Hiltachk, T

=primary 5/16electoral college scam:<div class="body undoreset" tabindex="0" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1473264151811_11239" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; outline: none 0px; display: table; width: 1003px; box-sizing: border-box; padding-top: 12px; padding-left: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="email-wrapped" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1473264151811_11238" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; display: table-cell; width: auto; word-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;"><div id="yiv6962975554" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1473264151811_11237" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;">The LWV also supports a yes vote on Prop. 51, which ostensibly sounds great.  It provides $9 billion in bonds for education and schools.  However, this proposition was authored by Thomas W. Hiltachk:
<div class="yiv6962975554field-items" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1473264151811_11276" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><div class="yiv6962975554field-item yiv6962975554even" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1473264151811_11275" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"><a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2007/08/06/070806taco_talk_hertzberg#ixzz1wvtKDXOB" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: purple; outline: none; background: transparent;">The New Yorker</a> on Tom Hiltachk’s law firm, Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk:<blockquote id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1473264151811_11274" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; margin: 1em;">“They specialize in initiatives that are the opposite of what they sound like—the Fair Pay Workplace Flexibility Act of 2006, for example. It would have raised the state minimum wage slightly—by a lesser amount than it has since been raised—and, in the fine print, would have made it impossible ever to raise it again except by a two-thirds vote in both houses of the legislature, while, for good measure, eliminating overtime for millions of workers.”</blockquote></div></div><div class="yiv6962975554moz-signature" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1473264151811_11236" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px;"> And from the Huffington Post:A full-time political and election lawyer since 1998, Hiltachk is an old hand at drafting legislation benefiting <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michele-simon/big-tobacco-shills-trying-to-stop-gmo-labeling-in-california_b_1773772.html" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: purple; outline: none; background: transparent;">big tobacco</a> or beating back living wage campaigns. He is also the California Republican Party’s go-to legal mind for penning regressive ballot initiatives intended to give conservatives maximum political power in an otherwise majority progressive state. Like the political consultants at the <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://fryingpannews.org/2012/09/27/the-dolphin-group-prop-32s-dark-messenger/" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: purple; outline: none; background: transparent;">Dolphin Group</a>, Hiltachk is known for promoting “Trojan Horse” political gambits. As Hendrik Hertzberg put it in a 2007 <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2007/08/06/070806taco_talk_hertzberg" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: purple; outline: none; background: transparent;">New Yorker </a><a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2007/08/06/070806taco_talk_hertzberg" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: purple; outline: none; background: transparent;">piece</a>, Hiltachk and his law film <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://www.bmhlaw.com/" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: purple; outline: none; background: transparent;">Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk, </a>“specialize in initiatives that are the opposite of what they sound like.”Read Prop 51 carefully.  There is a lot more to it that 9 billion for schools. <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://oag.ca.gov/system/files/initiatives/pdfs/15-0005%20%28Education%20Bond%20Act%29.pdf?" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: purple; outline: none; background: transparent;">It is 8 pages long!</a>  Hiltachk's authorship is enough to convince me that it is a Trojan horse.herb</div></div></div></div></div>--refvotescam2007at  first glance, next year’s Presidential election looks like a blowout. But it might not be. Luckily for the incumbent party, neither George W. Bush nor Dick Cheney will be running; indeed, the election of 2008 will be the first since 1952 without a sitting President or Vice-President on the ballot. At the moment, survey research reflects a generic public preference for a Democratic victory next year. Still, despite everything, there are nearly as many polls showing particular Republicans beating particular Democrats as vice versa. So this election could be another close one. If it is, the winner may turn out to have been chosen not on November 4, 2008, but five months earlier, on June 3rd.<p word_count="114" data-wc="114" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 410px 32px 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: geometricPrecision; max-width: 100%; line-height: 1.4; color: rgb(18, 18, 18); box-sizing: border-box;">Two weeks ago, one of the most important Republican lawyers in Sacramento quietly filed a ballot initiative that would end the practice of granting all fifty-five of California’s electoral votes to the statewide winner. Instead, it would award two of them to the statewide winner and the rest, one by one, to the winner in each congressional district. Nineteen of the fifty-three districts are represented by Republicans, but Bush carried twenty-two districts in 2004. The bottom line is that the initiative, if passed, would spot the Republican ticket something in the neighborhood of twenty electoral votes—votes that it wouldn’t get under the rules prevailing in every other sizable state in the Union.<p word_count="214" data-wc="214" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 410px 32px 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: geometricPrecision; max-width: 100%; line-height: 1.4; color: rgb(18, 18, 18); box-sizing: border-box;">The Tuesday after the first Monday in June is California’s traditional Primary Day. But it’s not the one that everybody will be paying attention to. Five months ago, the legislature hastily moved the Presidential part up to February 5th, joining a stampede of states hoping to claim a piece of the early-state action previously reserved for Iowa and New Hampshire. June 3rd will be an altogether sleepier, low-turnout affair. There may be a few scattered contests for legislative nominations, but the only statewide items on the ballot will be initiatives. More than two dozen have been filed so far, ranging from a proposal to start a state-run Internet poker site to pay for filling potholes to a redundant slew of anti-gay-marriage measures. Few will make it to the ballot. Many are not even intended to; they’re a feint in some byzantine negotiation, or just a cheap attempt to get a little attention—for a two-hundred-dollar fee, anyone can file one. (Actually getting one on the ballot requires more than four hundred thousand signatures, and the outfits that collect them usually charge a dollar or two per signature.) Initiative No. 07-0032—the Presidential Election Reform Act—is different. It’s serious. Its backers have access to serious money. And it could pass.<p word_count="163" data-wc="163" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 410px 32px 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: geometricPrecision; max-width: 100%; line-height: 1.4; color: rgb(18, 18, 18); box-sizing: border-box;">Nominally, the sponsor of No. 07-0032 is Californians for Equal Representation. But that’s just a letterhead—there’s no such organization. Its address is the office suite of Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk, the law firm for the California Republican Party, and its covering letter is signed by Thomas W. Hiltachk, the firm’s managing partner and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s personal lawyer for election matters. Hiltachk and his firm have been involved in many well-financed ballot initiatives before, including the recall that put Arnold in Sacramento. They specialize in initiatives that are the opposite of what they sound like—the Fair Pay Workplace Flexibility Act of 2006, for example. It would have raised the state minimum wage slightly—by a lesser amount than it has since been raised—and, in the fine print, would have made it impossible ever to raise it again except by a two-thirds vote in both houses of the legislature, while, for good measure, eliminating overtime for millions of workers.<p word_count="144" data-wc="144" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 410px 32px 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: geometricPrecision; max-width: 100%; line-height: 1.4; color: rgb(18, 18, 18); box-sizing: border-box;">“Equal Representation” sounds good, too. And the winner-take-all rule, which is in force in all but two states, does seem unfair on the face of it. (The two are Maine and Nebraska, which use congressional-district allocation. But they are so small—only five districts between them—and so homogeneous that neither has ever split its electoral votes.) It would be obviously unjust for a state to give all its legislative seats to the party that gets the most votes statewide. So why should Party A get a hundred per cent of that state’s electoral votes if forty per cent of its voters support Party B? No wonder Democrats and Republicans alike initially react to this proposal in a strongly positive way. To most people, the electoral-college status quo feels intuitively wrong. So does war. But that doesn’t make unilateral disarmament a no-brainer.<p word_count="144" data-wc="144" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 410px 32px 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: geometricPrecision; max-width: 100%; line-height: 1.4; color: rgb(18, 18, 18); box-sizing: border-box;">If California does what No. 07-0032 calls for while everybody else is still going with winner take all by state, the real-world result will be to give Party B (in this case the Republicans) an unearned, Ohio-size gift of electoral votes. In a narrow sense, that’s good if you like Party B, but not so good if you like Party A (in this case the Democrats). Or if you think that in a democracy everybody ought to play by roughly the same rules. Nor, by the way, is Party B the only offender. Last week, the Democratic-controlled legislature of North Carolina, a state that has gone Republican in every Presidential election since 1976, enthusiastically took up a bill to do the same mischief as the California initiative. The grab would be smaller—it would appropriate perhaps three or four of North Carolina’s fifteen electoral votes for the Democrats—but the hands would be just as dirty.<a class="tny-page" name="/2" data-total-words="906" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: geometricPrecision; max-width: 100%;" /><p word_count="126" data-wc="126" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 410px 32px 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: geometricPrecision; max-width: 100%; line-height: 1.4; color: rgb(18, 18, 18); box-sizing: border-box;"><a class="tny-page" name="/2" data-total-words="906" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: geometricPrecision; max-width: 100%;">The California initiative flunks even the categorical-imperative test. Imagine, as a thought experiment, that all the states were to adopt this “reform” at once. Electoral votes would still be winner take all, only by congressional district rather than by state. Instead of ten battleground states and forty spectator states, we’d have thirty-five battleground districts and four hundred spectator districts. The red-blue map would be more mottled, and in some states more people might get to see campaign commercials, because media markets usually take in more than one district. But congressional districts are as gerrymandered as human ingenuity and computer power can make them. The electoral-vote result in ninety per cent of the country would still be a foregone conclusion, no matter how close the race.</a><p word_count="60" data-wc="60" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 410px 32px 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: geometricPrecision; max-width: 100%; line-height: 1.4; color: rgb(18, 18, 18); box-sizing: border-box;"><a class="tny-page" name="/2" data-total-words="906" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: geometricPrecision; max-width: 100%;">California Initiative No. 07-0032 is an audacious power play packaged as a step forward for democratic fairness. It’s the lotusland equivalent of Tom DeLay’s 2003 midterm redistricting in Texas, except with a sweeter smell, a better disguise, and larger stakes. And the only way Californians will reject it is if they have a chance to think about it first</a><a class="tny-page" name="/2" data-total-words="906" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: geometricPrecision; max-width: 100%;">---</a><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a class="tny-page" name="/2" data-total-words="906" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: geometricPrecision; max-width: 100%;">The official committee supporting CERI is called </a><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/California_Counts" title="California Counts" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">California Counts</a>. GOP consultants <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Ed_Rollins" title="Ed Rollins" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Ed Rollins</a>, <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Dave_Gilliard" title="Dave Gilliard" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Dave Gilliard</a> and Anne Dunsmore are leading the re-vitalization of the signature effort after its early stall-out. Dunsmore has said, "You can’t just fold up every time somebody says they killed you."<a href="https://ballotpedia.org/California_Presidential_Electoral_College_Reform_Initiative(2008)#cite_note-14" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; background: none;">[14]</a>Campaign finance disclosure forms filed with the <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/California_Secretary_of_State" title="California Secretary of State" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; background: none;">California Secretary of State</a> in early November 2007 showed that supporters of the effort had collected $500,000 in a 10-day period starting the last week of October.<a href="https://ballotpedia.org/California_Presidential_Electoral_College_Reform_Initiative(2008)#cite_note-15" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; background: none;">[15]</a>. These includes an $80,000 donation from the California Republican Party, and $59,700 from Darrell Issa.<a href="https://ballotpedia.org/California_Presidential_Electoral_College_Reform_Initiative(2008)#cite_note-16" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; background: none;">[16]</a>Other supporters of the revived effort include <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Lew_Uhler" title="Lew Uhler" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; background: none;">Lew Uhler</a>, a well-known anti-tax crusader in <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/California" title="California" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; background: none;">California</a>, and <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Tony_Andrade" title="Tony Andrade" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; background: none;">Tony Andrade</a>. Andrade was active in the successful effort to collect enough signatures to place the recall of California governor <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Gray_Davis" title="Gray Davis" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; background: none;">Gray Davis</a> on the ballot in 2003.<a href="https://ballotpedia.org/California_Presidential_Electoral_College_Reform_Initiative(2008)#cite_note-17" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; background: none;">[17]</a> Supporters of PERA announced in late October that <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Darrell_Issa" title="Darrell Issa" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; background: none;">Darrell Issa</a> had become a financial backer of the effort.<a href="https://ballotpedia.org/California_Presidential_Electoral_College_Reform_Initiative(2008)#cite_note-18" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; background: none;">[18]</a>See <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Donors_to_California_Counts!" title="Donors to California Counts!" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; background: none;">Donors to California Counts!</a>.<h3 style="margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom: none; width: auto; line-height: 21px; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Original supporters resign, dissolve committee</h3>The initial committee supporting the initiative was <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Californians_for_Equal_Representation" title="Californians for Equal Representation" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; background: none;">Californians for Equal Representation</a>. Supporters of CERI included financier <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Paul_Singer" title="Paul Singer" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Paul Singer</a>, a supporter of Rudy Giuliani's bid for the presidency. In late September, two original supporters of the initiative resigned from the campaign and dissolved the committee. Attorney Tom Hiltachk and campaign spokesperson Kevin Eckery said that they were resigning because a <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Missouri" title="Missouri" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Missouri</a>corporation, <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Take_Initiative_America" title="Take Initiative America" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Take Initiative America</a>, had failed to disclose the source of its contributions to their group, <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Californians_for_Equal_Representation" title="Californians for Equal Representation" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Californians for Equal Representation</a>.<a href="https://ballotpedia.org/California_Presidential_Electoral_College_Reform_Initiative(2008)#cite_note-19" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); outline: none; background: none;">[19]</a></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">...</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/California_Presidential_Electoral_College_Reform_Initiative(2008)" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">https://ballotpedia.org/California_Presidential_Electoral_College_Reform_Initiative(2008)</a></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">---</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">More recently the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Club_for_Growth" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, " bitstream="Bitstream" charter="Charter" serif="serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" line-height="line-height">Club for Growth</a> received a <a href="http://www.campaignmoney.com/political/contributions/bob-perry.asp?cycle=08" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, " bitstream="Bitstream" charter="Charter" serif="serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" line-height="line-height">contribution</a> of $200,000 in December 2007 from Bob Perry, and the Republican Party of Texas secured a September 2007 donation of $10,000. However, the Texas GOP wasn’t the sole recipient of Perry’s funding because during the summer of 2007 the California law firm of Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk LLP, which had represented the<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Economic_Freedom_Fund" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, " bitstream="Bitstream" charter="Charter" serif="serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" line-height="line-height">Economic Freedom Fund</a> also received funding from Perry to support the apportionment of the California presidential electors on a district-by-district basis such that the election would be rigged to favor a Republican in the presidential voting. [<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Robert_J.Perry" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, " bitstream="Bitstream" charter="Charter" serif="serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" line-height="line-height">SourceWtch</a>]</div> prop 37
<a href="http://www.alternet.org/story/155675/meet_the_corporate_front_groups_fighting_to_make_sure_you_can't_know_what's_in_your_food" style="text-decoration: none; outline: none;">http://www.alternet.org/story/155675/meet_the_corporate_front_groups_fighting_to_make_sure_you_can't_know_what's_in_your_food</a>What do a former mouthpiece for tobacco and big oil, a corporate-interest PR flack, and the regional director of a Monsanto-funded tort reform group have in common?They’re all part of the anti-labeling PR team that will soon unleash a massive advertising and PR campaign in California, designed to scare voters into rejecting the <a href="http://carighttoknow.org/" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">California Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act.</a>In November, California voters will vote ‘yes’ or ‘no’ on a law to require mandatory labeling of all GMO ingredients in processed foods, and ban the routine industry practice of mislabeling foods containing GMO ingredients as ‘natural.’Polls show that nearly 90% of the state’s voters plan to vote ‘yes.’  But when November rolls around, will voter support still be strong? Not if the biotech, agribusiness, and food manufacturers industries can help it.It’s estimated that the opposition <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/25/science/dispute-over-labeling-of-genetically-modified-food.html?r=2" style="text-decoration: none; outline: none;">will spend $60 million - $100 million</a> to convince voters that GMOs are perfectly safe. They’ll try to scare voters into believing that labeling will make food more expensive, that it will spark hundreds of lawsuits against small farmers and small businesses, and that it will contribute to world hunger.  None of this is true. On the contrary, studies suggest just the opposite.Here’s what is true: The opposition has lined up some heavy-hitters and industry-funded front groups -- masquerading as “grassroots” organizations -- to help spin their anti-labeling propaganda machine.You have the right to know what’s in your food. You also have the right to know who is working tirelessly to prevent you from ever having that right – and who is signing their paychecks.  Here’s a partial lineup of hired guns and organizations behind the anti-labeling advertising blitz soon to hit the California airwaves:Tom Hiltachk: Monsanto’s Man in CaliforniaTom Hiltachk is the PR gunslinger behind the Coalition Against the Costly Food Labeling Proposition (CACFLP), an anti-labeling front group. A partner at the Sacramento-based lobbying firm <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bell,McAndrews%26_Hiltachk,LLP" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk</a>, Hiltachk is no stranger to front groups. With a little help from his friends at Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds, he helped organize the <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1447474/" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Californians for Smokers’ Rights</a> group to fight anti-smoking initiatives in the 1980s and 1990s. He also helped form the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Californians_for_Fair_Business_Policy" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Californians for Fair Business Policy</a> – a so-called “grassroots” organization, but actually a front group to mobilize business opposition to anti-smoking initiatives. That organization was funded by an <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2010/07/27/174754/prop23-tobacco/" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">“academic” front group</a> – the <a href="http://www.claremont.org/" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Claremont Institute</a> – which was in turn funded by tobacco companies.Hitachk also has ties to Big Oil, including a colorful history with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Proposition_23(2010)" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">California’s Proposition 23</a>, a conservative-backed ballot initiative launched – and defeated – in 2010. The initiative, supported by Big Oil, would have repealed California’s clean energy and climate laws. Hiltachk was initially an ally of Ted Costa, a veteran right-wing activist behind many conservative initiatives, including Prop 23, and head of the group <a href="http://calprops.ning.com/group/peoplesadvocate" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">People’s Advocate</a>. But that relationship soured, <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2010/07/30/206494/politician-behind-the-campaign-to-repeal-california%E2%80%99s-clean-energy-laws-calls-global-warming-a-scam/" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">according to ThinkProgress.org</a>, when Costa realized that Hiltachk’s main motivation was to funnel the $50 million that he hoped would be raised from oil companies and the Chamber of Commerce to himself and his friends.Coalition Against Costly Food Labeling Proposition: Looking out for consumers’ financial well being?<a href="http://www.stopcostlyfoodlabeling.com/" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">The Coalition Against Costly Food Labeling Proposition (CACFLP)</a> runs a website called <a href="http://www.stopcostlyfoodlabeling.com/" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">stopcostlyfoodlabeling.com</a>, giving the impression that this is a group concerned about protecting consumers’ wallets. But the website lists only one consumer group in its coalition – Consumers Coalition of California. A search of the IRS.gov site turns up nothing on this group. According to the coalitions’ 2009 990-Form published on <a href="file:///C:/UsersKatherine%20Pauldownloadsguidestar.org" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Guidestar.org</a>, this Torrance, Calif.-based coalition describes itself as “Research and oriented community education studies and info for residential and small businesses advocating on issues affecting major legislation.” The group has no website. No other national or California-based consumer groups are listed on the CACFLP site.CACFLP’s website does list some powerhouse coalition members, however, including the <a href="http://www.gmaonline.org/" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA)</a>, whose members also include Monsanto, BASF, Bayer, Dow and Syngenta as well as many large food processors and supermarket chains, and the <a href="http://www.whybiotech.com/" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Council for Biotechnology Information (CBI)</a> , whose members include Monsanto, BASF, Bayer, Dow and Syngenta. Both groups are based in Washington DC. As of March, the GMA and the CBI had <a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_20107995/food-labeling-measure-draws-early-cash-initiative-would" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">contributed a combined $625,000</a> to the CACFLP – presumably to “protect” consumers from GMO labeling. Both groups <a href="http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2012/05/genetic-labeling-measure-heads-for-the-ballot-in-california.html" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">have publicly opposed</a> this initiative.Monsanto recently made <a href="http://www.dailynews.com/health/ci_20374661/group-pushes-november-ballot-initiative-label-foods-gmos" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">the following statement</a> in support of CACFLP:<blockquote style="font-size: small; line-height: 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Monsanto is part of a growing coalition of California farmers, food producers, grocers, retailers, and others which has been formed to oppose the California measure. As a member of both GMA (Grocery Manufacturers Association) and BIO (Biotechnology Industry Organization), we support the organizations' involvement in the California campaign to oppose the costly and extreme measure.</blockquote>Kathy Fairbanks: Voice of the people?Kathy Fairbanks wants consumers to believe she’s on their side when she warns them that requiring labels on GMO foods will raise their grocery bills. Yet since when has she fought for the little guy? A glance at her resume reveals a long list of pro-corporate gigs, including some involving illegal donations and questionable practices.In 2010, Fairbanks worked for <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Californians_for_Fair_Auto_Insurance_Rates" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">the Californians for Fair Auto Insurance Rates - C-FAIR</a> - an insurance industry front group set up by billionaire Mercury Insurance executive George Joseph. C-FAIR launched a California ballot initiative, <a href="http://www.followthemoney.org/database/StateGlance/committee.phtml?c=4041" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Prop 17</a>, to raise rates on consumers who had been without coverage - despite a voter-approved law banning the practice. Fairbanks' work on the 2010 ballot initiative was investigated in a <a href="http://www.sfbg.com/2010/03/16/buying-power?page=0,5" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">San Francisco Bay Guardian piece</a> called "Buying Power: How PG&E and Mercury Insurance Are Spending Millions to Try to Trick Californians into Voting for Corporate Interests," and a <a href="http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2010/feb/19/insurer-veils-its-funding-of-measure/" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">San Diego Union Tribune article</a>, "Insurer Veils Its Funding of Measure: Literature for Prop. 17 Omits Mercury's Millions."During the initiative battle, the state Department of Insurance accused Mercury of <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2010/feb/15/business/la-fi-insure-mercury15-2010feb15" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">illegal practices,</a> including <a href="http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/51239" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">unfairly denying coverage</a> and charging discriminatory rates to motorists who were not at fault in accidents, were members of the armed forces or worked in certain professions.  It found Mercury had a "lengthy history of serious misconduct" and an attitude of "contempt toward and/or abuse of its customers, the [insurance] commissioner, its competition and the Superior Court." Mercury paid $300,000 to settle the allegations.Fairbanks also worked on the wrong side of consumers on the following pro-big business campaigns:<ul style="font-size: small; line-height: 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li>In 2008: spokesperson for the opposition to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Proposition_7(2008)" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Prop 7</a>, a California ballot measure to require half the state's electricity to come from renewable sources by 2025. </li><li>In 2006: helped defeat <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Proposition_82(2006)" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Proposition 82</a> which would have provided credentialed teachers to 150,000 4-year-olds living in the city, funded through tax increases on individuals earning more than $400,000 a year, and on couples making more than $800,000 a year.</li><li>In 2005: spokesperson for <a href="http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=SJ&s_site=mercurynews&p_multi=SJ&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=10D1E27BF6C84AC0&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=Goog" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Steve Poizner's Campaign for State Insurance Commissioner</a> , whose funding was controlled by Poizner, a wealthy Silicon Valley Republican. The fund was required to return $1.75 million in illegal donations made by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his campaign committee.</li></ul>Fairbanks also worked for the California Chamber of Commerce, in 1999, when the Chamber was spending $2.4 million per legislative session on lobbying.  The list of bills she urged Gov. Davis to veto included a bill that would have increased workers compensation benefits, and one that would have allowed employees to use up to half of their annual sick leave to stay home and care for sick family members. She also opposed limiting the expansion of Big Box stores and barring businesses from using revenues from state contracts for anti-union activities.Maryann Marino and the California Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse (CALA): Defending small farmers?Maryann Marino is the Southern California regional director of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Citizens_Against_Lawsuit_Abuse" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">California Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse (CALA)</a>, which according to <a href="http://www.citizen.org/preshttp:/www.citizen.org/pressroom/pressroomredirect.cfm?ID=481sroom/pressroomredirect.cfm?ID=481" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Public Citizen</a> is one of many so-called "lawsuit abuse" groups throughout the country that are part of a national, corporate-backed network of front groups that receive substantial financial and strategic assistance from the tobacco industry and some of America's biggest corporations.According to Public Citizen, “These groups masquerade as grassroots citizens groups spontaneously manifesting citizen anger against so-called ‘lawsuit abuse.’ The groups aim to incite public scorn for the civil justice system, juries and judges, and to pave the way for enactment of laws immunizing corporations from liability for actions that harm consumers.”Sure enough, Marino recently <a href="http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/food_coach&id=8645922" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">told KABC-TV</a>, Los Angeles, the GMO labeling initiative is “not really about the right to know, but rather the right to sue.”In 2000, the Center for Justice and Democracy issued a <a href="http://centerjd.org/content/cala-files-secret-campaign-big-tobacco-and-other-major-industries-take-away-your-rights" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">report on CALA</a> which unmasked "funding by self-serving mega-corporations that secretly spawned a national network of fake citizens’ organizations," said Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook. "These so-called citizens groups are doing the bidding of the corporate funders and are pushing at all levels to deny Americans access to the courtroom and to create a legal environment that shields corporate wrongdoers from accountability."American Tort Reform Association (ATRA): Champion of food safety?Maryann Marino’s organization, CALA,  is a state chapter of the American Tort Reform Association (ATRA) – which receives substantial financial and strategic assistance from the tobacco industry and America's biggest corporations, including Philip Morris, Dow Chemical (currently seeking approval for Agent Orange Corn), Exxon, General Electric, Aetna, Geico and Nationwide. ATRA now keeps its membership secret, but according to a 1993 American University Law Review <a href="http://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/aulr/vol42/iss4/16/" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">article by P.R. Sugarman</a>, Monsanto Chemical Company, RJR/Nabisco, E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Company were among just a few of the companies and industry trade association members.  According to "Justice For Sale: Shortchanging the Public Interest for Private Gain," <a href="http://www.ratical.org/corporations/Justice4sale.html" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">a 1993 report</a> by the Alliance for Justice, "The ATRA is made up of corporation trade groups such as the National Association of Manufacturers, the Chemical Manufacturers Association, the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association -- thus giving corporations a decoy and accomplice group two full steps removed from their board rooms."In 2008, the last time they made the names of any of their members public, a list of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=ATRA#Members" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">"sample members"</a> included Kraft Foods Inc., the 3rd largest packaged food company in the U.S. Kraft opposes GMO labels, but <a href="http://www.capwiz.com/grassrootsnetroots/issues/alert/?alertid=30612501&type=CU" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">defends its use of GMOs.</a>In return for Monsanto's support, ATRA has been a relentless cheerleader for the company's lawlessness.<a href="http://www.atra.org/newsroom/alabama-supreme-court-denies-new-claim-medical-monitoring" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">ATRA applauded Monsanto</a> for skirting plaintiffs' claims for medical monitoring after Monsanto was found to have been knowingly polluting the small town of Anniston, Alabama, with dangerous levels of Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs). (The residents surrounding the Monsanto plant were predominantly minorities. The first lawsuit, brought in state court, went to trial and the jury found Monsanto guilty of a variety of torts, including negligence, nuisance and trespass. This case was eventually folded into a similar federal case, concluding in a global settlement fining Monsanto $700 million for its egregious behavior toward the Anniston residents.)ATRA's publication, <a href="http://www.judicialhellholes.org/" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Judicial Hellholes</a>, in a <a href="http://www.judicialhellholes.org/2012/02/28/food-eaters-1-organic-industry-0/" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">post</a> titled, "Food Eaters 1, Uncompetitive Organics Industry 0," calls atrazine, the infamous <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/03/opinion/kristof-how-chemicals-change-us.html" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">endocrine-disrupting pesticide</a>, "a safe and widely used weed killer."Neither CALA nor ATRA have voiced concern about Monsanto <a href="http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/pubs/CFSMOnsantovsFarmerReport1.13.05.pdf" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">suing farmers</a> in 143 different patent infringement lawsuits when their crops were unintentionally contaminated with Monsanto's GMOs.  Marino does, however, have a problem with farmers getting together to bring one lawsuit against Monsanto to stop the harassment.Find our Common Ground: Advocating for moms and regular folks?The newly launched website, <a href="http://findourcommonground.com/" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Find Our Common Ground</a>, may not fit in the heavy-hitter category, but it’s another example of a thinly veiled attempt by a group to look as if it’s working for small farmers, gardeners, and health-conscious folks.  The group also has a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/CommonGroundNow" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">facebook page</a>, to help spread its folksy message.The message? Direct from the group’s website:<blockquote style="font-size: small; line-height: 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Consumers aren’t getting the real story about American agriculture and all that goes into growing and raising their food. We’re a group of volunteer farm women and we plan to change that by doing something extraordinary. Our program is called CommonGround and it’s all about starting a conversation between women who grow food, and the women who buy it. It’s a conversation based on our personal experience as farmers, but also on science and research. Our first goal is to help consumers understand that their food is not grown by a factory. It’s grown by people and it’s important to us that you understand and trust the process. We hope you’ll join in the conversation.</blockquote>The message maker? A quick search on <a href="http://whois.domaintools.com/" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Wois.com</a> reveals that <a href="http://osborn-barr.com/" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Osborn Barr Communications</a>, a PR company with ties to - who else? - Monsanto – owns the domain name. Osborn Barr specializes in agriculture and rural communities and is used to <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Osborne%26_Barr" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">create front groups</a> for their clients.  In 2006, Monsanto hired Osborn Barr to work on the controversial recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone issue, so Osborn Barr set up <a href="http://itisafact.org/" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">American Farmers for Advancement and Conservation of Technology</a> (AFACT), a pro-rbGH farmer front group.There will be no lack of creativity and certainly no lack of money spent to defeat the California Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act. There should also be no lack of scrutiny when it comes to who is spreading the anti-GMO labeling message.Alexis Baden-Mayer is Political Director of the<a href="http://www.organicconsumers.org/" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Organic Consumers Association</a>.Ronnie Cummins is founder and director of the <a href="http://www.organicconsumers.org/" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Organic Consumers Association</a>. Cummins is author of numerous articles and books, including "Genetically Engineered Food: A Self-Defense Guide for Consumers" (Second Revised Edition Marlowe & Company 2004). why wage theft, just ~ raise min?srcwtch stubCalifornians for Fair Business Policy was a <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Tobacco_Institute" title="Tobacco Institute" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Tobacco Institute</a>-created <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Front_group" title="Front group" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">front group</a> based in Long Beach, California, formed to fight local efforts to enact smoking restrictions in California in the early 1990s. CBFP conducted referenda on existing bans, in attempts to weaken or repeal them.Bob McAdam, the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Tobacco_Institute" title="Tobacco Institute" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Tobacco Institute</a>'s Vice President for Special Projects described the industry's efforts to oppose smoke-free laws, stating,<blockquote style="color: rgb(37, 37, 37); line-height: 22.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">While the industry has coordinated the process, we have effectively used surrogates throughout this effort, and we have several organizations started which serve to facilitate the organization of local interests. These entities provide us with the negotiation necessary to limit our referenda exposure. First, we have created Californians for Fair Business Policy, which is the name given to our operation that has conducted the various referenda....<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Californians_for_Fair_Business_Policy#cite_note-1" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[1]</a></blockquote><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">References</h2><ol class="references" style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 3.2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); line-height: 22.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li id="cite_note-1" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Californians_for_Fair_Business_Policy#cite_ref-1" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px); overflow: hidden; -webkit-user-select: none; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up↑</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/mwv02f00" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" csvg="Csvg" http="http" a="A" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" cg="Cg" transform="transform" translate="translate" crect="Crect" x="x" y="y" fill="fill" fff="fff" stroke="stroke" cpath="Cpath" m831.194="M831.194" h5.234v5.391l-1.571="h5.234v5.391l-1.571" z="z" m835.424="M835.424" l.022="l.022" fg="Fg" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data">McAdam RS. “Memorandum to Kurt L. Malmgren. November 27, 1991</a>” Tobacco Institute Bates Number TIMN 0022833/839.</li></ol><tdo>resource_id=24868 resource_code=californians_for_fair_business_p search_term=Californians for Fair Business Policy</tdo>==<a href="http://www.campaignmoney.com/political/527/coalition-to-restore-californias-middle-class.asp">http://www.campaignmoney.com/political/527/coalition-to-restore-californias-middle-class.asp</a>

      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      <table class="summary-table"><tbody><tr valign="bottom"><td class="DetailField"><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Group Name</font></b></td><td class="DetailValue"><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Coalition to Restore California's Middle Class</font></b></td></tr><tr valign="bottom"><td class="DetailField"><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stated Purpose</font></b></td><td class="DetailValue"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Make independent expenditures supporting/opposing candidates.</font></td></tr><tr valign="bottom"><td class="DetailField"><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Email Address</font></b></td><td class="DetailValue"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no@email</font></td></tr><tr valign="bottom"><td class="DetailField"><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Established Date</font></b></td><td class="DetailValue"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">03/19/2014</font></td></tr><tr valign="bottom"><td class="DetailField"><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Contact Person</font></b></td><td class="DetailValue"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Thomas W. Hiltachk</font></td></tr><tr valign="bottom"><td class="DetailField" valign="bottom"><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Contact Address</font></b></td><td class="DetailValue"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">455 Capitol Mall, Suite 600<br />Sacramento, CA&nbsp;&nbsp;95814</font></td></tr><tr valign="bottom"><td class="DetailField" valign="bottom"><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mailing Address</font></b></td><td class="DetailValue"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">455 Capitol Mall, Suite 600<br />Sacramento, CA&nbsp;&nbsp;95814</font></td></tr><tr valign="bottom"><td class="DetailField" valign="bottom"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Contributions Received</b><br /><span class="SmallerText">(since 03/19/2014)</span></font></td><td class="DetailValue"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$0</font></td></tr><tr valign="bottom"><td class="DetailField" valign="bottom"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Expenditures Made</b><br /><span class="SmallerText">(since 03/19/2014)</span></font></td><td class="DetailValue"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$0</font></td></tr></tbody></table><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br /><span class="ng_byline_name" /></font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span class="ng_byline_name">==</span></font><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">==<br /></font><br/>

The food industry really hates it when you compare them to Big Tobacco. They try to deny the negative association by claiming that food is different from tobacco. Of course that's true, but why are the same consultants who have worked for the tobacco industry now shilling for Big Food, opposing the ballot initiative that would require labeling of all foods containing GMO ingredients?

Hiring Secret Consultants for the Dirty Work

The latest financial <a href="http://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/PDFGen/pdfgen.prg?filingid=1680146&amendid=0">filings</a> in California for the "<a href="http://www.noprop37.com/">No on 37: Coalition Against the Deceptive Food Labeling Scheme</a>" reveal a $7,500 payment to the Sacramento-based political consulting firm <a href="http://www.mbpublicaffairs.com/who-we-are/">MB Public Affairs</a>. Here is how The Los Angeles Times <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jun/20/opinion/la-oe-newton-column-20110620">described</a> the firm last year: "MB Public Affairs is headed by Mark Bogetich, a garrulous operative known to his friends as 'Bogey,' who has helped a number of Republican candidates neutralize their opponents. In recent years, MB Public Affairs has worked for Altria, once known as the Phillip Morris Cos." Bogetich has also been <a href="http://laane.org/images/stories/Fight_the_Right_June_2011/MB_Public_Affairs_Fact_Sheet.pdf">called</a> "the go-to guy for [the Republican Party]" and "the only game in town." The Los Angeles Times article explains how last year MB Public Affairs filed more than 50 Public Records Act requests to dig up dirt on a small but effective group called the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy. No wonder, given that the organization has scored such important victories as a living wage for workers, which would threaten plenty of businesses.

But which ones? Who knows, because by hiring MB Public Affairs to do its dirty work, the food industry gets to keep its nose clean -- a classic Big Tobacco tactic. Well-known brands such as PepsiCo (which I <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michele-simon/pepsi-gmo-food_b_1749575.html">wrote about</a> last week) and Kraft don't want to be associated with negative campaigning, so they farm out the job to consulting firms. In this case, they went right to the top (or the bottom). Things are likely to get ugly.

Creating Front Groups for the Dirty Work

Another tactic honed by Big Tobacco is to form a front group that appears to be made up of small businesses and others, in order to give the impression of a grassroots campaign, but which is really funded by large corporations. This tactic, known as an <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Astroturf">Astroturfing</a>, is alive and well with "No on 37," which <a href="http://www.noprop37.com/page/q-and-a">describes</a> itself as a "broad coalition of family farmers, scientists, doctors, taxpayers, small businesses, labor, food companies, biotechnology companies and grocers."

Small farmers and small businesses? I don't see any listed on the "Who We Are" <a href="http://www.noprop37.com/page/who-we-are">page</a>. I do see many not-so-small trade groups representing numerous not-so-small corporations, some of them from outside California, including <a href="http://www.croplifeamerica.org/">CropLife America</a>, which is a trade group for the biotech and pesticide industry.

Also, the "No on 37" campaign is <a href="http://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/Campaign/Committees/Detail.aspx?id=1344135&session=2011&view=expenditures">represented</a> by the law firm <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bell,McAndrews%26_Hiltachk,LLP" target="blank">Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk</a>, which has a sordid <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bell,McAndrews%26_Hiltachk,_LLP">history</a> of stealth tactics such as Astroturfing. And no wonder, with former <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2010/07/27/174754/prop23-tobacco/?mobile=nc">Phillip Morris outside council</a> Tom Hiltachk as the campaign's treasurer. (His firm's <a href="http://www.bmhlaw.com/">address</a> is listed on the <a href="http://noprop37.com/page.php?id=26">webpage</a> for where to send donations; you can't get much cozier with the "no" campaign than that.)

Hiltachk made this disingenuous <a href="http://www.montereycountyweekly.com/news/2012/feb/02/gene-pool/">statement</a> about the GMO labeling initiative back in February: "Farmers and food producers strongly oppose this costly, ill-conceived labeling proposition." There are those invisible farmers again.

No stranger to California politics, Hiltachk's firm represents the California Republican Party and helped make Arnold Schwarzenegger governor by orchestrating the statewide recall campaign against former Governor Gray Davis.

According to <a href="http://www.polluterwatch.com/thomas-w-hiltachk">PolluterWatch</a>, Tom Hiltachk and his firm are well-known for creating front groups that promote or attack ballot initiatives at the behest of the firm's wealthy corporate clients: "In the past Hiltachk has attacked anti-smoking initiatives while being paid by major tobacco corporations."

And this scathing article at <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2010/07/27/206482/smelling-a-chance-to-burn-oil-money-tobacco-lobbyists-orchestrate-effort-to-repeal-ca-clean-energy-law/">ThinkProgress</a> from 2010 describes Hiltachk's attempt to repeal California's clean energy policy and says his "under-the-radar tactics of shifting money around and using phony groups are nothing new." Specifically:

<blockquote>During the eighties and nineties, Hiltachk and his law partners helped the tobacco industry, with funding from Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds, coordinate a variety of stealth front groups. While his law firm received over a million from tobacco interests, Hiltachk <a href="http://tobaccodocuments.org/nysa_ti_s2/TI14131741.html">helped organize</a> "Californians for Smokers' Rights," a supposedly "grassroots" group that relied on tobacco industry consumer lists to mobilize opposition to <a href="http://www.cdph.ca.gov/programs/tobacco/Pages/CTCPLegislativeMandateforTobaccoControl-Prop99.aspx">anti-smoking initiatives</a>.</blockquote>

Another Big Tobacco front group Hiltachk's firm <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bell,McAndrews%26_Hiltachk,_LLP#Representing_Front_Groups">managed</a> was "Californians for Fair Business Policy," which fought local efforts to enact smoke-free bans in California in the early 1990s.

This is going to be a busy election season for Hiltachk, as he is also the mastermind behind the deceptive <a href="http://educationviews.org/could-california-go-the-scott-walker-way/">union-busting</a> Proposition 32, about which a local California <a href="http://www.eastbayexpress.com/ebx/if-you-liked-citizens-united-youll-love-prop-32/Content?oid=3306130">paper writes</a>: "[I]f you liked Citizens United, you will love Prop 32." As The New Yorker <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2007/08/06/070806taco_talk_hertzberg#ixzz1wvtKDXOB">sums it up</a> in an article describing the firm's shady operations: "They specialize in initiatives that are the opposite of what they sound like."

Another group with Big Tobacco origins now spreading lies about the GMO labeling initiative is the unsubtle front group California Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse, whose executive director recently <a href="http://www.flashreport.org/blog/featured-columns-library0b.php?faID=2012080707153514">warned</a> us to "beware of trial lawyers lurking in your food." (It seems lawyers are scarier than altering the genetic code of the food supply.) According to the Center for Media and Democracy's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Citizens_Against_Lawsuit_Abuse">Sourcewatch</a>, Philip Morris is a primary funder of various Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse groups, which, under the guise of tort reform, aim to make it harder to bring lawsuits for problems caused by hazardous products.

Doubt Is Their Product

In sum the food industry, to oppose a simple labeling law, is hiring lawyers and consultants with ties to the tobacco industry, to deploy stealth tactics such as creating front groups, digging up dirt on opponents, and spreading outright lies.

For decades the tobacco industry and its shills hid the truth by deploying its most effective weapon: manufacturing doubt about the health hazards of smoking. How many millions of Americans died as a result of Big Tobacco's deceptive and cynical campaign? Why would we trust these same operators now?

You can hardly blame industry for calling on such shady characters. Big Food has seen the polling data showing that more than <a href="https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/labelgmos/pages/2602/attachments/original/1343756416/Mellman-Survey-Results_3.12.pdf?1343756416">90 percent of consumers</a> want to see GMO foods labeled. When you don't have the people or the truth on your side, all you have left is playing dirty.

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michele-simon/big-tobacco-shills-trying-to-stop-gmo-labeling-in-california_b_1773772.html">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michele-simon/big-tobacco-shills-trying-to-stop-gmo-labeling-in-california_b_1773772.html</a>

=http://www.stopcostlyfoodlabeling.com/ 404bshttps://web.archive.org/web/20120628222100/http://stopcostlyfoodlabeling.com/HomeGet The FactsWho We AreTake ActionNewsroomContact UsSitemapFacebookTwitterPaid for by the Coalition Against the Costly Food Labeling Proposition, sponsored by farmers and food producers, major funding by Council for Biotechnology Information and Grocery Manufacturers Association.1121 L. Street, #803, Sacramento, CA 95814 - 1.800.331.0850 - www.StopCostlyFoodLabeling.com

<div class="field-content">company

<div class="field-item field-item-0"><a href="http://www.polluterwatch.com/koch-industries">Koch Industries</a></div>

<div class="field-item field-item-1"><a href="http://www.polluterwatch.com/valero-energy">Valero Energy</a></div>

</div>

<div class="views-field-field-title-value">position Partner, Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk</div>

<div class="field-content">bio

Tom Hiltachk is a managing partner at the law firm <a target="blank" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bell,McAndrews%26_Hiltachk,LLP">Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk</a>, which specializes in ballot measures in California. Hiltachk is a graduate of California State University, Sacramento and the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law.

As a lawyer specializing in elections, Tom Hiltachk is deeply involved in California politics.  He was the author of the <a target="blank" href="http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2007/08/06/070806taco_talk_hertzberg#ixzz1wvt7EFnk">recall ballot initiative</a> that paved the way for Arnold Swarzenegger to replace Gray Davis as governor of California.  Hiltachk then became <a target="blank" href="http://www.bmhlaw.com/attorneys.php">Swarzenegger’s personal lawyer</a> for election matters. In California’s last gubernatorial election, Hiltachk was the <a target="_blank" href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/california-politics/2010/02/attorneys-for-republican-meg-whitmans-gubernatorial-campaign-have-filed-a-complaint-with-state-election-officials-against-a.html">attorney for Meg Whitman</a>’s failed election bid.

Tom Hiltachk and his firm are <a target="blank" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bell,McAndrews%26_Hiltachk,LLP">well known for creating front groups</a> that promote or attack ballot initiatives at the behest of Hiltachk's wealthy corporate clients.  In the past Hiltachk has attacked anti-smoking initiatives while being paid by major tobacco corporations.  He also wrote and promoted <a href="http://www.polluterwatch.com/category/freetagging/prop-23">proposition 23</a> - which would have counteracted California’s commitment to greenhouse gas emission reductions – while working for major oil corporations.

Currently Tom Hiltachk and his firm are fighting against a Right to Know ballot initiative that would require labeling of foods that contained genetically modified organisms (GMO). To this end <a target="blank" href="http://www.montereycountyweekly.com/news/2012/feb/02/gene-pool/">Hiltachk has set up a front group</a> called <a target="blank" href="http://www.stopcostlyfoodlabeling.com/">Coalition Against the Costly Food Labeling Proposition</a> (CACFLP).

</div>

<div class="polluter-subtitle">Quotes</div>

<a target="_blank" href="http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2007/08/06/070806taco_talk_hertzberg#ixzz1wvtKDXOB">The New Yorker</a> on Tom Hiltachk’s law firm, Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk:

“They specialize in initiatives that are the opposite of what they sound like—the Fair Pay Workplace Flexibility Act of 2006, for example. It would have raised the state minimum wage slightly—by a lesser amount than it has since been raised—and, in the fine print, would have made it impossible ever to raise it again except by a two-thirds vote in both houses of the legislature, while, for good measure, eliminating overtime for millions of workers.”

</blockquote>

</div>

<div class="polluter-subtitle">Evidence</div>

As a partner at the Sacramento-based lobbying firm <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bell,McAndrews%26_Hiltachk,LLP" target="blank">Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk</a>, Tom Hiltachk has <a href="http://www.montereycountyweekly.com/news/2012/feb/02/gene-pool/" target="blank">formed a front group</a>, the <a href="http://www.stopcostlyfoodlabeling.com/" target="blank">Coalition Against the Costly Food Labeling Proposition</a> (CACFLP), to fight the November 2012 <a href="http://carighttoknow.org/" target="_blank">California ballot initiative</a> to label genetically engineered foods.

<a target="blank" href="http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/ccrov/pdf/2010/february/10070km.pdf">Hiltchack</a> was the attorney that filed Prop 23, an <a target="blank" href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2010/11/prop-23-defeat-global-warming-climate-change.html">effort to repeal California's global warming law</a>. The attacks on the global warming law were mainly <a href="http://www.polluterwatch.com/category/freetagging/prop-23">funded by fossil fuel corporations</a>.

A devoted Republican, Hiltachk was behind a plan to <a target="_blank" href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2010/07/27/174754/prop23-tobacco/?mobile=nc" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">split California’s electoral votes</a>, which would have significantly eased the Republican path to the presidency.

Tom Hiltachk has set up multiple front groups for his corporate clients.  In the 1980s and 90s, Hiltachk took over a million dollars from Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds to coordinate a variety of stealth front groups.  Hiltachk <a target="blank" href="http://tobaccodocuments.org/nysa_ti_s2/TI14131741.html">helped organize</a> “Californians for Smokers’ Rights,” a supposedly “grassroots” group that relied on tobacco industry consumer lists to mobilize opposition to <a target="blank" href="http://www.cdph.ca.gov/programs/tobacco/Pages/CTCPLegislativeMandateforTobaccoControl-Prop99.aspx">anti-smoking initiatives</a>. Working with “academic” fronts like the Claremont Institute (also <a target="blank" href="http://tobaccodocuments.org/pm/2023668619-8626.html">funded</a> by tobacco), Hiltachk and his law partner Charles Bell mobilized business opposition through a front they helped <a target="blank" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bell,McAndrews%26_Hiltachk,LLP#Representing_Front_Groups">manage</a> called Californians for Fair Business Policy. Source: <a target="blank" href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2010/07/27/174754/prop23-tobacco/?mobile=nc">Thinkprogress</a>

</div>

<div class="polluter-subtitle">Links and Resources</div>

<div class="field-item field-item-0"><a href="http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2007/08/06/070806taco_talk_hertzberg" target="_blank">The New Yorker</a></div>

<div class="field-item field-item-1"><a href="http://truth-out.org/news/item/9060-monsantos-minions-in-california" target="_blank">Truthout</a></div>

<div class="field-item field-item-2"><a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2010/07/27/174754/prop23-tobacco/?mobile=nc" target="_blank">ThinkProgress</a></div>

<div class="field-item field-item-3"><a href="http://carighttoknow.org/content/alternet-meet-corporate-front-groups-fighting-make-sure-you-cant-know-whats-your-food" target="_blank">California Right to Know</a></div>

<div class="field-item field-item-4"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bell,McAndrews%26_Hiltachk,LLP" target="blank">SourceWatch</a></div>

<div class="field-item field-item-5"><a href="http://digitaljournal.com/article/325949" target="_blank">Digital Journal</a></div>

</div>

===

WASHINGTON -- San Joaquin Valley congressional candidate Jose Hernandez flew in space, but his astronaut identity is now under political fire.

In a pointed new challenge, a Sacramento law firm is asking a judge to block Hernandez from describing himself as an "astronaut/scientist/engineer" on the June ballot. The lawsuit notes Hernandez has left NASA.

"Hernandez's attempted use of 'astronaut' violates the Election Code's unambiguous requirement that a candidate's ballot designation reflect one's current profession, vocation, or one held during the previous calendar year," the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit quietly filed Wednesday in Sacramento County Superior Court by the firm Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk strikes right at the heart of Hernandez's biography. It's a life story he's making considerable use of as he seeks to challenge freshman Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Turlock.

...

Attorney Charles Bell Jr., one of two lawyers named on the lawsuit, is general counsel to the California Republican Party. The other attorney listed on the lawsuit, Brian Hildreth, has worked for former Republican Gov. Pete Wilson. The attorneys could not be reached for comment late Friday.

Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/2012/03/23/2773401/candidate-gets-legal-fight-over.html#storylink=cpy</div>

Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/2012/03/23/2773401/candidate-gets-legal-fight-over.html#storylink</div>

===

<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Thomas_W._Hiltachk" title="Thomas W. Hiltachk">Thomas W. Hiltachk</a>, partner:

<dl>

<dd>

<ul>

<li>"Republican lawyer who works as legal counsel to Gov. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Arnold_Schwarzenegger" title="Arnold Schwarzenegger">Arnold Schwarzenegger</a> has filed an initiative that would raise the minimum wage--but also abolish the eight-hour day for overtime."—Capitol Weekly, February 21, 2006. <a href="http://www.capitolweekly.net/news/article.html?article_id=517" class="external autonumber" rel="nofollow" title="http://www.capitolweekly.net/news/article.html?article_id=517">[7]</a></li>

</ul>

blog post sac bee:

Some more articles that mention Hiltachk:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rick-jacobs/ny-times-republ_b_61599.html

<a href="http://thegiulianipapers.typepad.com/the_giuliani_papers/rudys_money/">http://thegiulianipapers.typepad.com/the_giuliani_papers/rudys_money/</a>

Vulture Fund Head and Giuliani Pal Behind California Vote Grab

Paul Singer, top Giuliani fundraiser and head of notorious vulture fund, Elliot Associates (see previous post).

The New York Daily News reports:

Rudy Giuliani’s top fundraiser, hedge fund giant Paul Singer, revealed himself today as the sole financial backer of a stalled ballot drive to turn California into a motherlode of Republican votes in 2008.

Singer’s disclosure, made in a statement to The Daily News, came a day after Republican operatives in the Golden State announced they were halting their ballot effort, in part because they were unsure of their own funders’ identity.

The group, Californians for Equal Representation, had received exactly one donation for $175,000, from a mysterious, Missouri-based corporation identified only as Take Initiative America.

The lack of specifics left organizers in California open to allegations they had something to hide, and several — among them lead lawyer Tom Hiltachk and spokesman Kevin Eckery — resigned Thursday rather than defend the arrangement.

“I have demanded that Take Initiative America fully disclose the source of its funds and have been assured that it will do so,” Hiltachk said in resigning. “Nonetheless, I am deeply troubled by their failure to disclose.”

But Singer, apparently eager to put the disclosure issue to rest, yesterday stepped out of the shadows to reveal himself.

“I contributed to the Take Initiative America because I believe in proportional voting in the Electoral College,” Singer said in a statement e-mailed to The News.

The ballot initiative, if approved, would have changed how California apportions its electoral college votes. Under the states’ current winner-take-all system, the Democratic nominee has traditionally pocketed all 55 electoral votes in the left-leaning state — the nation’s largest electoral prize.

Instead, electoral votes would be apportioned to the winner in each congressional district — a change likely to shift up to 22 of those 55 votes into the GOP column, given the number of safely Republican districts in the state.

For the GOP, it would be a bonanza, akin to adding a large, new Republican state to the map.

The Giuliani campaign claims total ignorance of Singer's electoral scam. Anthony "Fat Tony" Carbonetti, Giuliani's senior advisor said, "There is no coordination between the Giuliani campaign and any statewide effort.”

But opponents of the ballot drive scoffed at suggestions Giuliani wasn’t at least tacitly aware of Singer’s giving.

Sep 29, 2007 11:52:11 AM | Rudy's money

http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/content?oid=896279

http://74.125.155.132/search?q=cache:qGI2S7i9xrYJ:www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/crt_irs.pdf+%22Tom+Hiltachk%22&cd=11&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

http://mediamatters.org/research/200709260008

Hiltachk has done an awful lot of work for initiatives that are Republican-backed--and some that were allegedly non-partisan but were intended to benefit the Republican Party. He was even involved with a nonprofit that lost its nonprofit status due to explicitly partisan political activity.

author: 68. Tom Hiltachk, managing partner, Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk

Hiltachk is more than an attorney, he’s a political animal. Never one to shy away from a partisan or political fight, Hiltachk was the man behind a plan to split California’s electoral votes (which would have significantly eased the Republican path to the presidency). Though the plan never went anywhere, the plan showed Hiltachk’s true colors – a political warrior who is not afraid to use the judicial branch to help achieve Republican goals.

----

Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk, LLP (BM&H) "specializes in campaign, election and administrative law and litigation at all levels of government." <a href="http://www.bmhlaw.com/" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.bmhlaw.com/" rel="nofollow">[1]</a>

<h2>Contents</h2>

[<a href="javascript:toggleToc()" class="internal" id="togglelink">hide</a>]</div>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bell,McAndrews%26_Hiltachk,_LLP#Principals">1 Principals</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bell,McAndrews%26_Hiltachk,_LLP#Representing_Front_Groups">2 Representing Front Groups</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bell,McAndrews%26_Hiltachk,LLP#Propositions.26_Recalls">3 Propositions & Recalls</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bell,McAndrews%26_Hiltachk,_LLP#Other_Clients">4 Other Clients</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bell,McAndrews%26_Hiltachk,_LLP#Contact_Information">5 Contact Information</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bell,McAndrews%26_Hiltachk,_LLP#Related_SourceWatch_Resources">6 Related SourceWatch Resources</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bell,McAndrews%26_Hiltachk,_LLP#External_links">7 External links</a></li>

</ul>

</td></tr></tbody></table>

</dd>

</dl>

<h2>Principals</h2>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Charles_H.Bell,Jr.&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Charles H. Bell, Jr. (page does not exist)">Charles H. Bell, Jr.</a>, partner (<a href="http://www.bmhlaw.com/partners.htm#cbell" class="external text" title="http://www.bmhlaw.com/partners.htm#cbell" rel="nofollow">profile</a>):</li>

</ul>

<dl>

<dd>

<ul>

<li>"General Counsel for the California Republican Party" <a href="http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/001518.php" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/001518.php" rel="nofollow">[2]</a></li>

<li>"Vice Chairman of The <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Federalist_Society" title="Federalist Society" class="mw-redirect">Federalist Society</a>'s free speech and election law practice group" <a href="http://www.bmhlaw.com/" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.bmhlaw.com/" rel="nofollow">[3]</a> and "the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Republican_National_Lawyers_Association" title="Republican National Lawyers Association">Republican National Lawyers Association</a>'s vice president for the election education advisory council." <a href="http://www.wmaz.com/redesign/web/news/top_story.aspx?storyid=29528" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.wmaz.com/redesign/web/news/top_story.aspx?storyid=29528" rel="nofollow">[4]</a></li>

<li>Listed as treasurer for the "US Senator <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F.Seymour" class="external text" title="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F.Seymour" rel="nofollow">John F. Seymour</a> Committee." <a href="http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/fecimg/?C00250480" class="external autonumber" title="http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/fecimg/?C00250480" rel="nofollow">[5]</a><a href="http://www.campaignmoney.com/candidate.asp?id=S2CA00310&cycle=04" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.campaignmoney.com/candidate.asp?id=S2CA00310&cycle=04" rel="nofollow">[6]</a></li>

</ul>

</dd>

</dl>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Thomas_W._Hiltachk" title="Thomas W. Hiltachk">Thomas W. Hiltachk</a>, partner:</li>

</ul>

<dl>

<dd>

<ul>

<li>"Republican lawyer who works as legal counsel to Gov. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Arnold_Schwarzenegger" title="Arnold Schwarzenegger">Arnold Schwarzenegger</a> has filed an initiative that would raise the minimum wage--but also abolish the eight-hour day for overtime."—Capitol Weekly, February 21, 2006. <a href="http://www.capitolweekly.net/news/article.html?article_id=517" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.capitolweekly.net/news/article.html?article_id=517" rel="nofollow">[7]</a></li>

</ul>

</dd>

</dl>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Colleen_McAndrews&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Colleen McAndrews (page does not exist)">Colleen McAndrews</a>, partner:</li>

</ul>

<dl>

<dd>

<ul>

<li>Appointed and served 1977-2003 as a commissioner on the California Fair Political Practices Commission. "McAndrews has served as legal counsel and treasurer to state and local <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Political_action_committee" title="Political action committee">political action committees</a>, as well as candidates and ballot measure committees. She served as an official United States observer of the Russian elections in 1993. She also trained emerging political parties in Kazakhstan and the Kyrgyz Republic prior to their first democratic elections. She recently concluded service on the Speaker’s Commission on the California Initiative." <a href="http://www.tcf.org/Publications/ElectionReform/NCFER/about.pdf" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.tcf.org/Publications/ElectionReform/NCFER/about.pdf" rel="nofollow">[8]</a></li>

</ul>

</dd>

</dl>

<h2>Representing Front Groups</h2>

<ul>

<li>Dave Johnson <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dave-johnson/new-frontgroup-alert-ec_b_29545.html" class="external text" title="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dave-johnson/new-frontgroup-alert-ec_b_29545.html" rel="nofollow">reported</a> in his September 15, 2006 The Huffington Post article on new MB&H client <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Economic_Freedom_Fund" title="Economic Freedom Fund">Economic Freedom Fund</a> that other Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk's clients include:</li>

</ul>

<dl>

<dd>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.caltba.org/" class="external text" title="http://www.caltba.org/" rel="nofollow">California Tribal Business Alliance</a>—"an 'Indian Gaming' organization" whose "<a href="http://www.caltba.org/philosophy-1.html" class="external text" title="http://www.caltba.org/philosophy-1.html" rel="nofollow">mission statement</a> is 'to safeguard and enhance the success of the business enterprises of our tribal government members' ....... and 'will foster business development and coalition building with like minded government and business leaders in California.'" (Also <a href="http://www.aroundthecapitol.com/electiontrack/expenditures.php?committee=1270258" class="external text" title="http://www.aroundthecapitol.com/electiontrack/expenditures.php?committee=1270258" rel="nofollow">see this</a>.)</li>

<li>"Californians for Paycheck Protection—yet another <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Front_group" title="Front group" class="mw-redirect">front group</a>—this one sponsoring a California anti-union ballot initiative. (Their major funders in 2005 (<a href="http://www.aroundthecapitol.com/electiontrack/lookup.php?committee=1277460" class="external text" title="http://www.aroundthecapitol.com/electiontrack/lookup.php?committee=1277460" rel="nofollow">go see how much</a>) included the Chamber of Commerce and the California Republican Party.)" (Also <a href="http://www.electiontrack.com/expenditures.php?committee=1277460" class="external text" title="http://www.electiontrack.com/expenditures.php?committee=1277460" rel="nofollow">see this</a>.)</li>

<li>

</li><li>"notorious anti-environmental Congressman <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Richard_Pombo" title="Richard Pombo" style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Richard Pombo</a>." (See <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/expendetail.asp?CID=N00007516&cycle=2006&name=Bell%2C+Mcandrews+%26+Hiltachk" class="external text" title="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/expendetail.asp?CID=N00007516&cycle=2006&name=Bell%2C+Mcandrews+%26+Hiltachk" rel="nofollow">here</a>.)</li>

<li>"<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Tobacco_industry" title="Tobacco industry">big tobacco</a>", with BM&H as "<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Philip_Morris" title="Philip Morris" class="mw-redirect">Philip Morris</a> Outside Counsel" (See <a href="http://www.pmdocs.com/PRIVLOGS/Clog/Clog/B.html" class="external text" title="http://www.pmdocs.com/PRIVLOGS/Clog/Clog/B.html" rel="nofollow">this</a>.)</li>

<li>"A different partner at this firm, Thomas Hiltachk, filed the 'Fair Pay Workplace Flexibility Act of 2006'—a stealth attempt to get rid of California's overtime rules."</li>

</ul>

</dd>

</dl>

BM&H LLC has also "fronted" for:

<ul>

<li>Californians for Schwarzenegger, "a committee formed to promote the election of Governor Schwarzenegger during the recall election of 2003." <a href="http://www.fppc.ca.gov/letters/04/04223.pdf" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.fppc.ca.gov/letters/04/04223.pdf" rel="nofollow">[9]</a></li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Chico_Greenline_Coalition&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Chico Greenline Coalition (page does not exist)">Chico Greenline Coalition</a> <a href="http://www.chicogreenline.com/" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.chicogreenline.com/" rel="nofollow">[10]</a><a href="http://www.norcalblogs.com/commission/archives/2006/05/who_are_the_chi.html" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.norcalblogs.com/commission/archives/2006/05/who_are_the_chi.html" rel="nofollow">[11]</a><a href="http://www.norcalblogs.com/commission/archives/2006/05/is_the_chico_gr.html" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.norcalblogs.com/commission/archives/2006/05/is_the_chico_gr.html" rel="nofollow">[12]</a> at the Sacramento address, with Thomas W. Hiltachk as Treasurer. <a href="http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:VMio9XqNvgIJ:www.chicogreenline.com/Docs/CGC%2520Form%2520460.pdf+%22Cardinal+Communication+Strategies%22&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=11" class="external autonumber" title="http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:VMio9XqNvgIJ:www.chicogreenline.com/Docs/CGC%2520Form%2520460.pdf+%22Cardinal+Communication+Strategies%22&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=11" rel="nofollow">[13]</a></li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li>Citizens Against Measure R, a California group "sponsored by and with Major Funding provided by <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Wal-Mart_Stores" title="Wal-Mart Stores">Wal-Mart Stores</a>, Inc.", used Bell's Sacramento office address in 2005. <a href="http://publicdocs.lodi.gov/Docs/CAMPAIGN_FILINGS/2005/elect460q.pdf#search=%22%22455%20Capital%20Mall%22%2C%20Suite%20801%2C%20Sacramento%22" class="external autonumber" title="http://publicdocs.lodi.gov/Docs/CAMPAIGN_FILINGS/2005/elect460q.pdf#search=%22%22455%20Capital%20Mall%22%2C%20Suite%20801%2C%20Sacramento%22" rel="nofollow">[14]</a></li>

</ul>

<dl>

<dd>

<ul>

<li>Note: The LA Voice <a href="http://www.lavoice.org/article2187.html" class="external text" title="http://www.lavoice.org/article2187.html" rel="nofollow">reported</a> September 7, 2006, that "Judge Robert H. O'Brien ordered that Measure R - the term limits extension/ethics revision package - be removed from the November ballot because it improperly combines multiple subjects in a single question." Charles H. Bell Jr. "called the judge's decision a win for voters."</li>

</ul>

</dd>

</dl>

<ul>

<li>Californians For A Fair Business Policy, a "<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Tobacco_Institute" title="Tobacco Institute">Tobacco Institute</a>-created front group in California" at BM&H's Santa Monica address fought "local efforts to enact smoke-free bans in California in the early 1990s" and "Conducted referenda on existing bans." <a href="http://tobaccodocuments.org/nysa_ti_s2/TI35950542.html" class="external autonumber" title="http://tobaccodocuments.org/nysa_ti_s2/TI35950542.html" rel="nofollow">[15]</a></li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li>Employees of Northrop Grumman PAC, using BM&H's Santa Monica address, contributed to Sen. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bill_McCollum" title="Bill McCollum">Bill McCollum</a>'s Florida campaign in 2000. <a href="http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/senate/sforms/C00166041/23/sa/11C" class="external autonumber" title="http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/senate/sforms/C00166041/23/sa/11C" rel="nofollow">[16]</a></li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li>First Federal Bank of California PAC, which received <a href="http://images.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/fecimg/?C00137158" class="external text" title="http://images.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/fecimg/?C00137158" rel="nofollow">termination approval</a> in January 2006, received two contributions in 2003 and 2004 at BM&H's Santa Monica address. <a href="http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/com_supopp/2003_C00137158" class="external autonumber" title="http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/com_supopp/2003_C00137158" rel="nofollow">[17]</a></li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Global_Crossing_Development_Corporation" title="Global Crossing Development Corporation">Global Crossing Development Corporation</a> PAC used the Santa Monica address 1997 through 2005 to make <a href="http://herndon1.sdrdc.com/cgi-bin/com_supopp/C00258210/" class="external text" title="http://herndon1.sdrdc.com/cgi-bin/com_supopp/C00258210/" rel="nofollow">contributions</a>, including $10,000 in 2001 to <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=George_W.Bush" title="George W. Bush" class="mw-redirect">George W. Bush</a>'s "President's Dinner Committee" and a number of current and former political candidates, including <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=George_Allen" title="George Allen">George Allen</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=John_Ashcroft" title="John Ashcroft" class="mw-redirect">John Ashcroft</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Sherrod_Brown" title="Sherrod Brown">Sherrod Brown</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Sam_Brownback" title="Sam Brownback">Sam Brownback</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Conrad_Burns" title="Conrad Burns">Conrad Burns</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Eric_Cantor" title="Eric Cantor">Eric Cantor</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Maria_Cantwell" title="Maria Cantwell">Maria Cantwell</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Max_Cleland" title="Max Cleland">Max Cleland</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Tom_Davis" title="Tom Davis">Tom Davis</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Harold_Ford,Jr." title="Harold Ford, Jr." class="mw-redirect">Harold Ford, Jr.</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Chuck_Grassley" title="Chuck Grassley" class="mw-redirect">Chuck Grassley</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Judd_Gregg" title="Judd Gregg">Judd Gregg</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Dennis_Hastert" title="Dennis Hastert">Dennis Hastert</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Daniel_Inouye" title="Daniel Inouye" class="mw-redirect">Daniel Inouye</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Rick_Lazio" title="Rick Lazio" class="mw-redirect">Rick Lazio</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Carl_Levin" title="Carl Levin">Carl Levin</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bill_Luther&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Bill Luther (page does not exist)">Bill Luther</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=John_McCain" title="John McCain">John McCain</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Zell_Miller" title="Zell Miller">Zell Miller</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Jim_Nussle" title="Jim Nussle">Jim Nussle</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Charles_W.Pickering" title="Charles W. Pickering" class="mw-redirect">Charles W. Pickering</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Jack_Reed" title="Jack Reed">Jack Reed</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Tom_Reynolds" title="Tom Reynolds">Tom Reynolds</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Jay_Rockefeller" title="Jay Rockefeller" class="mw-redirect">Jay Rockefeller</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Chuck_Schumer" title="Chuck Schumer">Chuck Schumer</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Louise_Slaughter" title="Louise Slaughter">Louise Slaughter</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Billy_Tauzin" title="Billy Tauzin">Billy Tauzin</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Henry_A.Waxman" title="Henry A. Waxman">Henry A. Waxman</a>, and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Heather_Wilson" title="Heather Wilson">Heather Wilson</a>.</li>

</ul>

<h2>Propositions & Recalls</h2>

In 2003, then known as Bellow, McAndrews, Hitachk & Davidian LLP, Bell and partner Thomas W. Hitachk <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=%22Charles+H.+Bell%22%2C+California&btnG=Search" class="external text" title="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=%22Charles+H.+Bell%22%2C+California&btnG=Search" rel="nofollow">represented</a><a href="http://fl1.findlaw.com/news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/elections/svrepvshlly81503ami.pdf" class="external autonumber" title="http://fl1.findlaw.com/news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/elections/svrepvshlly81503ami.pdf" rel="nofollow">[18]</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Ted_Costa" title="Ted Costa">Ted Costa</a>, who filed the petition and <a href="http://www.nndb.com/people/003/000099703/" class="external text" title="http://www.nndb.com/people/003/000099703/" rel="nofollow">"Drove the 2003 California recall election"</a> against then-Governor <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Gray_Davis" title="Gray Davis">Gray Davis</a>.

At a 2003 "hearing on the campaign tactics of the No on Measure JJ," James Allardice <a href="http://www.laane.org/pressroom/stories/smart/sm030226smmirror.html" class="external text" title="http://www.laane.org/pressroom/stories/smart/sm030226smmirror.html" rel="nofollow">reported</a> in the Santa Monica Mirror, "[t]hree months after Santa Monica's Living Wage ordinance was overturned at the polls," Kent Wong, "Director of the UCLA Labor Studies Center, tied the No on JJ campaign to several consulting firms—most notably The <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Dolphin_Group" title="Dolphin Group">Dolphin Group</a>." <a href="http://www.laane.org/pressroom/stories/smart/sm030226smmirror.html" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.laane.org/pressroom/stories/smart/sm030226smmirror.html" rel="nofollow">[19]</a>

"The Dolphin Group, which is based in Westwood, is best-known for the Willie Horton ads used by <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=George_H.W._Bush" title="George H.W. Bush" class="mw-redirect">George H.W. Bush</a>'s presidential campaign in 1988," Allardice wrote.

"Wong singled out the law firms of Neilson, Merksamer, Parrinello, Mueller and Naylor and Bell, McAndrews, Hiltachk, and Davidian and two individuals—James Lacy and William 'Lord' Butcher—whom, he argued, along with the Dolphin Group, had played significant roles in the passage of Propositions 13 and 188, the election of Govenors George Deukmejian and Pete Wilson and the recall of three state Supreme Court Justices."

"Represents Citizens for Jobs and Fair Competitions in a suit against the City of Chula Vista CIty Clerk and the San Diego Registrar of voters. Citizens for Jobs and Fair Competition is a front group for the Assocated Builders and Contractors (ABC)."

<h2>Other Clients</h2>

<ul>

<li>Alatorre City Council Fund <a href="http://ethics.lacity.org/efs/public_rpt_sf.cfm?doc_id=586&city=la" class="external autonumber" title="http://ethics.lacity.org/efs/public_rpt_sf.cfm?doc_id=586&city=la" rel="nofollow">[20]</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Beth_Rogers&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Beth Rogers (page does not exist)">Beth Rogers</a> (R-CA) <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/races/expend.asp?CID=N00024886&Cycle=2002&ID=CA23" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.opensecrets.org/races/expend.asp?CID=N00024886&Cycle=2002&ID=CA23" rel="nofollow">[21]</a></li>

<li>Bill Jones for U.S. Senate <a href="http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/senate/sforms/C00393785/107/sd/10" class="external autonumber" title="http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/senate/sforms/C00393785/107/sd/10" rel="nofollow">[22]</a></li>

<li>Maureen Reagan for Congress in 1993-1994. <a href="http://cspan.politicalmoneyline.com/cgi-win/x_candpg.exe?DoFn=H2CA36058994" class="external autonumber" title="http://cspan.politicalmoneyline.com/cgi-win/x_candpg.exe?DoFn=H2CA36058994" rel="nofollow">[23]</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=No_New_Taxes_%28HJTA%29&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="No New Taxes (HJTA) (page does not exist)">No New Taxes</a>, A Project of the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Howard_Jarvis_Taxpayers_Association&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association (page does not exist)">Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association</a> <a href="http://www.aroundthecapitol.com/electiontrack/expenditures.php?committee=1057045" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.aroundthecapitol.com/electiontrack/expenditures.php?committee=1057045" rel="nofollow">[24]</a></li>

<li>Rescue California from Budget Deficits, a Committee Controlled by John Campbell <a href="http://www.aroundthecapitol.com/electiontrack/expenditures.php?committee=1262101" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.aroundthecapitol.com/electiontrack/expenditures.php?committee=1262101" rel="nofollow">[25]</a></li>

<li>Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, sponsor of the "Yes on Q & R" campaign <a href="http://sacramento.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2006/08/07/daily19.html" class="external autonumber" title="http://sacramento.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2006/08/07/daily19.html" rel="nofollow">[26]</a></li>

<li>Taxpayers for Roger Niello for Assembly <a href="http://www.electiontrack.com/expenditures.php?committee=1251987" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.electiontrack.com/expenditures.php?committee=1251987" rel="nofollow">[27]</a></li>

</ul>

<h2>Contact Information</h2>

Main Office: Sacramento:

455 Capitol Mall

Suite 801

Sacramento, California 95814

Phone: 916 442-7757

FAX: 916 442-7759

Santa Monica Office:

1441 Fourth Street

Santa Monica, California 90401

Phone: 310 458-1405

FAX: 310 260-2666

Website: <a href="http://www.bmhlaw.com" class="external free" title="http://www.bmhlaw.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.bmhlaw.com</a>

<h2>Related SourceWatch Resources</h2>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Economic_Freedom_Fund" title="Economic Freedom Fund">Economic Freedom Fund</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Meridian_Pacific,_Inc." title="Meridian Pacific, Inc.">Meridian Pacific, Inc.</a> (and Cardinal Communication Strategies)</li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Stevens_Reed_Curcio_%26_Potholm" title="Stevens Reed Curcio & Potholm">Stevens Reed Curcio & Potholm</a></li>

</ul>

<h2>External links</h2>

<ul>

<li>James Allardice <a href="http://www.laane.org/pressroom/stories/smart/sm030226smmirror.html" class="external text" title="http://www.laane.org/pressroom/stories/smart/sm030226smmirror.html" rel="nofollow">"Panel Hears Claims That Prop JJ Contest Was Tainted,"</a> Santa Monica Mirror, February 26-March 4, 2003.</li>

<li>Kim Zetter, <a href="http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,61379-1.html?tw=wn_story_page_next1" class="external text" title="http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,61379-1.html?tw=wn_story_page_next1" rel="nofollow">"Dust-Up Over E-Vote Paper Trail,"</a> Wired News, November 26, 2003.</li>

<li>Andy Furillo and Gary Delsohn, <a href="http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/nw/?postId=965&pageTitle=Drug+companies+approve+%2410+million+for+California+ballot+fight" class="external text" title="http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/nw/?postId=965&pageTitle=Drug+companies+approve+%2410+million+for+California+ballot+fight" rel="nofollow">"Drug companies approve $10 million for California ballot fight,"</a> Sacramento Bee (ConsumerWatchdog.org), February 14, 2005.</li>

<li>Malcolm Maclachlan, <a href="http://www.capitolweekly.net/news/article.html?article_id=517" class="external text" title="http://www.capitolweekly.net/news/article.html?article_id=517" rel="nofollow">"GOP attorney files initiative to boost minimum wage, cut overtime,"</a> Capitol Weekly, February 21, 2006.</li>

<li>Steve Hymon, <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-termlimits29aug29,1,7381620.story" class="external text" title="http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-termlimits29aug29,1,7381620.story" rel="nofollow">"Term Limits Measure Targeted. A second suit will argue that city ballot proposal to ease curbs on council members is illegal because it also proposes restrictions on lobbyists,"</a> Los Angeles Times, August 29, 2006.</li>

<li><a href="http://cbs2.com/topstories/local_story_242100218.html" class="external text" title="http://cbs2.com/topstories/local_story_242100218.html" rel="nofollow">"Term Limit Ballot Measure Could Cost Taxpayers,"</a> CBS2.com (Los Angeles, CA), August 30, 2006.</li>

<li>Justin Rood, <a href="http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/001519.php" class="external text" title="http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/001519.php" rel="nofollow">"New GOP Attack Group Used Ad Firm with Party Ties,"</a> TPM Muckraker, September 14, 2006.</li>

<li>Paul Kiel, <a href="http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/001518.php" class="external text" title="http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/001518.php" rel="nofollow">"Swift Boat Redux: Wealthy GOP Donor Drops $5 Mil for New Group"</a> and <a href="http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/001520.php" class="external text" title="http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/001520.php" rel="nofollow">"Shadowy 527 Behind Calls Hitting Democrats in Several States,"</a> TPM Muckraker, September 14, 2006.</li>

<li>Dave Johnson, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dave-johnson/new-frontgroup-alert-ec_b_29545.html" class="external text" title="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dave-johnson/new-frontgroup-alert-ec_b_29545.html" rel="nofollow">"New Front-Group Alert: Economic Freedom Fund,"</a> The Huffington Post and <a href="http://www.patriotproject.com/2006/09/new_frontgroup_1.php" class="external text" title="http://www.patriotproject.com/2006/09/new_frontgroup_1.php" rel="nofollow">The Patriot Project</a>, September 15, 2006.</li>

</ul>

“Seems that Mr Hiltachk is under the "retainer" of NONE OTHER THAN Governor Arnold Schwarzenneger AND the Federalist Society AND the Republican Party and yadayada AND SOME VERY INTERESTING BEDPARTNERS IN BUSINESS 'INTERESTS (Oh, the California Democratics are NOT going to like this listing):

Global Crossing Development Corporation PAC used the Santa Monica address 1997 through 2005 to make contributions, including $10,000 in 2001 to George W. Bush's "President's Dinner Committee" and a number of current and former political candidates, including George Allen, John Ashcroft, Sherrod Brown, Sam Brownback, Conrad Burns, Eric Cantor, Maria Cantwell, Max Cleland, Tom Davis, Harold Ford, Jr., Chuck Grassley, Judd Gregg, Dennis Hastert, Daniel Inouye, Rick Lazio, Carl Levin, Bill Luther, John McCain, Zell Miller, Jim Nussle, Charles W. Pickering, Jack Reed, Tom Reynolds, Jay Rockefeller, Chuck Schumer, Louise Slaughter, Billy Tauzin, Henry A. Waxman, and Heather Wilson.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bell%2C_McAndrews_%26_Hiltachk%2C_LLP

----

<a href="http://www.muckety.com/Thomas-W-Hiltachk/25765.muckety">http://www.muckety.com/Thomas-W-Hiltachk/25765.muckety</a>

<h2 class="title"><a href="http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2010/07/27/prop23-tobacco/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to 'Smelling A Chance To Burn Oil Money, Tobacco Lobbyists Orchestrate Effort To Repeal CA Clean Energy Law'">Smelling A Chance To Burn Oil Money, Tobacco Lobbyists Orchestrate Effort To Repeal CA Clean Energy Law</a></h2>

<a href="http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2010/07/27/prop23-tobacco/">http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2010/07/27/prop23-tobacco/</a>

This post is part of a Progressive Media blogging series on the fossil fuel-funded Prop 23 effort to repeal California’s clean energy climate law. Read Rebecca Lefton’s posts on Prop 23′s <a href="http://climateprogress.org/2010/07/19/proposition-23-big-oil-economists-ab32/">economic</a> impact, national <a href="http://climateprogress.org/2010/07/16/california-proposition-23-clean-energy-climate-ab3/">repercussions</a>, and <a href="http://climateprogress.org/2010/07/16/california-proposition-23-clean-energy-climate-ab3/">funding</a> from Texas oil companies.

<img class="alignright size-full wp-image-31921" title="Prop 23 operatives" src="file:///C:/DATAleno/BRAINS/webodec3_brain/Files/3588E3E3-DB73-A3D4-49A7-2A33A8B881A4/PersonalBrain Notes/downloadedimagefile50.jpg" alt="Prop 23 operatives" height="200" width="230" />To manage their initiative to roll back California’s landmark climate change law, <a href="http://climateprogress.org/2010/07/16/california-proposition-23-clean-energy-climate-ab3/">AB 32</a>, big oil is turning to the same deceptive tobacco operatives who engineered Philip Morris’ fight against efforts to tax cigarettes and stop childhood as well as indoor smoking. According to veteran right-wing activist Ted Costa, former Philip Morris outside counsel Tom Hiltachk co-opted his AB 32 repeal initiative, known as Proposition 23 (“Prop 23″). Hiltachk’s name appears on <a href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/ccrov/pdf/2010/february/10070km.pdf">both</a> <a href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://ag.ca.gov/cms_attachments/initiatives/pdfs/i902_initiative_09-0104.pdf">versions</a>

<a href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://ag.ca.gov/cms_attachments/initiatives/pdfs/i902_initiative_09-0104.pdf">https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://ag.ca.gov/cms_attachments/initiatives/pdfs/i902_initiative_09-0104.pdf</a>

of Prop 23 filed with the California Attorney General, and his tactics and already ubiquitous in the campaign.

Hiltachk, who is also serving as an attorney for Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman, has made a <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2007/08/06/070806taco_talk_hertzberg">career</a> writing misleading right-wing initiatives, then pitching the initiatives to corporations that may benefit from their passage. To fund Prop 23, he reached out to a friend from his days working for the tobacco industry, Mike Carpenter. Carpenter, the former top California <a href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://www.caepv.org/about/CorpConf/Presenter%2520Biographies%2520.doc">lobbyist</a> for Philip Morris, now lobbies for Valero, a Texan oil company with operations in California. To date, Valero has been the prime driver of the Prop 23, donating over <a href="http://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/Campaign/Committees/Detail.aspx?id=1323890&view=late1">$1 million</a> so far directly to the effort.

The Prop 23 campaign seems to be <a href="http://climateprogress.org/2010/07/09/california-climate-law-proposition-23-ab32/#comment-284360">laundering</a> money and using front groups to promote their efforts. Indeed, one of the most visible groups supporting Prop 23, the California Manufacturers and Technology Association, which is <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WK2CkHujvfU">mobilizing</a> press events and “pro-business” organizing is <a href="http://www.camajorityreport.com/index.php?module=articles&func=display&ptid=9&aid=4202">funded by Valero</a>.

Carpenter sits on the <a href="http://www.camajorityreport.com/index.php?module=articles&func=display&ptid=9&aid=4202">board</a> of the conservative think-tank, the Pacific Research Institute, producing bunk studies to bolster pro-Prop 23 claims. Other large donations to the pro-Prop 23 campaign are from front groups like the Missouri-based Adam Smith Foundation and the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, which both carefully conceal their funding.

But these under-the-radar tactics of shifting money around and using phony groups are nothing new to Hiltachk and Carpenter:

– During the eighties and nineties, Hiltachk and his law partners helped the tobacco industry, with funding from Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds, coordinate a variety of stealth front groups. While his law firm received over a million from tobacco interests, Hiltachk <a href="http://tobaccodocuments.org/nysa_ti_s2/TI14131741.html">helped organize</a> “Californians for Smokers’ Rights,” a supposedly “grassroots” group that relied on tobacco industry consumer lists to mobilize opposition to <a href="http://www.cdph.ca.gov/programs/tobacco/Pages/CTCPLegislativeMandateforTobaccoControl-Prop99.aspx">anti-smoking initiatives</a>. Working with “academic” fronts like the Claremont Institute (also <a href="http://tobaccodocuments.org/pm/2023668619-8626.html">funded</a> by tobacco), Hiltachk and his law partner Charles Bell mobilized business opposition through a front they helped <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bell,McAndrews%26_Hiltachk,_LLP#Representing_Front_Groups">manage</a> called Californians for Fair Business Policy.

– As the top California <a href="http://tobaccodocuments.org/nysa_ti_s2/TI31690777.html">lobbyist</a> for Philip Morris, Carpenter helped liaison to nonprofit groups to orchestrate efforts to fight back against anti-smoking laws. Working <a href="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/hfz48d00/pdf">closely</a> with Hiltachk’s law firm at the time, Nielsen, Merksamer, Parrinello, Mueller & Naylor, Carpenter distributed news clips, recommended tobacco donations to certain outside groups, and <a href="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/mih82c00/pdf?search=%22mike%20carpenter%22">mobilized</a> messaging and polling operations against an <a href="http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/California_Proposition_10,%22First_5%22_Early_Childhood_Cigarette_Tax%281998%29">initiative</a> to tax cigarettes to fund anti-childhood smoking programs, <a href="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/action/search/advanced?p=1&sq[0].q=mike+carpenter&sq[0].f=er&sq[0].op=AND&sq[1].q=&sq[1].f=er&sq[1].op=AND&sq[2].q=&sq[2].f=er&sq[2].op=AND&sq[3].q=&sq[3].f=er&sq[3].op=AND&sq[4].q=&sq[4].f=er&sq[4].op=AND&sq[5].q=&sq[5].f=er&fd=1&asf=ddu&asd=&sd=&ed=&c=at&c=ba&c=bw&c=ca&c=ct&c=da&c=ll&c=lm&c=mg&c=mm&c=pm&c=py&c=re&c=rj&c=ti&c=ub&c=us">according</a> to files with the Legacy Tobacco Documents Library. One <a href="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/vez48d00/pdf">document</a> shows Carpenter receiving a pro-tobacco screed from the Pacific Research Institute, faxed by a communications officer at Philip Morris. The Pacific Research Institute, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Pacific_Research_Institute">funded</a> by Valero and tobacco interests, is now helping to provide academic-sounding cachet to the pro-Prop 23 campaign.

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After millions of Californians needlessly suffered or died from smoking, the pair ultimately failed in their tobacco lobbying. California voters successfully passed several successive cigarette taxes and smoking bans.

It appears Hiltachk and Carpenter are up to their old tricks. Carpenter is busy recruiting trade association support for the initiative, spending April <a href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://www.clfp.com/documents/nv/N%26V2010_Ed1_web.pdf">meeting</a> with groups like the California League of Food Processors. And for his part, Hiltachk has tapped firms he has <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/1990-05-31/news/mn-919_1_gas-tax-increase">steered</a> contracts to for over twenty years, like Goddard Claussen West and Woodward & McDowell, to do the <a href="http://www.grist.org/article/2010-07-09-the-climate-wars-western-front/">legwork</a> of signature gathering and ad making. According to Costa, the Prop 23 proponents boasted to him that they would raise $50 million for their campaign. Aside from the <a href="http://climateprogress.org/2010/07/19/proposition-23-big-oil-economists-ab32/">devastating</a> impact Prop 23 will have on California’s economy and the prospects for addressing climate change, at least former tobacco operatives like Hiltachk and Carpenter will be doing quite well.

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Media Cowardice: Let’s assume, for the moment, that the California Teachers Association ad that says Meg Whitman would cut education funding by $7 billion is wrong. It’s a made-up number the CTA cooked, based on comments Whitman has made about how much she’d cut the budget.

It’s a matter of conjecture, really. But one that cuts so sharply into voters’ perceptions that Whitman has pulled out all the stops to get the ad off the air – threatening to sue stations for libel and slander. “The spot is a lie,” wrote Whitman campaign attorney Thomas W. Hiltachk. “As you know, your station can be held liable for slanderous or libelous statements made by a non-candidate sponsor of political advertising.”

This is ridiculous. Whitman is a public figure so libeling or slandering her is really difficult and last time we checked, even the CTA has the right to buy an ad broadcasting its opinion, even if it defames Whitman.

Of course, Whitman’s ad saying Jerry Brown raised taxes is just as “demonstrably false” (to use the Whitman campaign’s words) as they believe the CTA ad is. Are they pulling down their ad? No way.

What’s outrageous is that, according to the LA Times, “Time Warner and Comcast cable, and broadcast stations (LA), KNTV(SF), KABC (LA), KTTV (LA) have pulled the ads from the air. A number of other stations are also considering pulling the ads.”

What gutless, two-faced, chicken-livered yellow bellies. If all you have to do is assert that an ad is “demonstrably false,” half the political ads in America would never be allowed to air.

Apparently Meg will push around anybody she can, and her eagerness to use her millions to bully news organizations with the best lawyers money can buy seems like just the latest glimpse of a troublesome personality that thinks shoving underlings around her office is business as usual.

Next move: Watch for Brown’s lawyers to threaten to sue broadcast stations that carry any ad that says he raised taxes. The California Department of Finance has proved this is not true, so why not use eMeg’s tactics?

<a href="http://www.calbuzz.com/tag/thomas-w-hiltachk/">http://www.calbuzz.com/tag/thomas-w-hiltachk/</a>