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| Dear Animal Lover and Defender, I write you with some good news today –- and with an urgent request for your help. We are closing in on our goal of raising $200,000 as a “counterpunch” to one of our more persistent critics –- an unprincipled group that gleefully stands in the way of all efforts to help animals so long as someone pays them to do it. They’re the worst kind of hired guns, representing nothing but greed -- even at the expense of animals who are suffering today and in need of rescue. Ask yourself, what kind of people would take delight in trying to prevent The HSUS from rescuing animals? I’ll tell you who. Richard Berman and his lackey, David Martosko. They’re the shadowy flim-flam artists who do dirty work for agribusiness, tobacco interests and the like. They are the people who tell you that mercury-laced fish won't harm pregnant women and trans fats aren’t bad for you. And now they’re trying to tell you animals don’t matter. Last week, I wrote a blog about them and set this $200,000 “counterpunch” challenge. The stakes are high, so please join me in making a donation today. Martosko claims to be a “watchdog.” But Martosko saying he is a watchdog of animal protection is like a band of professional thieves acting as a home security company. He is a pro-cockfighting, pro-sealing, pro-puppy mill, pro-factory farming, pro-captive shooting hack whose organization does nothing but tear animal protection down and clear a pathway for animal abusers. Let me call your attention to two events this week that underscore the urgency of the fundraising request I've made. First, the Berman-Martosko operation openly encouraged factory farming interests to protest against a corporate partner of The HSUS. This partner company donated $100,000 to help cover the costs of our animal rescue efforts. That’s right, animal rescue. In natural disasters and in cases of cruelty -- when law enforcement agencies and our colleagues at local humane societies call for our help -- we roll with the best trained and best equipped animal rescue team in the nation. This work is entirely supported by donations from our generous members and corporate sponsors. That’s why we proudly wear the banner of a being a “charity.” The second event occurred in rural Southern California. Here, a team of our animal rescue experts was on the ground working shoulder-to-shoulder with a local sheriff to raid a suspected, and massive, cockfighting operation. Together, we brought an end to the suffering of these animals. Watch this video and see for yourself what “rescue” means. That’s right, they and their shadowy funders would let animals be thrown in the ring to die for the sake of slowing down the work of The HSUS. It won’t work, of course. Help us prove it to Berman, Martosko and their cronies and make a special gift today to protect animals from harm. As always, thank you for all you do for animals.
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Want to know more about who these folks are that are buying your elected officials for
Big food business. Read on it's VERY interesting!
Lobbyists Hide Behind Non-Profit Fronts
May 3 - KGO (KGO) -- Lobbying in Washington is taking a new turn. A growing number of lobbying firms are setting up non-profit front groups to push their corporate messages. We found one example when we began investigating the source of information on a website called Fishscam.
For years we've heard about health risks associated with eating certain kinds of fish because of high mercury levels. The Chicago Tribune recently did a big report on canned tuna with high levels of mercury, forcing the FDA to reevaluate their standards. So I was particularly interested when I came across Fishscam.com which says those mercury warnings are full of baloney.
Like to eat ahi but you're worried about mercury? Click on Fishscam.com, a website run by the Center for Consumer Freedom.
David Martosko, Center for Consumer Freedom: "The best science indicates that the trace amounts of mercury in the fish we feed our children and our families is so small that it's not a danger to anybody."
David Martosko is director of research at the Center for Consumer Freedom -- a non-profit tax exempt educational organization.
David Martosko: "We like to call shenanigans on people when they're really off base. So we're sort of a watchdog group in that respect."
The center has found there's a lot to watch. You know those warnings about drinking and driving&
David Martosko: "Government statistics and independent science confirms very clearly that the drunk driving problem in this country has been reduced to a small hard core of repeat offenders."
In fact, government statistics don't show that. The majority of arrests are first-timers, but the center runs ad campaigns against lowering the legal blood alcohol limit.
You know those warnings that Americans are getting fat? The center says we should be promoting exercise.
David Martosko: "That would do far more to combat childhood obesity than say suing McDonald's."
The centers ads are eye catching. And the message is food police are out to take the ice cream away from children, the hot dog out of your hand.
The Center for Consumer Freedom ads say activists are trying to scare us. One of those activists is San Francisco physician Jane Hightower.
Dr. Jane Hightower, research scientist: "I'm honored." (laughs)
Dr. Hightower published a report linking the coronary artery disease in her patients with the large amounts of tuna and swordfish they were eating.
Dr. Jane Hightower: "I didn't get paid to do this study. I did it because people were not feeling well and they all had elevated mercury levels."
Her research is supported by the Environmental Protection Agency which warns pregnant women -- don't eat any swordfish.
David Martosko: "Dr. Hightower I think is three parts activist and one part scientist."
Martosko attacks Hightower for being an activist. But Martosko himself is no part scientist. He was a music major in college and then an AM radio talk show producer before becoming chief researcher for the Center for Consumer Freedom which is headquartered inside the lobbying offices of Richard Berman, a lobbyist for the restaurant and beverage industry.
Berman set up the Center for Consumer Freedom and a number of other tax exempt educational organizations. And those educational non-profits all seem to support messages that dove tail nicely with the food beverage and tobacco industries that have hired Richard Berman.
David Martosko: "Welcome to Washignton. This is the way things tend to be done here."
When we tried to ask Rick Berman himself about that, he ducked out of our interview.
Rick Berman: "We'll give you a photograph. Say whatever you want to say."
ABC7's Mark Matthews: "Oh don't do that to me."
Berman wouldn't talk with us about how his non-profits are connected financially to his lobbying business, and his research director didn't tell us.
David Martosko: "I don't know the firms that send the Center for Consumer Freedom money. I don't want to know. It's not my business to know."
We did find that 10 years ago Berman lived in a house in a D.C. suburb. After he opened his first non-profit, he moved to a much more expensive home.
The most recent available tax records for the Center for Consumer Freedom show in 2004 Berman and Co. took in a million-and-a-half dollars from the Center for Consumer Freedom.
John Stauber, environmental activist: "It's like getting a tax advantage for paying your lobbyist."
John Stauber is an environmental activist and founder of the Center for Media and Democracy which tracks Berman's financing. He says Berman's tax exempt organizations don't have to reveal who gives them money.
During one of our repeated requests for an interview, Rick Berman told me it wouldn't serve his food and beverage clients to be specifically identified with the often edgy campaigns of his non-profit educational organizations.
John Stauber, Center for Media & Democracy: "Not public interest campaigns, but smear campaigns that he brags about to muddy the image and reputation of legitimate public interest organizations and scientists."
Stauber says some groups have filed complaints against Berman with the IRS. The IRS doesn't confirm or deny investigations. The former IRS director in charge of the tax exempt division says the IRS takes a broad view of what is educational.
Marc Owens, former IRS division director: "If someone sets up a website claiming the moon is made of green cheese and they go through some elaborate proof of that, the IRS isn't going to say that's too absurd. It's a form of free speech."
Marc Owens says Berman could get in trouble if he's found to be running a tax exempt organization for private benefit. But the IRS admits it doesn't have a lot of people check up on that. Berman told the Washington Post he's been contacted by the IRS and nothing came of it because he's doing nothing wrong.
But on Capitol Hill, an activist on issues of health care and childhood obesity, Representative Pete Stark of Fremont, calls Berman's operation an abuse.
Pete Stark, D-Fremont: "I don't know what we do except expose the guy for what he is and expose the programs for doing what he's trying to do to people."
David Martosko told me that he likes to call shenanigans on people who are off base. We have that in common. There are a growing number of people keeping track of Berman and Co. For more information on that, visit the links below.
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