatable regarding the work of The Eureka Reporter’s Rebecca Bender and the upcoming vote considering the recall of Greg Allen as Green Party of Humboldt County steering committee Chairperson. First some background.
Allen was appointed chairperson of the GPHCSC by five people, himself included, in November 2004 at a meeting conducted at the Lost Coast Brewery in Eureka. Now, nearly 18 months later, five letter-signers, of which I am one, will ask the general assembly on April 15, at Humboldt State University, to consider removing Allen from his post.
More on the recall soon, but first a few comments on Giarrizzo’s article. It came as a surprise to me Giarrizzo was identified as party secretary in the headline. The general assembly, the governing body of GPHC, found the secretary position empty at our February meeting in Garberville.
That is one reason why we appointed a new Web site administrator to take care of our online media business, including the transmission of all official press releases.
The way the GPHC works is the general assembly makes the decisions and the steering committee carries those decisions out, not vice-versa.
Giarrizzo seemed to take over the secretary role in the past three weeks. Still, I give him cautious credit for stepping up in a bad situation.
I see our steering committee as badly damaged under Allen’s leadership — so damaged its unable to properly administrate its duties — and the June 6 election fast approaches.
As far as Giarrizzo s strong words accusing reporter Bender as unethically biased, I have to disagree. Bender had a difficult story to cover and she did a commendable job.
Giarrizzo s assertion that he himself wrote the “Resolution to Promote Responsible Journalism and Scrutinize Biased Media” is questionable.
So you know that resolution made headlines in the local press last year. Allen, on public record at both the spring and summer 2005 general assembly meetings, said he was author.
Why would Giarrizzo contradict Allen?
At both meetings, the general assembly voted down the resolution that later was used as a key component of an unmerciful attack on area media outlets, personalities and even local businesses that advertised in one of the targeted, local newspapers!
In late August 2005, a “copy-cat” resolution was released to local media in violation of GPHC by laws — with the same basic method of operation used in the much-reported recent fake Arcata Green announcement opposing Measure T.
The difference was the Eureka Greens chapter was the victim of the fake “copy-cat” resolution attacking area media, not the Arcata Greens.
Perhaps Greens who live in and around Eureka have an anonymous autopilot controlling a good portion of that local’s business.
That is how the Arcata Greens felt — so they took control of their chapter — and are way better off because of it.
Similar attack resolutions have surfaced in recent months. Communities for Peace, Local Solutions, HCCR, Democracy Unlimited, FairChance and progressive people who live and work in Humboldt County have been the target of anonymously authored resolutions and/or vicious whisper campaigns.
As Greens, we have a responsibility to put a stop to these attacks.
And Allen said in Bender’s April 4, 2006, article that the primary purpose behind the recall letter was his opposition to Measure T.
I doubt it.
Greg Allen should take responsibility for his media presentations — not manipulate others to communicate de facto messages. From what I know, Giarrizzo is always up front, so maybe he can help figure all this out before a recall vote occurs Saturday.
The big question is: Does Greg Allen have the confidence of the GPHC General Assembly to continue as chairperson of the Green Party of Humboldt County Steering Committee?
I, for one, am not willing to wait for that question to be asked after the June 6 election, but I am willing to go along with the general assembly’s answer on April 15.
There is no tomorrow for a nation or a neighborhood at war today. Mobilizing Greens to go to the polls is too important. So is empowering Greens, not controlling Greens.
Peacefully resisting the war, helping people go to college, lending a hand, cleaning up the beach, having a block party so we can enjoy the company of our neighbors are too important.
Of course, Yes on Measure T and re-electing Paul Gallegos are important.
Greens should make their voices heard. One Humboldt County Green equals one vote. Join us at HSU, noon Saturday, Founders’ Hall, Room 163. Go to HumboldtGreens.Org for more information on GPHC, including exact meeting times and location.
(Michael Smith is a volunteer for FairChance, an informal group of students and community residents helping students sign up for college and stay there until they earn a degree.)
Copyright (C) 2005, The Eureka Reporter. All rights reserved.
by Michael Smith, 4/14/2006
David Giarrizzo ’s April 4, 2006, views sure are debatable regarding the work of The Eureka Reporter’s Rebecca Bender and the upcoming vote considering the recall of Greg Allen as Green Party of Humboldt County steering committee Chairperson. First some background.
Allen was appointed chairperson of the GPHCSC by five people, himself included, in November 2004 at a meeting conducted at the Lost Coast Brewery in Eureka. Now, nearly 18 months later, five letter-signers, of which I am one, will ask the general assembly on April 15, at Humboldt State University, to consider removing Allen from his post.
More on the recall soon, but first a few comments on Giarrizzo’s article. It came as a surprise to me Giarrizzo was identified as party secretary in the headline. The general assembly, the governing body of GPHC, found the secretary position empty at our February meeting in Garberville.
That is one reason why we appointed a new Web site administrator to take care of our online media business, including the transmission of all official press releases.
The way the GPHC works is the general assembly makes the decisions and the steering committee carries those decisions out, not vice-versa.
Giarrizzo seemed to take over the secretary role in the past three weeks. Still, I give him cautious credit for stepping up in a bad situation.
I see our steering committee as badly damaged under Allen’s leadership — so damaged its unable to properly administrate its duties — and the June 6 election fast approaches.
As far as Giarrizzo s strong words accusing reporter Bender as unethically biased, I have to disagree. Bender had a difficult story to cover and she did a commendable job.
Giarrizzo s assertion that he himself wrote the “Resolution to Promote Responsible Journalism and Scrutinize Biased Media” is questionable.
So you know that resolution made headlines in the local press last year. Allen, on public record at both the spring and summer 2005 general assembly meetings, said he was author.
Why would Giarrizzo contradict Allen?
At both meetings, the general assembly voted down the resolution that later was used as a key component of an unmerciful attack on area media outlets, personalities and even local businesses that advertised in one of the targeted, local newspapers!
In late August 2005, a “copy-cat” resolution was released to local media in violation of GPHC by laws — with the same basic method of operation used in the much-reported recent fake Arcata Green announcement opposing Measure T.
The difference was the Eureka Greens chapter was the victim of the fake “copy-cat” resolution attacking area media, not the Arcata Greens.
Perhaps Greens who live in and around Eureka have an anonymous autopilot controlling a good portion of that local’s business.
That is how the Arcata Greens felt — so they took control of their chapter — and are way better off because of it.
Similar attack resolutions have surfaced in recent months. Communities for Peace, Local Solutions, HCCR, Democracy Unlimited, FairChance and progressive people who live and work in Humboldt County have been the target of anonymously authored resolutions and/or vicious whisper campaigns.
As Greens, we have a responsibility to put a stop to these attacks.
And Allen said in Bender’s April 4, 2006, article that the primary purpose behind the recall letter was his opposition to Measure T.
I doubt it.
Greg Allen should take responsibility for his media presentations — not manipulate others to communicate de facto messages. From what I know, Giarrizzo is always up front, so maybe he can help figure all this out before a recall vote occurs Saturday.
The big question is: Does Greg Allen have the confidence of the GPHC General Assembly to continue as chairperson of the Green Party of Humboldt County Steering Committee?
I, for one, am not willing to wait for that question to be asked after the June 6 election, but I am willing to go along with the general assembly’s answer on April 15.
There is no tomorrow for a nation or a neighborhood at war today. Mobilizing Greens to go to the polls is too important. So is empowering Greens, not controlling Greens.
Peacefully resisting the war, helping people go to college, lending a hand, cleaning up the beach, having a block party so we can enjoy the company of our neighbors are too important.
Of course, Yes on Measure T and re-electing Paul Gallegos are important.
Greens should make their voices heard. One Humboldt County Green equals one vote. Join us at HSU, noon Saturday, Founders’ Hall, Room 163. Go to HumboldtGreens.Org for more information on GPHC, including exact meeting times and location.
(Michael Smith is a volunteer for FairChance, an informal group of students and community residents helping students sign up for college and stay there until they earn a degree.)
Copyright (C) 2005, The Eureka Reporter. All rights reserved.
ER - HCDCC not democratic
HCDCC not democratic
by Stephen Lewis, 4/22/2006
In last Friday’s Eureka Reporter was the misleading story of how “Democrats overwhelmingly vote to endorse Gallegos.”
It was misleading because it reports how Humboldt County Democratic Central Committee members “overwhelmingly” endorsed Paul Gallegos.
Humboldt Democrats are a bit larger in number than the 20 or so HCDCC members, so their endorsement only speaks for them, not the rank and file of the majority of Democrats in Humboldt County.
The endorsement shouldn’t surprise anyone as it is no secret that today’s HCDCC is solidly “Progressive” with no real distinction from Humboldt Greens in political philosophy and campaigns.
If you are a Democrat, your local Democratic Party representatives now only represent you if you agree with the Progressives’ anti-corporate, anti-PALCO, anti-Evergreen Pulp, anti-Arkley, anti-industrial development, anti-growth of any kind for Humboldt County that doesn’t look like Arcata.
Of course, you must also be solidly pro-Gallegos, the Progressives’ man in the District Attorney’s Office working hard for the Progressive political machine that got him elected, saved him from recall, and wants to return him to office again in spite of his dismal record doing their bidding, e.g., their failed lawsuit against PALCO, and special prosecutor Tim Stoen’s failed attempt to remove Debi August from office for her outspoken opposition to the PALCO lawsuit.
Both lawsuits have cost Humboldt County residents hundreds of thousands of dollars that our county government can’t afford. Gallegos is key to the Progressives political machine’s success. HCDCC voted to endorse Gallegos since Gallegos’ former campaign manager, Richard Salzman, set up the original Progressives political machine, the Alliance for Ethical Business, which morphed to become Local Solutions.
Conveniently, Local Solutions not only shares the same building as the Humboldt County Democratic Central Committee but the same person, Patrick Riggs, is in charge of both groups. Riggs has rigged the HCDCC now so that any Democrat who opposes the Local Solutions political agenda doesn’t get recognized by his HCDCC.
“They are not active party Democrats,” says HCDCC subcommittee chairperson, Greg Conners.
In other words, if you don’t tow the HCDCC’s Progressives’ political line, you’re not really an active Democrat, which was news to me when Riggs used this same undemocratic reasoning and the power of his office to effectively deny me any input into HCDCC policies.
He seems to have done the same to Worth Dikeman and Jill Geist, both fellow Democrats, both good, solid Democratic candidates for office, yet both virtually ignored by HCDCC because these Democrats are seen as opposing the HCDCC “Progressive” political agenda and the HCDCC candidate choice for the District Attorney’s Office.
This then is “democracy” in action for Humboldt County Democratic Central Committee members who seem to have either an extremely poor understanding of what democratic principles are all about or an overriding political agenda that is quite willing to abrogate democratic principles when such principles get in the way of the real cause: Progressive destruction of our corporate-based economy.
High on the list of Progressives’ anti-corporate political actions is Measure T, which claims to protect democracy but actually does just the opposite, effectively disenfranchising Humboldt residents who happen to own or work for one of the many corporations that supply most of our goods and services and provide the majority of jobs in Humboldt County.
If Measure T should pass and become a law, it will be overturned as being unconstitutional and, once again, Humboldt County residents will end up paying the bill for another ill-conceived political attack on corporate industry in Humboldt County.
But remember, that’s OK to Progressives who want to use your tax money to buy their next anti-corporate political step: obtaining national publicity for Measure T by taking it to the Supreme Court if necessary.
What should be scary to the majority of Democrats in Humboldt County is that the Progressive political machine is now powerful enough to not only control our Democratic Party political policies through the current HCDCC, but it can also obtain political endorsements for their candidate for district attorney from major Democrats in office like Bill Lockyer, despite Paul Gallegos supporting the very un-Constitutional Measure T.
I hope that my fellow Democrats understand that what really matters for the District Attorney’s Office are two things: 1) dedication to upholding the Constitutional laws of the land, and 2) establishing a solid relationship of trust and teamwork with Humboldt County law enforcement which the district attorney heads as team captain.
(Stephen Lewis is Rio Dell resident.)
Copyright (C) 2005, The Eureka Reporter. All rights reserved.
Local Solutions related stories:
Salzman's Empire The Local Solutions sham
No connection?
It's in the Headers
Local Solutions' 460 Campaign Statements
Any doubt what Local Solutions' agenda is?
What happened to Local Solutions?
Where is "Local Solutions"?
TS - Local Solutions by Michael Twombly
ER - Another local group decries toxins and big boxes
by Stephen Lewis, 4/22/2006
In last Friday’s Eureka Reporter was the misleading story of how “Democrats overwhelmingly vote to endorse Gallegos.”
It was misleading because it reports how Humboldt County Democratic Central Committee members “overwhelmingly” endorsed Paul Gallegos.
Humboldt Democrats are a bit larger in number than the 20 or so HCDCC members, so their endorsement only speaks for them, not the rank and file of the majority of Democrats in Humboldt County.
The endorsement shouldn’t surprise anyone as it is no secret that today’s HCDCC is solidly “Progressive” with no real distinction from Humboldt Greens in political philosophy and campaigns.
If you are a Democrat, your local Democratic Party representatives now only represent you if you agree with the Progressives’ anti-corporate, anti-PALCO, anti-Evergreen Pulp, anti-Arkley, anti-industrial development, anti-growth of any kind for Humboldt County that doesn’t look like Arcata.
Of course, you must also be solidly pro-Gallegos, the Progressives’ man in the District Attorney’s Office working hard for the Progressive political machine that got him elected, saved him from recall, and wants to return him to office again in spite of his dismal record doing their bidding, e.g., their failed lawsuit against PALCO, and special prosecutor Tim Stoen’s failed attempt to remove Debi August from office for her outspoken opposition to the PALCO lawsuit.
Both lawsuits have cost Humboldt County residents hundreds of thousands of dollars that our county government can’t afford. Gallegos is key to the Progressives political machine’s success. HCDCC voted to endorse Gallegos since Gallegos’ former campaign manager, Richard Salzman, set up the original Progressives political machine, the Alliance for Ethical Business, which morphed to become Local Solutions.
Conveniently, Local Solutions not only shares the same building as the Humboldt County Democratic Central Committee but the same person, Patrick Riggs, is in charge of both groups. Riggs has rigged the HCDCC now so that any Democrat who opposes the Local Solutions political agenda doesn’t get recognized by his HCDCC.
“They are not active party Democrats,” says HCDCC subcommittee chairperson, Greg Conners.
In other words, if you don’t tow the HCDCC’s Progressives’ political line, you’re not really an active Democrat, which was news to me when Riggs used this same undemocratic reasoning and the power of his office to effectively deny me any input into HCDCC policies.
He seems to have done the same to Worth Dikeman and Jill Geist, both fellow Democrats, both good, solid Democratic candidates for office, yet both virtually ignored by HCDCC because these Democrats are seen as opposing the HCDCC “Progressive” political agenda and the HCDCC candidate choice for the District Attorney’s Office.
This then is “democracy” in action for Humboldt County Democratic Central Committee members who seem to have either an extremely poor understanding of what democratic principles are all about or an overriding political agenda that is quite willing to abrogate democratic principles when such principles get in the way of the real cause: Progressive destruction of our corporate-based economy.
High on the list of Progressives’ anti-corporate political actions is Measure T, which claims to protect democracy but actually does just the opposite, effectively disenfranchising Humboldt residents who happen to own or work for one of the many corporations that supply most of our goods and services and provide the majority of jobs in Humboldt County.
If Measure T should pass and become a law, it will be overturned as being unconstitutional and, once again, Humboldt County residents will end up paying the bill for another ill-conceived political attack on corporate industry in Humboldt County.
But remember, that’s OK to Progressives who want to use your tax money to buy their next anti-corporate political step: obtaining national publicity for Measure T by taking it to the Supreme Court if necessary.
What should be scary to the majority of Democrats in Humboldt County is that the Progressive political machine is now powerful enough to not only control our Democratic Party political policies through the current HCDCC, but it can also obtain political endorsements for their candidate for district attorney from major Democrats in office like Bill Lockyer, despite Paul Gallegos supporting the very un-Constitutional Measure T.
I hope that my fellow Democrats understand that what really matters for the District Attorney’s Office are two things: 1) dedication to upholding the Constitutional laws of the land, and 2) establishing a solid relationship of trust and teamwork with Humboldt County law enforcement which the district attorney heads as team captain.
(Stephen Lewis is Rio Dell resident.)
Copyright (C) 2005, The Eureka Reporter. All rights reserved.
Local Solutions related stories:
Salzman's Empire The Local Solutions sham
No connection?
It's in the Headers
Local Solutions' 460 Campaign Statements
Any doubt what Local Solutions' agenda is?
What happened to Local Solutions?
Where is "Local Solutions"?
TS - Local Solutions by Michael Twombly
ER - Another local group decries toxins and big boxes