Dolphin Group

<h1 class="firstHeading" id="firstHeading">Dolphin Group</h1>

<h3 id="siteSub">From SourceWatch</h3><div id="contentSub">

This article is part of the <a title="Portal:Tobacco" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Portal:Tobacco">Tobacco portal</a> on Sourcewatch funded from 2006 - 2009 by the <a title="American Legacy Foundation" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Legacy_Foundation">American Legacy Foundation</a>. Help expose the truth about the <a title="Tobacco industry" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Tobacco_industry">tobacco industry</a>.

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The Dolphin Group is a U.S. <a class="mw-redirect" title="Public relations" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Public_relations">public relations</a> firm with offices in Sacramento and Los Angeles. The Dolphin Group has worked for the <a class="mw-redirect" title="Philip Morris" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Philip_Morris">Philip Morris</a> tobacco company, including running the unsuccessful campaign for Proposition 188, a 1994 California ballot initiative bankrolled by big tobacco interests.

Until late 2005 the company's website boasted that "everything we do is designed to change the perceptions of an individuals or group - to get them to think differently - and to ultimately persuade them to change their behaviour."<a title="" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Dolphin_Group#cite_note-Sept_2005-0">[1]</a>

<h2>Contents</h2>

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

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Dolphin_Group#History">1 History</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Dolphin_Group#The_Dolphin_Group_and_Tobacco">2 The Dolphin Group and Tobacco</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Dolphin_Group#The_Dolphin_Group_and_the_California_.22Living_Wage.22_Initiative">3 The Dolphin Group and the California "Living Wage" Initiative</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Dolphin_Group#Personnel">4 Personnel</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Dolphin_Group#Clients">5 Clients</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Dolphin_Group#Contact_Details">6 Contact Details</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Dolphin_Group#Articles_and_Resources">7 Articles and Resources</a>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Dolphin_Group#Sources">7.1 Sources</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Dolphin_Group#Other_SourceWatch_Resources">7.2 Other SourceWatch Resources</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Dolphin_Group#External_links">7.3 External links</a></li>

</ul>

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</ul>

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<h2>History</h2>

The firm was founded in 1974 by <a title="Bill Roberts" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bill_Roberts">Bill Roberts</a>, who had been a partner in <a class="new" title="Spencer Roberts (page does not exist)" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Spencer_Roberts&action=edit&redlink=1">Spencer Roberts</a>, the company hired by <a title="Ronald Reagan" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Ronald_Reagan">Ronald Reagan</a> to run his first successful campaign for California Governor in 1966.<a title="" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Dolphin_Group#cite_note-1">[2]</a> (Roberts died in 1988.)<a title="" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Dolphin_Group#cite_note-Sept_2005-0">[1]</a>

In 1988, the Dolphin Group created the infamous <a class="external text" title="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EC9j6Wfdq3o" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EC9j6Wfdq3o">Willie Horton ads</a>, which used racist imagery to derail the U.S. presidential campaign of <a class="mw-redirect" title="Michael Dukakis" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Michael_Dukakis">Michael Dukakis</a>.

<h2>The Dolphin Group and Tobacco</h2>

In 1991 the Dolphin Group conducted a misleading survey of restaurant owners, which claimed to find that smoking bans in restaurants would hurt business. The survey asked restaurateurs how much business they thought they lost during a ban on smoking in Beverly Hills, California; it didn't attempt to quantify those losses using any sort of objective measure. They survey was repeated in Bellflower, California after a clean indoor air law was enacted in that community. Both surveys reported a 30 percent loss in business following the enactment of a clean indoor air law. But a study of sales receipts commissioned by the city of Bellflower showed that restaurant revenues in that city actually rose by 2.4 percent during the smoking ban. The Dolphin Group survey became the subject of a <a class="external text" title="http://www.tobaccoscam.ucsf.edu/fake/fake_ctb_internal.cfm" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.tobaccoscam.ucsf.edu/fake/fake_ctb_internal.cfm">Consumer Reports article</a> (May 1994) titled, "The 30 Percent Myth," that described the misleading use of such anecdotally-derived statistics. The survey was conducted for <a class="new" title="Restaurants for a Sensible Voluntary Policy (page does not exist)" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Restaurants_for_a_Sensible_Voluntary_Policy&action=edit&redlink=1">Restaurants for a Sensible Voluntary Policy</a>, a <a title="Tobacco industry" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Tobacco_industry">tobacco industry</a> <a class="mw-redirect" title="Front group" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Front_group">front group</a>. Dolphin Group executive <a class="new" title="Fred Karger (page does not exist)" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Fred_Karger&action=edit&redlink=1">Fred Karger</a> also ran the <a title="California Business and Restaurant Alliance" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=California_Business_and_Restaurant_Alliance">California Business and Restaurant Alliance</a>, another tobacco industry front group.

The tobacco industry spent more than $18 million to promote Proposition 188, a "Trojan Horse" measure that was billed as a tobacco control measure but was actually an attempt to water down tough local and state smoking restrictions. Former Dem. State Assemblyman Terry Friedman called it "the most deceptive campaign in my quarter century of close observation of local politics." During the campaign, the Dolphin Group set up a deceptively-named front group calling itself <a title="Californians for Statewide Smoking Restrictions" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Californians_for_Statewide_Smoking_Restrictions">Californians for Statewide Smoking Restrictions</a>, and spent $8 million on direct mail and outdoor advertising. The proposition failed, however, after voters learned of the deception.

<h2>The Dolphin Group and the California "Living Wage" Initiative</h2>

In July 2000, the Dolphin Group represented hotel interests in Santa Monica, California in promoting a similar piece of "Trojan Horse" legislation -- a "living wage" initiative that was actually intended to override living wage legislation by the Santa Monica city council.<a title="" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Dolphin_Group#cite_note-2">[3]</a>

<h2>Personnel</h2>

Los Angeles

<ul>

<li><a class="new" title="Lee Stilzzenberger (page does not exist)" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Lee_Stilzzenberger&action=edit&redlink=1">Lee Stilzzenberger</a></li>

<li><a class="new" title="Chris Lucker (page does not exist)" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Chris_Lucker&action=edit&redlink=1">Chris Lucker</a></li>

<li><a class="new" title="Kathy Gatherum Lucker (page does not exist)" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Kathy_Gatherum_Lucker&action=edit&redlink=1">Kathy Gatherum Lucker</a></li>

<li><a class="new" title="Tanya Gilbert (page does not exist)" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Tanya_Gilbert&action=edit&redlink=1">Tanya Gilbert</a></li>

<li><a class="new" title="Peter Bornholdt (page does not exist)" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Peter_Bornholdt&action=edit&redlink=1">Peter Bornholdt</a></li>

<li><a class="new" title="Courtney Minteer (page does not exist)" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Courtney_Minteer&action=edit&redlink=1">Courtney Minteer</a></li>

<li><a class="new" title="Suzanna De Rosa (page does not exist)" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Suzanna_De_Rosa&action=edit&redlink=1">Suzanna De Rosa</a></li>

</ul>

Sacramento <a class="new" title="Michael Boccadoro (page does not exist)" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Michael_Boccadoro&action=edit&redlink=1">Michael Boccadoro</a>

<ul>

<li><a class="new" title="Brian Rees (page does not exist)" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Brian_Rees&action=edit&redlink=1">Brian Rees</a></li>

<li><a class="new" title="JP Cativiela (page does not exist)" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=JP_Cativiela&action=edit&redlink=1">JP Cativiela</a></li>

<li><a class="new" title="Laura Kistner (page does not exist)" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Laura_Kistner&action=edit&redlink=1">Laura Kistner</a></li>

</ul>

<h2>Clients</h2>

On its website the Dolphin Group lists part of its past and present clients, as at May 2008, as<a title="" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Dolphin_Group#cite_note-3">[4]</a>:

<ul>

<li>Aetna Life and Casualty</li>

<li>Agricultural Energy Consumers</li>

<li>Alliance of Western Milk Producers</li>

<li><a class="mw-redirect" title="Altria" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Altria">Altria</a> Corporate Services</li>

<li>Banfield</li>

<li>Bixby Ranch Company</li>

<li>California/Nevada Credit Union League</li>

<li>California Farm Bureau Federation</li>

<li>California Licensed Beverage Assoc.</li>

<li>California Poultry Federation</li>

<li>California Table Grape Industry</li>

<li>California Strawberry Industry</li>

<li>California-Tahoe Conservancy</li>

<li>Central Valley Project Water Authority</li>

<li>Chino Basin Coalition</li>

<li>Coalition for a Sustainable Delta</li>

<li>Community Alliance for Responsible Environmental Stewardship (CARES) Competitive Power Ventures</li>

<li>Cucamonga Valley Water District</li>

<li>Diageo</li>

<li>Donahue Schriber</li>

<li><a class="mw-redirect" title="General Motors" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=General_Motors">General Motors</a>, Inc.</li>

<li>Hilmar Cheese Co.</li>

<li>Inland Empire Utilities Agency</li>

<li>Kern River Gas Transmission Agency</li>

<li><a class="mw-redirect" title="Kraft Foods" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Kraft_Foods">Kraft Foods</a>, Inc.</li>

<li>Marriott International</li>

<li>Metropolitan Water District of Southern California</li>

<li>Miller Brewing Company</li>

<li>Oregon Licensed Beverage Assoc.</li>

<li>Presley of Southern California</li>

<li>Republican Local Elected Official Committee</li>

<li>Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority (SAWPA)</li>

<li><a title="Southern California Edison" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Southern_California_Edison">Southern California Edison</a></li>

<li>Southern California Water Committee</li>

<li>Southern San Joaquin Irrigation District</li>

<li>Sunworld International, Inc.</li>

<li><a title="U.S. Chamber of Commerce" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=U.S._Chamber_of_Commerce">U.S. Chamber of Commerce</a></li>

<li><a title="Wal-Mart Stores" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Wal-Mart_Stores">Wal-Mart Stores</a>, Inc.</li>

<li>Warmington Homes</li>

<li>West Basin Municipal Water District</li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li>Californians for Clean, Safe, Reliable Water – Yes on Proposition 204</li>

<li>Californians for Responsible Food Laws – C.A.R.E.F.U.L. – Yes on Proposition 135</li>

<li>Californians for Statewide Smoking Restrictions – Yes on Proposition 188</li>

<li>Citizens for a Fair Farm Labor Law – No on Proposition 14</li>

<li>Citizens for the Republic – President Regan’s Political Action Committee</li>

<li>Committee for the Presidency – Independent Expenditure Committee in support of George Bush for President</li>

<li>Crime Victims for Court Reform (California) – No Vote on Supreme Court Justices Bird, Grodin and Reynoso</li>

<li>Deukmejian for Attorney General (California)</li>

<li>Deukmejian for Governor (California)</li>

<li>President Ford Committee</li>

<li>National Republican Senatorial Committee</li>

<li>Reagan/Bush Committee (1980 and 1984)</li>

<li>Thone for Governor (Nebraska)</li>

</ul>

Numerous local and regional initiative/referendum campaigns, including:

<ul>

<li>Santa Monicans Against the Living Wage – No on Measure JJ (Santa Monica, CA)</li>

<li>Contra Costa Consumers for Choice - No on Measure L (Contra Costa County, CA)</li>

<li>Rosemead Neighbors Against the Recall (Rosemead, CA)</li>

<li>Citizens for a Better Glendora - Yes on Measure D (Glendora, CA)</li>

<li>Friends of Quarry Bend - Yes on Referendum One (Sandy, UT)</li>

<li>Citizens Against Measure R - No on R (Lodi, CA)</li>

</ul>

<h2>Contact Details</h2>

11620 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 410

Los Angeles, California 90024

Phone: 310 446 4800 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              310 446 4800      end_of_the_skype_highlighting

Fax: 310 446 1896

925 L Street, Suite 800

Sacramento, California 95814

Phone: 916 441 4383 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              916 441 4383      end_of_the_skype_highlighting

Fax: 916 441 4132

Web: <a class="external free" title="http://www.dolphingroup.org/" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.dolphingroup.org/">http://www.dolphingroup.org/</a>

<h2>Articles and Resources</h2>

<h3>Sources</h3>

<li id="cite_note-Sept_2005-0">↑ <a title="" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Dolphin_Group#cite_ref-Sept_2005_0-0">1.0</a> <a title="" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Dolphin_Group#cite_ref-Sept_2005_0-1">1.1</a> <a class="external text" title="http://web.archive.org/web/20050901194245/http://dolphingroup.org/" rel="nofollow" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20050901194245/http://dolphingroup.org/">"The Dolphin Group"</a>, The Dolphin Group website, September 2005.</li>

<li id="cite_note-1"><a title="" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Dolphin_Group#cite_ref-1">↑</a> <a class="external text" title="http://www.spencer-roberts.com/reagan.htm" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.spencer-roberts.com/reagan.htm">Honoring Ronald Reagan"</a>, Spencer-Roberts website, accessed May 2008.</li>

<li id="cite_note-2"><a title="" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Dolphin_Group#cite_ref-2">↑</a> Jorge Casuso, <a class="external text" title="http://web.archive.org/web/20030301143758/http://surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/July-2000/7_17_2000_major_conservative.htm" rel="nofollow" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20030301143758/http://surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/July-2000/7_17_2000_major_conservative.htm">"Major Conservative Consulting Firm Pushes Hotel Backed Wage Initiative"</a>, The Look Out, July 17, 2000.</li>

<li id="cite_note-3"><a title="" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Dolphin_Group#cite_ref-3">↑</a> <a class="external text" title="http://www.dolphingroup.org/dolphin/Clients.html" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.dolphingroup.org/dolphin/Clients.html">"Partial List of Past and Present Clients"</a>, The Dolphin Group website, accessed May 2008.</li>

</ol>

<h3>Other SourceWatch Resources</h3>

<ul>

<li><a title="Tobacco industry" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Tobacco_industry">Tobacco industry</a></li>

</ul>

<h3>External links</h3>

<ul>

<li>"<a class="external text" title="http://www.tobaccoscam.ucsf.edu/fake/fake_ctb_internal.cfm" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.tobaccoscam.ucsf.edu/fake/fake_ctb_internal.cfm">Cooking the Books: The 30% Myth</a>," TobaccoScam.ucsf.edu.</li>

<li>Jorge Causo, "<a class="external text" title="http://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/July-2000/7_17_2000_major_conservative.htm" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/July-2000/7_17_2000_major_conservative.htm">Major Conservative Consulting Firm Pushes Hotel Backed Wage Initiative</a>," The Lookout (Santa Monica), July 17, 2000.</li>

<li>Harold Meyerson, "<a class="external text" title="http://www.laweekly.com/ink/00/47/powerlines-meyerson.php" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.laweekly.com/ink/00/47/powerlines-meyerson.php">Masters of Deceit</a>," L.A. Weekly, October 13-19, 2000.</li>

<li>"Public Interest Pretenders: That Group With the Do-Good Name May Not Be What It Seems," Consumer Reports, May 1994. Excerpts of the article can be found online at <a class="external free" title="http://ash.org/watchdog.html" rel="nofollow" href="http://ash.org/watchdog.html">http://ash.org/watchdog.html</a></li>

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

</ul>

This article may include <a class="external text" title="http://tobaccodocuments.org/profiles/people/dolphin_group.html" rel="nofollow" href="http://tobaccodocuments.org/profiles/people/dolphin_group.html">information from Tobacco Documents Online</a>.

</div>

CAREFUL campaign ~ big green 1990http://articles.latimes.com/1990-03-25/news/mn-187_1_big-green/2
It's called "Big Green" and it's the most sweeping environmental initiative ever proposed in California.
If it qualifies for the November ballot, Californians will be making decisions on everything from saving ancient redwood forests and blocking offshore oil development to slowing global warming and outlawing cancer-causing pesticides in food. And they would also be creating a new elective post of state environmental czar to enforce their will.
That's just for starters.
Never has there been so comprehensive a measure enveloping so many environmental causes.
The very breadth of the measure creates the potential for mobilizing the most formidable array of special interests against a single issue since Howard Jarvis' tax-reform initiative of 1978.
Two rival initiatives are already being readied by agricultural interests and the timber industry. Others, including major oil companies, the Automotive Refrigeration Products Institute and business interests in general, have yet to decide what to do.
Whatever the case, the measure is likely to command center stage in the state's November general election campaign.
Backers say Big Green--known officially as the Environmental Protection Act of 1990--is a testament to a growing perception that seemingly isolated environmental issues are connected, that weakening any strand in the ecological web threatens the whole.
"It's much clearer now than it was 20 years ago that the future of the planet may well be at stake," said Michael Paparian of the Sierra Club's Sacramento office. "I think there clearly is an increasing linkage that the public is seeing between environmental issues."
But there is old-fashioned political strategy, as well as environmental consciousness, in the making of Big Green.
Co-sponsored by Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp and his staff, the initiative has become a centerpiece of his campaign for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.
Van de Kamp, like most politicians, is mindful of public-opinion polls showing strong support for environmental causes. He clearly hopes to ride the wave of environmental activism into the governor's mansion.
At the same time, a coalition of sometimes-divergent environmental groups, who despair that the California Legislature and governor will ever act decisively, joined Van de Kamp in fashioning the measure.
Environmentalists argue that by rallying under a single banner--even one colored by Van de Kamp's political ambitions--they can focus limited resources on a single, all-encompassing environmental campaign.
Their strategy could work. And many business interests, mindful of popular concern about the environment, are especially alarmed.
"We just have more people, more cars and there is a feeling that the environmental quality is not as great as it once was," said Kirk West, president of the California Chamber of Commerce, who opposes the measure.
"If there's an environmental initiative that can somehow touch these concerns it's likely to have strong appeal," West said.
If it qualifies for November's ballot and is approved by voters, the food we eat, the water we drink, the oceans in which we play, the price we pay for electricity, the products we use, even how we get from one place to another will be affected.
And the effects are likely to be felt throughout the nation.
"This will fundamentally affect American agriculture, because food containing pesticides that are phased out in California also can't be sold in California," said Albert H. Meyerhoff, an attorney with the National Resources Defense Council and a backer of Big Green.
"It will stop the use of the most hazardous pesticides in the rest of the country and abroad. This is going to accomplish a great deal of our national agenda."
Industry representatives say privately that they are uncertain whether Big Green can be defeated given the public's concern over such issues as pesticides in food and offshore oil drilling.
Many of the state's top business leaders are examining the issue to see what approach to take.
"There's a lot of nervousness in the business community," said one lobbyist who worked unsuccessfully in 1986 to defeat Proposition 65, the anti-toxics initiative. "Maybe there's not going to be that big a reaction from business. It will depend on the final analysis."
Mike Dougherty, manager of state government relations for Unocal, agreed. "I would say unless there's a fairly broad-based interest, some of the (business and industry) people just won't be there. Nobody wants to go out (on) point on this thing and get labeled as an environmental bad guy. The business community is really doing some soul-searching as to what the right stance is on this initiative," he said.
Proponents, on the other hand, are upbeat.<div id="mod-pagination-info" class="mod-paginationinfo" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 8px; border: 0px; line-height: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Page 2 of 4)</div><div id="mod-article-header" class="mod-latarticlesarticleheader mod-articleheader" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px; line-height: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h1 class="multi-line-title-1" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px; line-height: 25px; font-weight: normal;">Big Fight Brews Over 'Big Green' Initiative's Scope</h1></div><div id="mod-article-byline" class="mod-latarticlesarticlebyline mod-articlebyline" style="padding: 0px 10px 10px 0px; margin: 5px 0px 4px; border: 0px; line-height: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://articles.latimes.com/1990/mar/25" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">March 25, 1990</a>|LARRY B. STAMMER and RICHARD C. PADDOCK | TIMES STAFF WRITERS</div><div id="mod-sm-badge-top" class="mod-latarticlessocialmedia mod-socialmedia" style="padding: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; border: 0px; width: 660px; min-height: 20px; margin-left: 0px !important; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div id="fb-root" class=" fb_reset" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px; border-spacing: 0px; cursor: auto; direction: ltr; overflow: visible; text-shadow: none; visibility: visible; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><div style="line-height: 20px; word-spacing: normal; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: -10000px; height: 0px; width: 0px;"><div style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px;"><div style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px; line-height: 20px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: -10000px; height: 0px; width: 0px;"><div style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px;"></div></div></div></div><div id="area-article-first-block" class="area" style="line-height: 20px; word-spacing: normal; padding: 15px 0px 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px;"><div id="mod-a-body-first-para" class="mod-latarticlesarticletext mod-articletext" style="padding: 0px 10px 0px 0px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; border: 0px;">"There's no way we can lose. This is a done deal. We can't lose unless there's an earthquake that stops California. Our only job is to qualify this for the November ballot. Once we qualify this, the voters will go for it automatically," declared Bob Mulholland, campaign manager for the initiative. So far, an estimated 550,000 signatures have been gathered. To qualify, sponsors must collect 375,000 valid signatures.With so many special interests and political fortunes at stake, there is no doubt that the initiative will become a focal point of the 1990 election.The volleys have already begun.Recently, for example, Van de Kamp stood before television cameras outside a cancer ward at San Francisco General Hospital to assail opponents of the ban on cancer-causing pesticides on food.For their part, pesticide interests commissioned a study which concluded that if Big Green becomes law and 23 widely used pesticides are phased out by 1996, then fruit, vegetable and field crop production would drop by 40%. Food prices would skyrocket by as much as 50%.</div></div><div class="float" style="line-height: 1px; word-spacing: normal; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px; clear: both; height: 1px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><img src="http://articles.latimes.com/images/pixel.gif" height="1" width="1" alt="" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px; line-height: 20px; display: inherit !important;" /></div><div id="mod-ctr-lt-in-top" class="mod-latarticlesadcpc mod-adcpc with-fourth-cpc" style="line-height: 20px; word-spacing: normal; padding: 3px 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; border-width: 1px 0px; border-top-style: solid; border-bottom-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(136, 136, 136); border-bottom-color: rgb(136, 136, 136); margin-right: 0px !important; width: 649px !important; float: none !important; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">the pesticide industry is mounting a "No on Big Green" campaign run by Woodward & McDowell, a veteran campaign and political consulting firm in San Francisco.</div><div id="mod-a-body-after-first-para" class="mod-latarticlesarticletextwithadcpc mod-latarticlesarticletext mod-articletext" style="line-height: 20px; word-spacing: normal; padding: 0px 10px 0px 0px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; border: 0px;">At the same time, agribusiness has organized a separate campaign in favor of a rival initiative that would step up pesticide testing but would be far less sweeping.The rival measure is officially sponsored by Californians for Responsible Food Laws (CAREFUL).If the CAREFUL initiative gets one more vote than Big Green it would nullify Big Green's tougher pesticide regulations but not affect other provisions such as those dealing with global warming, offshore oil drilling or forest protection.Meanwhile, farmers and growers are not alone in trying to qualify rival measures on the ballot.The secretary of state's office said there are five timber-related initiatives now in circulation.One measure sponsored by environmentalists using the name "Forests Forever" would go further than Big Green's forest provisions by placing severe limits on logging. It would prohibit the cutting of "ancient forests" and require lumber companies to leave at least 40% of the trees in areas they do log.A rival measure sponsored by the timber industry would ban "clear cutting" of forests. But the measure defines clear cutting in such a way that loggers would be required to leave only four mature "seed trees" per acre, industry spokesmen said.The timber-industry initiative is designed to cancel out both the Forests Forever measure and the section of the Big Green initiative designed to protect forests.Meanwhile, the battle of the initiatives has become entwined in the race for governor.Van de Kamp has chided opponents in both parties for failing to strongly endorse the initiative.Speaking to a Planning and Conservation League conference last month in Sacramento, Van de Kamp scored U.S. Sen. Pete Wilson--who is sure to win the Republican primary--for not endorsing the initiative."Pete Wilson spoke to you earlier today," Van de Kamp began. "He told you that he's against oil spills and cancer-causing pesticides, and that he's for redwoods and clean air and water. He's got an open mind and a good heart on all these issues. But he just can't support the Big Green initiative."With all due respect," Van de Kamp declared, "the senator is dead wrong. Twenty years ago it might have been a triumph to have a governor unafraid to call himself an environmentalist. In 1990, that's the minimum qualification for the job."While the initiative is a centerpiece of Van de Kamp's campaign in November, he also hopes it will give him a boost in his flagging primary campaign against former San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein. The proposition may provide a "definition point" in the primary, he said. Feinstein said she will not take a position on it until it qualifies for the ballot.</div><div class="float" style="line-height: 1px; word-spacing: normal; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px; clear: both; height: 1px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><img src="http://articles.latimes.com/images/pixel.gif" height="1" width="1" alt="" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px; line-height: 20px; display: inherit !important;" /></div><div id="mod-a-body-after-second-para" class="mod-latarticlesarticletextwithadcpc mod-latarticlesarticletext mod-articletext" style="line-height: 20px; word-spacing: normal; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px;">If Van de Kamp loses in the Democratic primary, it could leave Big Green without a sponsor among the November candidates for governor.Even so, the absence of a gubernatorial candidate stumping for the initiative in November would seem unlikely to affect the fate of Big Green. In fact, a measure that is devoid of gubernatorial politics could have more appeal to some voters.Even without Van de Kamp, there would be no lack of campaign support for the measure.A wide range of environmental groups are gearing up for the campaign already, as is Assemblyman Tom Hayden's grass-roots group, Campaign California. The groups include the Sierra Club California, Pesticide Watch, Natural Resources Defense Council, League of Conservation Voters and the National Toxic Campaign.In addition, the Hollywood celebrity crowd, led by Jane Fonda and Meryl Streep, is expected to campaign vigorously for the measure.</div>--bs rww but detailled<a href="http://americong.com/origins-green-energy-occupy-wall-street/">http://americong.com/origins-green-energy-occupy-wall-street/</a>--lee s boast of takedown? //37?188 p 164-<h1 class="gb-volume-title" dir="ltr" style="line-height: 19.2px; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Eco-Wars: Political Campaigns and Social Movements</h1>By Ronald T. Libby 2013Can grassroots interest groups ever win the wars they wage against big business in America? Arguing that they can, Libby investigates the strategies used in an antibiotechnology campaign aimed at drug companies; an animal rights effort directed against the agricultural industry; an antipesticide campaign focused on the chemical industry; a property rights fight against environmental groups; and a secondhand smoke campaign opposing tobacco companies.
<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=-OsJcW817tYC&dq=Lee+Stitzenberger+ca+ad+politic&source=gbs_navlinks_s">https://books.google.com/books?id=-OsJcW817tYC&dq=Lee+Stitzenberger+ca+ad+politic&source=gbs_navlinks_s</a>11835 West Olympic Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90064
http://dolphingroup.org/KATHY GATHERUM LUCKERPARTNER
 KGL@dolphingroup.org
Kathy’s thoughtful and precise attention to detail drives her day-to-day oversight for a diverse portfolio of major accounts at Dolphin Group including Fortune 500 companies, leading commercial real estate developments, the hospitality industry, and numerous initiative and referendum campaigns. As a key member of the executive team, Kathy’s three decades of experience and expertise provide invaluable insights managing the varied needs of our corporate, political and public affairs clients.Christine AghassiCHRISTINE AGHASSIPARTNER
 CAghassi@dolphingroup.org
For over two decades, Christine has developed strategies and then executed comprehensive and often complex public affairs programs with specific outcomes in mind. Whether winning a ballot initiative or securing land use entitlements, she works methodically to drive program planning and applies her expertise to hands-on implementation. In addition to her leadership role with Dolphin, Christine is a board member of the Valley Industry & Commerce Association (VICA) and the Los Angeles County Business Federation (BizFed).Liz HansellELIZABETH HANSELLPARTNER
 EHansell@dolphingroup.org
Elizabeth has 15 years of managing strategic coalitions, grassroots advocacy and issue management. She has built a reputation as one of California’s leading authorities on grassroots advocacy by using her unique ability to motivate people to take action and get involved with the issue at hand. Elizabeth has been an integral part of the strategy team for California ballot initiatives, advocacy on high profile legislation, and public affairs campaigns working with high profile companies and elected officials.Becky WarrenBECKY WARRENPARTNER
 BWarren@dolphingroup.org
Becky brings her passion and intensity to lead the firm’s strategic communications practice which includes media relations, public affairs, crisis and litigation communication. A skilled strategist of 20 years, Becky provides strategic counsel to several Fortune 100 companies and to some of the most disruptive tech companies in the country. She has been consistently involved in some of the most high profile public policy debates in California and worked with the most influential companies across the country. Previously, she managed the Sacramento office of a national public affairs firm and was the Deputy Communications Director for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.Lee StitzenbergerLEE STITZENBERGERCHAIRMAN AND CEO
 eltopanga@aol.com
Lee has successfully developed and orchestrated long-term advocacy and grassroots programs for major corporations and political campaigns including several Fortune 10 companies. A forty-year veteran of political and legislative battles across the country, Lee is one of the top strategists in the business.Adriana FernandezADRIANA FERNANDEZSENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE
 AFernandez@dolphingroup.org
Adriana develops and implements strategic communications and advocacy campaigns for The Dolphin Group. She spearheads public education, grassroots advocacy and community mobilization programs for many of the Firm’s clients. She has a broad knowledge of policy issues and is skilled in distilling even the most high-level policy issues to messages that resonate across a spectrum of audiences. Adriana has a BA in Political Science from California State University Los Angeles.Lucy MaLUCY MASENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE
 LMa@dolphingroup.org
Lucy provides outreach strategy, and day-to-day program and campaign management for clients across multiple sectors. She brings a wide range of experience at both the state and national level in directing communications, fundraising, and canvassing program management for multiple campaigns, elected officials, and nonprofit organizations. Lucy is a member of Pi Sigma Alpha, and a graduate of the California State University Chico with a dual BA in International Relations and International Economics.Brandon LoueyBRANDON LOUEYACCOUNT EXECUTIVE
 BLouey@dolphingroup.org
Brandon is the most recent member to join the Dolphin team, bringing experience in political research, legislative monitoring, and public outreach. Previously, he interned for current US House Majority Leader, Kevin McCarthy, and a lobbying firm in Washington, D.C. At Dolphin, Brandon works with the team on client projects and a variety of tasks from social media engagement, supporter outreach, and political research to monitoring daily media pieces and legislative issues. A recent graduate of UCLA, Brandon received a dual B.A. in Economics and Political Science with a minor in Global Studies.==http://fryingpannews.org/2012/09/27/the-dolphin-group-prop-32s-dark-messenger/ 404https://web.archive.org/web/20130910073130/http://fryingpannews.org/2012/09/27/the-dolphin-group-prop-32s-dark-messenger/

Today’s body politic has no shortage of rhetorical bile, but no campaign attack ad comes close to matching 1988’s race-baiting <span style="line-height: 1.25em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130910073130/http://www.nytimes.com/1988/11/04/opinion/george-bush-and-willie-horton.html" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Willie Horton commercial</a> for sheer visceral partisanship.<p style="line-height: 1.25em; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0.8em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Horton was a black murder convict who raped a woman and stabbed her male companion while on a weekend furlough from a Massachusetts prison. The ad — which showed a photo of Horton, with the words “raping” and “stabbing” flashing behind him – blamed former Massachusetts Governor and then-presidential candidate Michael Dukakis for Horton’s release. It is generally thought of as a low-water mark in American politics—stoking racial stereotypes in a Machiavellian push for victory at any cost. But it worked. Dukakis never recovered from the attack and George H.W. Bush went on to win the presidency.<p style="line-height: 1.25em; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0.8em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Rather than facing censure, the political consulting outfit behind the Horton ad, the <span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130910073130/http://web.archive.org/web/20050901194245/http://dolphingroup.org/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Dolphin Group</a>, has thrived ever since. Based in Los Angeles with an office in Sacramento, Dolphin was founded in 1974 by political consultant <span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130910073130/http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Bill_Roberts" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Bill Roberts</a>, who helped <span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130910073130/http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Ronald_Reagan" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Ronald Reagan</a> win his campaign for California Governor in 1966. No fan of modesty, Roberts for years took credit on Dolphin’s website for “transforming popular movie star Ronald Reagan into one of the most well known political figures in U.S. history.”<p style="line-height: 1.25em; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0.8em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">“I think I ought to have the right to lie to you if I think it will help me win,” Roberts told theLos Angeles Times in 1982. He died six years later, just months before the Willie Horton ad was released.<p style="line-height: 1.25em; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0.8em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Now, more than two decades later, the Dolphin Group, sans Roberts, but with his political philosophy fully intact, is working on behalf of the Yes on Proposition 32 campaign in California. According to the most recent filing statements published on the California Secretary of State’s website, Dolphin has received nearly $25,000 in consulting fees and expense reimbursements from the Yes on 32 effort. Dolphin Senior Vice President Elizabeth Hansell is personally involved in the Yes on 32 effort, taking part in at least one pro-Prop. 32 community forum in Kern County, and is referred to in campaign literature as Stop the Special Interest Money’s “<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130910073130/http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:r1y-3zu7wfsJ:stopspecialinterestmoney.org/downloads/At_A_Glance.pdf?c%3D10f5i069yy6xc6n+Liz+Hansell+prop+32&hl=en&gl=us" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">Coalitions Director</a>.”<p style="line-height: 1.25em; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0.8em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Prop. 32’s cynical appropriation of Occupy Wall Street-style anti-corporate rhetoric, and the language of campaign finance reform, fits what has become Dolphin’s signature in recent years – the “Trojan Horse” political campaign. The firm has upped the cynicism of its Willie Horton ad by specializing in taking the most draconian big business-backed measures and draping them in the language of good government reform. (Requests for comments for this article have not been answered by the Dolphin Group.)<p style="line-height: 1.25em; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0.8em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">One of the firm’s most disingenuous political efforts in the state was the campaign strategy it developed on behalf of California’s 1994 ballot initiative, <span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130910073130/http://escholarship.org/uc/item/0wd0s43g#page-25" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Proposition 188</a>. Funded by the tobacco industry, Prop. 188 would have eliminated more than 300 local anti-smoking ordinances across California, gutted new legislation to ban indoor smoking in workplaces, and replaced strict state protections against selling tobacco to minors with a toothless, loophole-filled ordinance.<p style="line-height: 1.25em; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0.8em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">So how do you sell something like that to a voting public highly supportive of anti-smoking legislation?<p style="line-height: 1.25em; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0.8em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Bring in the Dolphin Group.<p style="line-height: 1.25em; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0.8em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Since there was virtually no chance of Prop. 188 <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130910073130/http://articles.latimes.com/1994-10-22/news/mn-53282_1_tobacco-industry" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">winning on its merits</a>, Dolphin simply flipped the switch, billing the measure as an anti-tobacco reform effort and a worthy heir to the wave of anti-smoking legislation (<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130910073130/http://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/dosh_publications/smoking.html" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">Assembly Bill 13</a> and the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130910073130/http://www.cdph.ca.gov/programs/Pages/STAKEProgram.aspx" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">STAKE Act</a>, to name two) that the California state legislature had been passing. Dolphin set up an Astroturf anti-smoking group called Californians for Statewide Smoking Restrictions to front the subterfuge. CASSR ran radio spots featuring the voice of a woman claiming to be a school vice principal, telling voters that Prop. 188 is the “best way to keep cigarettes away from kids.”<p style="line-height: 1.25em; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0.8em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Initially, the ruse worked. According to an October, 1994 poll taken by the Los Angeles Times, Prop. 188 was ahead among likely voters only weeks before election day. California public health officials were appalled.<p style="line-height: 1.25em; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0.8em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">“I’m hard-pressed to see how 188 is a stronger approach to this very difficult problem,” then-California Health Director S. Kimberly Belshe told the Los Angeles Times. Former California Assemblyman Terry B. Friedman described Dolphin’s attack plan as “misleading at best and fraudulent at worst.”<p style="line-height: 1.25em; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0.8em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Eventually, however, a coalition of anti-smoking advocates filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission, which subsequently forced CASSR to add the tagline “A Committee of California Hotels, Restaurants, Philip Morris Inc. and other tobacco companies” next to its name on all advertising. Once the connection between CASSR and Big Tobacco was spelled out, voters wised up and Prop. 188 wound up losing by a nearly 70 to 30 percent margin.<p style="line-height: 1.25em; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0.8em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Dolphin’s Trojan Horse strategy, however, endured.<p style="line-height: 1.25em; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0.8em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">In 1999, Dolphin was back at it again, speaking for yet another Astroturf group, <span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130910073130/http://www.flyfisherman.com/2012/02/15/striped-bass-proposal-rejected-more-litigation-promised/#axzz27bDcCCYD" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Coalition for a Sustainable Delta</a> (CSD) as a front for Beverly Hills agribusiness magnate Stewart Resnick’s interests in a looming water controversy in the Sacramento River Delta.<p style="line-height: 1.25em; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0.8em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">In the late 1990s, California Department of Fish and Game officials noticed the stocks of native salmon and endangered smelt were declining precipitously in the Delta, thanks to a receding fresh water supply. Water pumping restrictions to California’s farms were put into motion.<p style="line-height: 1.25em; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0.8em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">The Delta is a major source of water for Resnick’s farming interests, however, and he wasn’t about to have his virtually unlimited cheap water source potentially restricted. In response to proposed pumping caps, Dolphin-backed CSD successfully sued to halt the caps, claiming the plunge in native fish stocks was really caused by non-native “stressors,” such as the striped bass. The bass CSD claimed, ate the eggs of salmon and endangered Delta smelt. Eight years later the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service debunked this fish tale and <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130910073130/http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204731804574384731898375624.html" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">imposed water pumping restrictions</a> to protect the smelt.<p style="line-height: 1.25em; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0.8em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">One would think that actively fighting California environmental officials would have kept Dolphin associates busy, but in 2000 they helped start another fake grassroots organization called Santa Monicans for a Living Wage — which spent its time undermining attempts to impose living wage regulations. The coalition fronted a local ballot initiative, Measure KK, which would have stopped efforts to impose a minimum wage of $10.69 an hour on Santa Monica’s wildly lucrative coastal luxury hotels, restaurants and boutiques. The proposal would have covered approximately 3,000 employees.<p style="line-height: 1.25em; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0.8em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Measure KK would have also prevented the Santa Monica City Council from ever instituting a living wage on a private business in the city. It failed by a 78 to 22 percent margin.<p style="line-height: 1.25em; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0.8em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Two years later, the local hotel industry put Measure JJ on the Santa Monica ballot, as a public referendum on the city’s living wage law – with the goal of repealing it. Dolphin represented yet another Astroturf group, Fighting Against Irresponsible Regulation (FAIR). Without offering any evidence, the group claimed to have an army of bellboys, waiters and housekeepers working its phone banks against the initiative.<p style="line-height: 1.25em; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0.8em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Measure JJ went down in defeat.<p style="line-height: 1.25em; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0.8em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">In 2006, the hotel industry hired the Dolphin Group to run a “scorched earth” campaign against Santa Monica city councilman Kevin McKeown’s run for reelection, ostensibly for his support of the living wage initiative in the early aughts. Right off the bat, Dolphin created yet another faux grassroots organization called “Santa Monicans for Sensible Priorities” to attack McKeown. They took out TV ads—unheard of in Santa Monica–accusing McKeown, among other things, of importing mass populations of homeless people to the city’s beaches.<p style="line-height: 1.25em; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0.8em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">“It was far and away the most negative campaign in the history of Santa Monica,” remembers McKeown.<p style="line-height: 1.25em; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0.8em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">McKeown won the election, thanks to a Steve Lopez column in the Los Angeles Times, debunking Dolphin’s disingenuous campaign tactics.<p style="line-height: 1.25em; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0.8em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">“They will distort the electoral process on behalf of their clients without any care for voter trust,” McKeown says, “or for maintaining voter faith in the democratic process. As long as they win.”<p style="line-height: 1.25em; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0.8em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Like the pro-tobacco and anti-environmental and anti-living wage crusades before it, Prop. 32 bears the unmistakable DNA of a Dolphin campaign. If you can’t win on straight merit, appropriate the other side’s arguments and use them to mask your own.<p style="line-height: 1.25em; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0.8em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Proposition 32 is no different than the California “paycheck protection” efforts that preceded it in 1998 and 2005—and failed. The only difference this time around is Dolphin’s Occupy-inspired, anti-corporate packaging.<p style="line-height: 1.25em; word-spacing: normal; margin: 0.8em 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><img align="left" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130910073130im/http://www.laane.org/frying-pan/files/2012/08/tag_green.png" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: none; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;" />Tags: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130910073130/http://fryingpannews.org/tag/bill-roberts/" rel="tag" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">Bill Roberts</a> • <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130910073130/http://fryingpannews.org/tag/proposition-32/" rel="tag" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">Proposition 32</a> • <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130910073130/http://fryingpannews.org/tag/the-dolphin-group/" rel="tag" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">The Dolphin Group</a> • <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130910073130/http://fryingpannews.org/tag/willie-horton-ad/" rel="tag" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">Willie Horton Ad</a><footer style="line-height: 16px; word-spacing: normal; margin: 30px 0px 0px; padding: 10px 0px 30px; border-width: 1px 0px 0px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 525px; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;"><div class="bio" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: italic; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; background: transparent;">Matthew Fleischer is an award-winning investigative journalist, a former LA Weekly staff writer, and an editor at FishbowlLA.</div></footer>

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stauber & R

IN RECENT YEARS California has been the front line of the tobacco wars and the state where the industry has suffered its worst setbacks. In 1988 the cigarette companies spent more than $20 million in a failed effort to defeat a major anti-smoking initiative. Since then health activists have passed hundreds of local smoking bans. As a result, California has seen a 27 percent decrease in cigarette consumption, the most success of any state in reducing tobacco's deadly toll.

Philip Morris is fighting back through a California PR firm called the Dolphin Group. Dolphin CEO Lee Stitzenberger used a half-million dollars from Philip Morris to set up a front group called "Californians for Statewide Smoking Restrictions." Using this deceptive name, NSA members gathered signatures to put a referendum on the California ballot in November 1994, which the Dolphin Group promoted with <a href="http://www.gigaplex.com/wow/photo/landau/billbord.htm">billboards</a> reading, "Yes on 188--Tough Statewide Smoking Restrictions--The Right Choice."

In reality, Proposition 188 was a pro-tobacco referendum which, if passed, would have undermined 270 existing local anti-smoking ordinances in California cities, as well as the state's new statewide smoke-free workplace law. Anti-smoking groups charged that many of the people who signed petitions in favor of the referendum were led to believe they were supporting a measure to protect nonsmokers and youths. After the public learned about the funding source behind "Californians for Statewide Smoking Restrictions," opinion turned decisively against the referendum and it was voted down. "The $25 million smokescreen the tobacco industry created to dupe Californians into voting for Proposition 188 has cleared, and the voters have spoken," declared the American Cancer Society.

The tobacco industry's PR campaign is not really about swaying public opinion, a battle which the industry has already lost. Even half of smokers favor stricter government regulation of their deadly habit. The industry's goal is not to win good PR, but to avoid losing political and legal battles. This survivalist strategy has served the cigarette industry well for 40 years. At a PR seminar in May 1994, Tom Lauria, the chief lobbyist for the Tobacco Institute, pointed out tobacco sales continue to grow worldwide. He dismissed tobacco critics as simply a "political correctness craze" and ridiculed predictions of tobacco's demise, saying the media have been preparing smoking's obituary for decades. Tobacco may be fighting for its life, but Lauria reminded the assembled PR practitioners their industry has been fighting and winning that battle for a long time.

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<table class="post-top" border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" width="100%" style="line-height: 1; word-spacing: normal;"><tbody><tr><td class="smalltext" nowrap="nowrap">George_S <img src="/30ad5081-d372-56d8-81cb-73cc457f0a08.gif"/> (1000+ posts) <a href="http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=send_mesg&u_id=146189"><img src="/8c1e7e86-7837-5021-be55-0a15f4de3d04.gif"/></a> <a href="http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=user_profiles&u_id=146189"><img src="/cd2c4bf8-066b-529b-99b7-e63b59d1689e.gif"/></a> <a href="http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=add_buddy&u_id=146189"><img src="/6a495111-03fc-5fd9-81bc-ed1e209fbc71.gif"/></a> <a href="http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=ignore_member&iid=146189&level=three"><img src="/b87e86e3-3889-5212-b416-44767241ff96.gif"/></a></td><td class="smalltext" nowrap="nowrap" align="right">Sun Oct-24-04 02:28 PM

Response to <a href="http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1154535#1155597">Reply #14</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

<table class="post-subject" border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" width="100%" style="line-height: 1; word-spacing: normal;"><tbody><tr><td>16. The Dolphin Group!!!</td></tr></tbody></table>

<div class="medtext longop">The Westwood-based Dolphin Group, which is running the slick campaign with massive mailings of ordinary, sincere, smiling folks saying they support the ballot initiative, is nationally known for having produced the infamous Willie Horton video ads that sank Michael Dukakis in the 1988 presidential election.

Lee Stitzenberger, chief executive officer of the Dolphin Group, confirmed his agency is handling the initiative campaign but declined further comment.

As the Los Angeles Times reported in a 1994 story: "Stitzenberger produced a video of Willie Horton's victims. Their descriptions of Horton's vicious attacks was a powerful attack on former Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis in his 1988 run for the presidency. Stitzenberger produced the video as part of an independent effort to aid George Bush's election."

The ad was widely condemned as an effort to introduce racism into the campaign and as a distortion of Dukakis' record on crime as Massachusetts governor.

The Dolphin Group has a long history in the initiative process, having as far back as 1976 run the campaign defeating Proposition 14, which would have protected the hard-fought gains made by Cesar Chavez's United Farm Workers.

The Dolphin Group is the same company that spent more than $5 million of Phillip Morris' money in a failed effort to pass a pro-smoking California ballot initiative, Proposition 188, in 1994.

As with the living wage initiative, which is designed to appeal to people who support a living wage--even though this initiative would curtail such efforts in Santa Monica--the wording on the tobacco initiative was similarly deceptive. It implied that the initiative favored restrictions on smoking, when in fact, if passed, it would have ended tough local ordinances designed to protect nonsmokers.

"People were not told that this would wipe out their strict local standards and impose a weaker law," Paul Knepprath of the American Lung Assn. said at the time.

As The Times reported in the Stitzenberger story, "his firm ran the 1986 campaign that resulted in the unprecedented defeat of California Chief Justice Rose Bird and two other Supreme Court justices. In that campaign, he and his partners organized a group called Crime Victims for Court Reform, which drew on mothers and fathers of murdered children who opposed the liberal Bird court."

The Dolphin Group also promoted an agricultural industry-backed alternative, Proposition 135, to undermine the "Big Green" environmental initiative in 1990 that resulted in the labeling of hazardous materials in everyday products.

The "living wage" campaign that the Dolphin Group is now handling is similarly deceptive in that the living wage it refers to would only apply to a small number of those who work under city contract but would prevent Santa Monica officials from enacting any broader living wage proposal that might include workers at the fancy hotels.

That is not made clear in the mailings that voters have received, and one is easily fooled into thinking that a vote for this initiative is indeed a vote for a real living wage proposal of the sort being considered by the Santa Monica City Council. It is instead designed to undermine that effort. Voter beware!

<a href="http://www.robertscheer.com/2_localla/00_columns/100100.htm" target="_blank">http://www.robertscheer.com/2_localla/00_columns/100100...</a></div>

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<table class="post-bottom" border="0" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" width="100%" style="line-height: 1; word-spacing: normal;"><tbody><tr><td class="smalltext" nowrap="nowrap" width="1%"> </td><td class="smalltext" nowrap="nowrap" width="99%" align="right"><a href="http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=printer_friendly&forum=132&topic_id=1154535&mesg_id=1155698" class="smallblack">Printer Friendly</a> | <a href="http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=1154535&mesg_id=1155698" class="smallblack">Permalink</a> |  | <a href="http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1154535#top" class="smallblack">Top</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

<table class="post-top" border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" width="100%" style="line-height: 1; word-spacing: normal;"><tbody><tr><td class="smalltext" nowrap="nowrap"><a id="1155827" name="1155827"> </a>George_S <img src="/6fde630e-8ecf-5973-a571-c6e8213900dc.gif"/> (1000+ posts) <a href="http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=send_mesg&u_id=146189"><img src="/4eda221e-236a-57e3-8304-8dbfd3c5526e.gif"/></a> <a href="http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=user_profiles&u_id=146189"><img src="/848544ab-edba-59c2-baa9-6695d5c35eda.gif"/></a> <a href="http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=add_buddy&u_id=146189"><img src="/be9ef8ec-96c3-5c22-9f5d-0b6549333dbf.gif"/></a> <a href="http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=ignore_member&iid=146189&level=three"><img src="/cbd09029-a775-52f1-abd5-bae3f8ea6c85.gif"/></a></td><td class="smalltext" nowrap="nowrap" align="right">Sun Oct-24-04 02:47 PM

Response to <a href="http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1154535#1155698">Reply #16</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

<table class="post-subject" border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" width="100%" style="line-height: 1; word-spacing: normal;"><tbody><tr><td>19. Mysterious Political Mailers Linked To Anti-Living Wage Faction</td></tr></tbody></table>

<div class="medtext longop">Mysterious Political Mailers Linked To

Anti-Living Wage Faction

Group Maintains They Are Not 'Responsible' For Fliers

Santa Monica Daily Press - November 21, 2002

By Andrew H. Fixmer

Deceptive mailers which may have swung Santa Monica's vote on the living wage have been linked to the measure's opponents, despite their prior denials of involvement.

State campaign disclosure forms list FAIR - Fighting Against Irresponsible Regulation - as the main source of funding for three, last-minute mass leaflet mailings which appear to have misled voters.

One controversial mailing, under the heading "Democratic Voters Ballot Guide For Santa Monica," listed "No on JJ" beside a checked box, beneath the Democratic candidates for governor and other state offices, Congress and city council. However, the Democratic Party said it endorsed JJ, the living wage ordinance, which was narrowly defeated Nov. 5.

....

Lacy and Lord-Butcher - who created the apparent dummy committees backing Democrats, pro-choicers and quality schools - weren't available for comment Wednesday. Lord-Butcher is credit-ed as being the "father of the slate mailer," and Lacy worked in Ronald Reagan's administration. Both are considered tops in their field.

<a href="http://www.laane.org/pressroom/stories/smart/sm021121smdailypress.html" target="_blank">http://www.laane.org/pressroom/stories/smart/sm021121sm...</a></div>

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

<table class="post-bottom" border="0" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" width="100%" style="line-height: 1; word-spacing: normal;"><tbody><tr><td class="smalltext" nowrap="nowrap" width="1%"> </td><td class="smalltext" nowrap="nowrap" width="99%" align="right"><a href="http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=printer_friendly&forum=132&topic_id=1154535&mesg_id=1155827" class="smallblack">Printer Friendly</a> | <a href="http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=1154535&mesg_id=1155827" class="smallblack">Permalink</a> |  | <a href="http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1154535#top" class="smallblack">Top</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

<table class="post-top" border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" width="100%" style="line-height: 1; word-spacing: normal;"><tbody><tr><td class="smalltext" nowrap="nowrap"><a id="1156000" name="1156000"> </a>George_S <img src="/d7644447-ac3e-53fc-b919-857b3cd84209.gif"/> (1000+ posts) <a href="http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=send_mesg&u_id=146189"><img src="/b0889244-724a-54e0-9346-4efa4b3b65c3.gif"/></a> <a href="http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=user_profiles&u_id=146189"><img src="/68e1e8a9-95c7-5c6a-b63d-a801930f5094.gif"/></a> <a href="http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=add_buddy&u_id=146189"><img src="/5a4bbb86-4da0-5837-8ac1-5c34ae07d3ca.gif"/></a> <a href="http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=ignore_member&iid=146189&level=three"><img src="/50fc7527-f5a7-53fb-a142-f73085d61158.gif"/></a></td><td class="smalltext" nowrap="nowrap" align="right">Sun Oct-24-04 03:09 PM

Response to <a href="http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1154535#1155698">Reply #16</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

<table class="post-subject" border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" width="100%" style="line-height: 1; word-spacing: normal;"><tbody><tr><td>22. more on The Dolphin Group</td></tr></tbody></table>

<div class="medtext longop">The Dolphin Group is more than just a communications firm. We are a full service public relations and public affairs consulting firm with a reputation for achieving results for our clients. Everything we do is designed to change the perceptions of an individual or group -- to get them to think differently -- and to ultimately persuade them to change their behavior. We are result-oriented and by the nature of our business, crisis-oriented as well. With offices in Los Angeles and Sacramento, and over two decades of experience, the Dolphin Group is prepared to accept any challenge.

Bill Roberts, also a founding partner in Spencer-Roberts, which pioneered the concept of professional campaign management and political consulting, founded the Dolphin Group in 1974. Roberts was best known for his role in turning popular 1960s movie star Ronald Reagan into one of the most well-known political figures in U.S. history.

<a href="http://www.dolphingroup.org" target="_blank">http://www.dolphingroup.org</a> /

In other words, they lie, and they will take down anyone who gets in their way, like Rose Bird.</div>

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