Election Season – Beware of Lying Ads

by Jack Lee

I’m on my home when this ad comes on the radio and did I get an earful of the most disgusting political disinformation I’ve heard in years. It’s being run on KPAY and sure would like to get a copy of it. I want to go over exactly what they said and expose the lies and I also would love to expose who is behind it, who’s fronting the money? I’ll be checking in Sacramento to see if they are a registered PAC.

The ad was against Prop 23 (sponsored by Dan Logue-R and known as the jobs initiative). The pitch was its a job killer foisted on us by the evil oil companies in Texas. At the end of this deceptive hatchet job there’s about 10 seconds from a patriotic song follow by some guy speaking really fast and he says, “Sponsored by conservation voters” At first I almost thought he said conservative voters! Maybe that was the point? So who are these “Conservation voters” in Chico that paid for this attack ad? I recall that a few years ago a group by the same name sponsored liberal candidates for City Council. If you have any information on this group please write us and give us some names. All information will be considered confidential.

Update: I found a group using the name League of Conservation Voters for California and they were headquartered in Oakland. They listed the following contributors. Still looking for the Chico connection.

Alida R Messenger
New York, NY 10022 Self/Philanthropist $547,000 08/27/2003-
03/09/2007
Jabe Blumenthal
Seattle, WA 98112 Self/Philanthropist $12,500 08/13/2004
James Campbell
Kentfield, CA 94914 Self/Philanthropist $10,000 05/24/2004
John A Harris IV
Berwyn, PA 19312 Retired/Retired $298,000 02/10/2004-
05/03/2005
John Harris
Berwyn, PA 19312 Retired/Retired $150,000 08/28/2006
John R Hunting
Washington, DC 20002 Retired/Retired $150,000 10/20/2003-
04/19/2004
John R Hunting
Grand Rapids, MI 49503 Retired/Retired $201,000 05/25/2005-
02/14/2006
LCV Political Engagement Fund
Washington, DC 20036 $175,000 06/11/2010
The NEA Fund
Washington, DC 20036 $5,000 10/05/2009

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20 Responses to Election Season – Beware of Lying Ads

  1. Tina says:

    Jack, anyone can buy an ad for radio. KPAY has air time reserved for local advertising and air time that is national. There may not be a Chico connection. If not, the fact that we’re in the more conservative “North State” may be what’s at work here. The left is in full pretense mode out to fool what they believe are the stupid people.

  2. Post Scripts says:

    Tina, yes I know only too well that anyone can buy an ad on any radio station, but I believe they should be required to say who is paying for the ad. Creating a name to attach to it in order to hide the true source of the funding is contrary to fair elections and it’s dishonest.

    Ads that pose as one thing and do exactly the opposite of what they say should not be allowed. We need truth in politics – not games.

  3. Post Scripts says:

    This comment came from Harold and I am re-posting due to a problem with submitting via our website…. my apologies Harold.

    Yes Jack you are correct again, I recall seeing that billboard on the Esplanade and then 2 or 3 days later it read ‘Conservations for’ instead of the prior ‘Conservatives for’ . Once, maybe a mistake, but twice? more Liberal tricks to confuse voters to keep or gain control of power. Voters need to realize that Chico’s problems are due impart to a lack of honest leadership regarding public concerns. Our Budget problems are never effectively addressed, most all public opinion overlooked, and bigger government created with unnecessary ordinances imposed on privately owned property. Most resent examples are Chickens and ‘Historic buildings’ land grabs. Why? all because of an unbalanced 6 to 1 liberal majority City council. Hopefully Chico voters will replace the incumbent ‘bell cow’ Liberals with fiscally Conservative candidates like Sorenson, Kromer and Evens and create a working council, instead of the ‘follow the leader” one we currently have.

  4. Hatchet Man? says:

    There’s nothing tricky going on here.

    The League of Conservation Voters is a national environmental group: http://www.lcv.org/.

    There is also a state group called the California League of Conservation Voters: http://www.ecovote.org/.

    Both groups have been around since the early 70s and are pretty open about what they do and who they’re for.

    If you want to see a deceptive hatchet job, read the text of Prop 23 and tell me it has anything to do with creating jobs. And… follow the money. http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/arnold-lashes-out-at-valero-prop-23-opponents/

  5. David Guzzetti says:

    We have never called ourselves ‘Conservatives’, although we have always felt the conservatives have been the radicals. We support conservation and the environment and not the changes big business has brought upon us.
    Our PAC has been in action for more than 20 years.
    Chico Conservation Voters is the name and has nothing to do with any national group. Our state # is committee #1331346.
    We are registered with the state and county. We are truly laughing at your concern and your comments about ‘stupid and lying’. It tell us we are on the right track. You are truly experts at both of those accusations as well as your delusions about Big Oil. Your worry lets us know we are on the right track. Enjoy the democracy folks. I hope I have been helpful in soothing your name calling paranoia. Viva free enterprise and free speech.

  6. CLOVA says:

    Jack there is an excellent article on the Pacific Reasearch Institute website that tells how many, I think about 150,000,more jobs will be lost if Prop 23 is defeated. The big deceit is that green jobs will not be lost is Prop 23 passes. They will still be there and so will other jobs.

  7. Forest Harlan says:

    Well, now you conservatives really are getting your undies all twisted up over an ad by a local conservation group called, Chico Conservation Voters. The truth is Prop. 23 is a “Job Killer” proposition. Our petroleum based economy is not sustainable and we would be much be better off making the necessary transition to a green economy sooner rather than later. The Butte County Health Care Coalition has endorsed the “No on 23 campaign” and the activities of the Chico Conservation Voters because getting off dirty fuels is also a health issue for everyone who breathes the dirty air that results.

    There is no deception going on here. You global warming deniers are just flat-out wrong and are supporting a strategy that can only lead to disaster for our great nation and the planet we all share. We count as allies over 95% of the world’s preeminent scientists. Your allies are two oil companies that stand to lose business whenever we initiate the necessary change and the Koch brothers.

  8. Tina says:

    David Guzzetti calls conservatives “radical”, goes on to desparage “the change big business has brought us” and then has the audacity to say “viva free enterprise”! He’s a little confused to say the least.

    Most conservatives are conservationists. We believe in responsibly caring for our home the earth. The difference between the conservative approach and the anti-business, anti-oil approach is that we realize sustainability is incomplete if it doesn’t include meeting the basic needs of human beings. A transitional approach to alternative energy makes sense; shutting down oil makes no sense at all and will only create chaos and poverty. There is no alternative that can immediately replace oil…our greeny friends need to get over it!

    We conservatives are not radical…nor are we alarmist…we think the need to control business through unreasonable government intervention to conserve the environment is both impractical and unwise. A competitive market approach will ensure that everyones life works during the transition. The radical green approach does not.

    Forest Harlen: “We count as allies over 95% of the world’s preeminent scientists.”

    That’s what you keep saying but where is the evidence? Did someone go out and count them? Or have you just pulled this out of thin air like much of the so-called science that’s been passed off as fact by these so-called credible scientists? Don’t bother, we already know the answer.

    Jack judging from the alarmist response you are getting I think you hit the right nerve…good on ya!

  9. Felipe says:

    Dear Faux Conservatives, Yes you dour republicans who have attempted to create a ‘grass roots’ political movement (aka the tea party express or whatever) with the loving sponsorship of AT&T and now some of the major texas oil companies. When you switch your allegiance to the dollar (as represented by your corporate allies)and you fail to connect that with the disturbing impacts that monopolization can have on democracy, your voices become hollow. Anyone who listens even moderately closely can hear the corporate interests echoing through them. Though you have truly put their money where your mouths are, you seem to have no real awareness of what that means to the fundamental concept of democracy. Are you familiar with the term ‘shil’? If you take their money, or support their cause, it would seem that the term would be a fitting one for the propaganda you spread. Do you honestly think that these big Texas oil companies have your or our best interests in mind? Did Enron? Perhaps, a little less angry vitriol, and a little more serious contemplation might help you see how hollow your arguments have become.
    Lovingly yours…
    Phil

  10. Quentin Colgan says:

    As Thomas Sowell wrote recently, the words conservative and liberal are meaningless anymore.
    The Constitution was written by liberals, only to be defended by alleged conservatives.
    I like to think we should do our best to conserve liberal ideals.

  11. Quentin Colgan says:

    I believe you are the one who is mistaken–again.
    We Liberals are ALL for FREE enterprise.
    The system we have in America is not a FREE system. It has been manipulated by the corporatists for their advantage.
    They have bought up the MSM and convinced us that our system is just capitalism, but it is not.
    America is NOT a capitalist country.
    America does NOT have FREE enterprise.
    And we haven’t for a long time, Tina.
    I realize you believe different. I know you have been duped. That is obvious from your re-posts here.
    No need to waste your time telling me. how wrong you think I am.

  12. Harold Ey says:

    I think we may hit a nerve with David Guzzetti about the ‘OOPS Conservative vs Conservationist billboard’ from a few years past, based on his rant. Thank heavens we were not standing next to a ATM machine when he read this!

  13. Post Scripts says:

    Forest do you drive a car or ride a bicycle? Just curious. Because if you believed all that baloney you just recited you would be riding a bike 24/7 and you would be on solar power in your home. And that means closing up your fireplace in winter and turning off the A/C in summer. Climate change…sure, man made global warming…sure we have contributed about .03 percent to that and maybe we’ve accelerated the natural trend line by a few years…and no I don’t believe that 95% of the scientists are on your side – we’ve had way to many experts testify here on climate change and your number is pure wild exaggeration.

    Hey Forest, can you tell me why Mars is warming up? Think it has anything to do with solar activity and climate cycles?

  14. Post Scripts says:

    Ah, a good point Harold! Yes, I’ve heard it can be dangerous to be around Dave when he’s doing his deposits. Wouldn’t want to be hurt in the cross-fire.

  15. Tina says:

    Q: “I realize you believe different. I know you have been duped. That is obvious from your re-posts here.”

    Not only do I think different; I think differently!

    Influence…please tell me what group doesn’t have influence?

    How about union influence? The University of California system had a very big influence on the last election…the devistating result is being felt in every single household in America!

    The auto workers and steel workers unions extorted more for so long that they destroyed the companies that offered them jobs…they also helped to bring us health care and other benefits paid by the employer or government instead of by individuals, a move that inflated prices and helped to create less competition.

    How about green influence. With hysteria, hype, a penchant for playing on fears and sympathies, not to mention a considerable amount of lying, the green movement even has corporations singing to their tune.

    Your paranoia about corporate control is a laugh.

    What we have is freedom and we’d be damned fools to let it slip away by the demands made by liberals (also a group of corporatists).

  16. Tina says:

    Felipe/Phil: “Though you have truly put their money where your mouths are, you seem to have no real awareness of what that means to the fundamental concept of democracy.”

    So now we know how you think. Any green climate modeler can get you to ask how high when he says jump so you assume others do the same. Oil companies and corporations are things…they don’t have check books. PEOPLE who work for and own these companies do, however, and guess what? They have the same right you have to donate to whatever cause they believe is in line with their own thinking. They joined the TP, not the other way around. FOOL! That is how it’s done in this REPUBLIC!

    “Are you familiar with the term ‘shil’? If you take their money, or support their cause, it would seem that the term would be a fitting one for the propaganda you spread.”

    You might want to try the term “pimp” on for size.

    “Do you honestly think that these big Texas oil companies have your or our best interests in mind?”

    What I think is they deliver a product that is both useful and necessary. They do it the old fashioned way…they earn it. They are made up of human beings just like YOU! So, do I think they have my best interests at heart? Yes!

    What do greens offer? Higher prices, products that often are as polluting or more polluting or dangerous than the ones they killed through extremist propaganda, cap and trade schemes that make investors rich and kill economies and jobs, higher taxes and more regualtion. Do I think they have my best interests in mind? Hell no!

    And by the way, “vitriol” is entirely appropriate, it is a natural means for cutting through the massive amounts of BS that have been spewed by leftist and progressive radicals for decades!

  17. Jennifer says:

    I believe that corporations do have checkbooks. The term “corporate account” comes to mind. It is unfortunately true that corporations have the same rights as people, that is the problem. It is the people who have to pay for the costs of pollution, in the form of increased medical expenses for the mostly poor people who live near Valero and Tesoro refineries. The solution is simple: Dan Logue and all of the “Go Texas” team can do just that. If you think Texas is so great, please don’t let the door hit you in the backside on you way out of our lovely state.

  18. Steve says:

    The great deception here comes from those who try to paint Prop 23 as a Texas based issue. Prop 23 is about saving OUR state from DRACONIAN environmental laws that will degrade our freedom and destroy our state’s economy. AB 32 will cost our state over a million real jobs just to try and subsidize a few green jobs. It will bring real costs to consumers with higher energy rates. Anyone who would like to pay about 60% more for their electric bill should by happy with AB32. If you’re not, help us put AB32 on hold by VOTING YES ON PROP 23.

    Folks like Guzzetti and Harlan always claim to be advocates of the poor. I wonder how many of the poor will be unable to afford to heat their homes when their electric bills are forced up by the policies these guys support? When shipping costs raise the price of food, who will help the poor then? At what point will these guys admit that they have over-reached with their environmental extremism and stop hurting middle and low income Americans? Do the conservation voters know that Prop 23 is winning with latino voters by 18 points? Why? Because latino voters realize this is about jobs. It’s the economy stupid wins every time.

  19. Andy keller says:

    The big question that doesn’t seem to be addressed here is why Big Oil Companies from Texas have so much interest in California Prop 23. Does less jobs in California clean-tech / green-tech means more jobs for Texas, or simply more profits for Texas Oil Companies?

    Big Texas Oil has done this in the past. Back in the 1940’s, Big Oil systematically bought California municipal street trolley systems and shut them down as a way to increase sales of petroleum products (Tires, Oil and Gas).

    Are we going to let them do it again??

  20. Tina says:

    Andy Keller: “The big question that doesn’t seem to be addressed here is why Big Oil Companies from Texas have so much interest in California Prop 23.”

    The answer is that it has national implications. I did a little research of my own this morning and found two articles that should calm nerves about out of state donors.

    This story is from Sept. 14th so the information may have changed some since then. It does show that what we have is democracy in action with support and/or funding for both sides coming from both in state and out of state entities:

    http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2010/09/prop-23-big-oil-chevron.html

    Prop. 23: Oil giants are divided L.A. Times

    Are the big oil companies really backing Proposition 23?

    Maybe not. Among California’s major oil refiners, Shell Oil opposes the November ballot initiative to suspend the states global warming law. Chevron Corp. is officially neutral. Exxon Mobil and BP have decided not to get involved. ConocoPhillips has yet to contribute.

    On Tuesday, Charles Drevna, president of the National Petrochemical and Refiners Assn., issued an urgent appeal for funds to back the measure. I am pleading with each of you — for our nation’s best interest and for your company’s own self-interest, he wrote in a confidential e-mail to the industry’s 416 members.

    The money raised so far, he wrote, is not enough to win the fight against environmental zealots led by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who seems hell-bent on becoming the real-life Terminator of our industry.

    Three independent refiners — Valero Energy Corp., Tesoro Corp. and Koch Industries — have contributed most of the $8.2 million behind the measure. Backers would need to raise far more to make a dent in the state’s expensive and saturated media markets in the seven weeks remaining before the election. (as an aside the Koch brothers are Libertarians with a long history of backing smaller government initiatives and propositions)

    The state’s top business groups also are divided. The California Manufacturers and Technology Assn. supports Proposition 23, but the state Chamber of Commerce decided on Sept. 3 to remain neutral. Silicon Valley, which is heavily invested in alternative energy technology, strongly opposes the initiative.

    So far, opponents have raised $6.1 million, with the largest contribution, $2.5 million, coming from San Francisco hedge fund manager Thomas F. Steyer.

    Texas oil is not the only out of state entitiy making contributions as noted in excerpts from the following article:

    http://www.grist.org/article/2010-08-17-texas-oil-v.-california-clean-tech-the-battle-over-Prop-23/

    Texas oil vs. California clean tech: the battle over Proposition 23

    “What makes this unusual is that this is not your classic tree-huggers-versus-big business battle,” says Steve Maviglio, a longtime California Democratic operative and the chief spokesperson for the No on Prop 23 campaign. “Environmentalists, dyed-in-the-wool businessmen, tech companies — they have all been very active in fundraising, active on the lecture circuit and before editorial boards.”

    The Environmental Defense Fund has donated $75,000. NRDC has given $50,000, in addition to the donations it has funneled through its political action fund. The Sierra Club has contributed a few thousand dollars in services, but executive director Michael Brune said the San Francisco-based group would be active in the campaign.

    “It’s just about the biggest fight we have over the next four months,” he told Yale Environment 360 recently. “We’ll be engaging all the Sierra Club California chapters. We’re making it a national priority.

    When the campaign kicks into high gear after Labor Day, also expect to see big donations from groups you may have never heard of. For instance, the Clean Tech Action Fund, a little known San Francisco organization, has given $500,000 to the No campaign. The group is affiliated with another well-funded but low profile San Francisco grant-making concern, the Energy Foundation, which is bankrolled by a number of national endowments and foundations.

    Mary Nichols, head of the California Air Resources Board, appeared at an event at Google last week to drum up Silicon Valley support for the No campaign. Her agency is charged with implementing the state’s global warming law, which requires greenhouse emissions to be slashed to 1990 levels by 2020.

    The national reverberations will be probably even more significant than what happens here in California,” said Nichols of the election’s outcome. “Everywhere I’ve been in past several years since I’ve been in this job, people have pointed to California as the example of why it can be done and how it can be done. When we set a benchmark, other people look to how they can meet it.”

    The pro-Prop 23 forces apparently recognize the as-goes-California-so-goes-the nation stakes, judging by the fact that most of the money they’ve raised has come from out of state, according to campaign contribution records.

    The bulk of the No contributions are local. The biggest out-of-state donation to date has been $100,000 from Greentech Capital Advisors, a Manhattan financial firm.

    Maviglio, the No on Prop 23 spokesman, says he expects that to change in the coming weeks.

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