AR-News: Campaigns and Elections Magazine Highlights Animal Issues as Election Fodder

[Political Animal]

This article, by Wayne Pacelle of the HSUS, is in the
May issue of Campaigns and Elections.  This magazine
is available at Borders, or one can subscribe through
www.campaignline.com.  I encourage all animal
advocates to read these sort of publications, to hone
their campaign skills.
--------
By Wayne Pacelle

On March 2nd, California state Senator Rico Oller lost
a competitive, three-way Republican primary for the
U.S. House seat for the 3rd Congressional district
that sweeps from the suburbs of Sacramento through the
Sierras and to the border of Nevada.  With a late
surge, former Attorney General Dan Lungren edged out
Oller by about 2,500 votes.  There were several
decisive factors in the race, but one of them surely
was Oller’s appalling record on animal welfare issues
and a concerted campaign by animal protection
advocates to short-circuit his run for the House.

During his eight years in the state legislature, Oller
had opposed some 20 animal protection bills, including
measures to strengthen laws against dogfighting and
cockfighting, to provide elemental care standards for
dogs on puppy mills, and to require that antifreeze
contain a bittering agent to prevent accidental
poisoning of pets and children.  In addition, Oller is
himself an enthusiastic bear hunter, specializing in
hunting with hounds.  A typical hound hunter chases a
bear with a pack of radio-collared dogs and drives the
bear into a tree, shooting the animal at point-blank
range – a practice that even most hunters find
loathsome. 

Humane USA, the national political action arm of the
humane movement, mounted an independent expenditure
campaign against Oller that made use of mailings,
radio advertisements, and the dozens of volunteers who
went door-to-door in the district.  Polling work done
by humane organizations had revealed that most voters
– regardless of party – find animal fighting,
high-tech hound hunting of bears, the mistreatment of
dogs on puppy mills, and other forms of animal abuse
to be repugnant.  In the end, the independent
expenditure campaign -- combined with a complementary
effort by the Republican Mainstreet Partnership that
focused on other aspects of Oller’s background --
acquainted voters in the district with Oller’s record
and caused them to look to other candidates.

Since its founding in 1999, Humane USA has singled out
a number of candidates who have exhibited deplorable
records on animal protection.  A notable target was
Georgia’s outspoken U.S. Representative Bob Barr (R). 
Barr had been among just three dozen or so legislators
who had voted against legislation pushed principally
by Republican lawmakers to ban the commercial sale of
videos depicting illegal acts of animal cruelty,
including so-called “animal crush” videos, in which
women in high-heeled shoes stomp small animals to
death for the sexual gratification of viewers.  Humane
USA made an issue of this vote in his 2002 race
against veteran Rep. John Linder (R-GA), and helped
cement the view that Barr, like Oller, was too extreme
and did not deserve to serve in public office.  

In 2002, Humane USA mounted a major effort against
U.S. Senator Slade Gorton (R-WA), a three-term
incumbent who faced a challenge from high-tech
executive and former lawmaker Maria Cantwell.  Humane
USA mailed to 80,000 humane advocates in Washington
state, and told them about Gorton’s terrible record on
animal issues.  At the same time, humane advocates
were turning out in large number for a successful
ballot initiative to ban the use of steel-jawed
leghold traps – which Gorton had fought to keep legal
on national wildlife refuges.  The combination of
these factors aided Cantwell’s bid, and in the end,
she defeated Gorton by a slim 2,200 votes out of 3.3
million cast.

This fall, Humane USA has taken a keen interest in a
number of candidates, including Rep. Chris John
(D-LA), who is seeking to occupy the seat of retiring
Senator John Breaux.  John is the Congress’ leading
cockfighting advocate, and he’s referred to
cockfighting as a “cultural, family-type” activity and
“an industry that is very important to America.”  He
has been the go-to guy for the cockfighting lobby
since 1999, and Louisiana voters will be sure to hear
that John embraces a pro-animal fighting position in
advance of the November election. 

A Model Use of Ballot Initiatives

There are 5,000 humane organizations in the United
States, and most of them spend their resources
directly caring for animals – whether helping dogs or
cats in animal shelters or on the street or providing
care to injured or orphaned wild animals in the care
of a wildlife rehabilitation center.  But in recent
years, humane advocates have become more politically
engaged, recognizing the value of having sound public
policies to halt animal cruelty and exploitation.

Since 1990, animal advocates have demonstrated
extraordinary success in trying to halt particularly
abusive unpopular types of animal exploitation through
the use of the ballot initiative process, which is
available to citizens in 24 states.  Animal
organizations do not have the financial reserves of
corporations using animals, but they can call to
service thousands of committed volunteers.  The Humane
Society of the United States, for instance, has more
than seven million names on its mailing list.

Since 1990, voters have approved 17 animal protection
ballot initiatives – on subjects ranging from
cockfighting to bear baiting and hounding to horse
slaughter to aerial wolf gunning to canned hunts to
the factory farming of pigs.  They have lost very few
campaigns, usually only after being heavily outspent
by corporate animal interests.  The animal groups have
been unique among those that have used the ballot
initiative process by relying almost exclusively on
volunteer petitioners – as compared to paid
petitioners hired by the proponents of the ballot
initiatives.  Since 1990, animal advocates have
gathered more than four million signatures of
registered voters to qualify these initiatives.  They
prevailed in the elections by showing emotionally
powerful advertisements in the late stages of the
campaigns, aiming not only for voters’ minds, but also
their hearts.

Congress and the States

Animal advocates have also spent considerable energies
trying to persuade lawmakers to adopt sensible
reforms.  In the last 10 years, for example, 26 states
have created felony-level penalties for aggravated
animal cruelty and abuse, bringing the total number of
states with such provisions to 41.  Lawmakers have
also approved a raft of other state law relating to
mandatory spay and neuter programs, greyhound racing,
canned hunts, and possession of dangerous exotic
animals as pets.

Since 1999, the Congress has passed 14 new laws to
protect animals, including measures to combat
cockfighting and dogfighting, the interstate movement
of big cats for the pet trade, the sale of videos
depicting animal cruelty, the sale of dog and cat fur,
and the validation of alternatives to animal testing. 
At the urging of animal protection groups, Congress
has increased funding for the Animal Welfare Act 81%
since 1999, and provided millions in funding for the
first time ever for enforcement of the Humane Methods
of Slaughter Act, which had been routinely ignored by
the U.S. Department of Agriculture.  The Congress also
cut funding for certain animal abuse programs,
including promotional funding for the mink industry. 

Animal welfare is not a partisan issue: members of
both parties have helped spearhead efforts to protect
animals.  Representatives Gary Ackerman (D-NY), Roscoe
Bartlett (R-MD), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Sam Farr
(D-CA), Elton Gallegly (R-CA), Marcy Kaptur (D-OH),
Chris Smith (R-NJ), and Ed Whitfield (R-KY) and
Senators Daniel Akaka (D-HI), Robert Byrd (D-WV),
Maria Cantwell (D-WA), John Ensign (R-NV), Carl Levin
(D-MI), Herb Kohl (D-WI), and Rick Santorum (R-PA) are
among the stalwart supporters of the cause.

The Humane Society of the United States and The Fund
for Animals produce a scorecard that tallies the
records of legislators, and Humane USA will make
endorsements in more than 500 races this election
cycle.  The goal is simple: to educate and elect
individuals who will support and promote public
policies to halt cruelty and abuse.  In a nation with
70 million pet owners and of 50 million bird-watchers,
along with millions of others who show their
appreciation and respect for animals in myriad ways,
the animal protection cause is gaining political
momentum every year.  And lawmakers should realize
that support for animals is not just good public
policy, but also good politics.

Wayne Pacelle is CEO-Designate of The Humane Society
of the United States.  He is also founder of Humane
USA.


 



	
		
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Friends.  Fun.  Try the all-new Yahoo! Messenger.
http://messenger.yahoo.com/