Pull Those Misleading Ads!

Friends,
We just issued this press release. Call you station managers and demand that these misleading ads be pulled from the public airwaves.

Assemblywoman Hancock Calls on Local Station Managers
to Pull Misleading Advertisements
Ads meant to mislead public about the real dangers of global warming

Sacramento, CA — State Assemblywoman Loni Hancock (D-Oakland) called on local Fox television stations to decline airing commercials by a conservative Washington-based group until the false statements about global warming are corrected. The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), a Washington D.C. based think tank funded in part by the oil and automotive industries, recently purchased time in California television markets to run ads which dismiss the dangers of carbon emissions and climate change.

“The ads distort legitimate scientific problems by implying that the Earth’s climate is not threatened by increased carbon emissions resulting from human activity,” explains Hancock in a letter she sent to the station managers who are running the ads. “The commercials quote a portion of a study that has found that interior ice mass in Greenland and Iceland has been increasing. They conveniently neglect to mention that the study also found that exterior ice is melting, offsetting or even outweighing gains in ice mass made in the interior.”

The researcher whose study was quoted by CEI has challenged the ads. “These television ads are a deliberate effort to confuse and mislead the public about the global warming debate. They are selectively using only parts of my previous research to support their claims. They are not telling the entire story to the public,” said Engineering Professor Curt Davis of the University of Missouri in a press release.

“A 2001 study conducted by eleven of the nation’s leading climate scientists for the National Research Council concluded that climate change is occurring right now. Recent changes are mostly a result of human activities,” said Hancock.

Banning a inhumane practice!

Friends,

This cruel and inhumane practice of Field Coursing has got to stop. It horrific! Your support of our cause is needed. If you are not familiar with the "sport" please read this article by Jim Sanders of the Sacramento Bee and let you elected officials know how you feel!

California lawmakers sets sights on ban of coursing
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- For sighthounds, it's fun and games.

For their owners, it's hunting without guns.

For jackrabbits, it's deadly.

For the California Assembly, it's an obscure sport that strikes a public nerve: Legislation to ban it has sparked passionate public hearings and hundreds of letters from both sides.

Welcome to "live field coursing," which involves greyhounds, whippets, salukis, borzois and other sighthounds in rural competitions that test their killing skills.

"I think most people would be horrified," said Assemblywoman Loni Hancock, a Berkeley Democrat who considers the sport inhumane.

"I don't expect everyone to understand hunting," countered Lesley Brabyn, a longtime courser. "But is it fair to say that no one can hunt?"

To read the rest of the article, CLICK HERE.

We are taking it to the people!

Friends,

It is the ever-important grass roots activism of individuals like you and groups like the California Nurses' Association that will spell victory in the fight for Clean Money!

Clean money petitions submitted
by Rebecca S. Bender

Petitions for the California Nurses’ Association clean money initiative were due Saturday, and organizers are confident that the initiative will be coming to the voters in November.

We are going to have enough signatures,” promised Liz Jacobs, a registered nurse and spokesperson for the California Nurses Association.

The group had to collect 373,816 signatures of California registered voters over a several-month period.

“It was a real push,” Jacobs said. “It was a statewide effort.”

The final cut-off date was Saturday, May 13, she added, though the group gave itself an end-of-April deadline to be on the safe side.

Once the petitions are turned in, county elections officials will perform a raw count and verify that the signatures are those of qualified, registered voters.

The Clean Money and Fair Elections Act would establish a voluntary system under which candidates could choose to run a clean money campaign, using public funds raised by an increase in corporate taxes. Candidates who opt not to use clean money would be subject to tight restrictions on their campaign contributions.

In addition, lobbyists and state contractors would be banned altogether from donating to candidates, and corporations would be limited to $10,000 donations to ballot measures.

Three other states — Arizona, Connecticut and Maine — have implemented similar publicly-funded election systems.

In addition to the CNA’s petition drive, a similar bill is also working its way through the state Senate, having garnered the support of the Assembly. AB 583, introduced by Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley), sets up a Clean Money Fund administered by the Fair Political Practices Commission. The bill is now under consideration by a Senate subcommittee.

We're Moving Closer and Closer and Closer!

Friends,

I've said it before and I'll say it again -- the momentum behind our Clean Money campaign is growing stronger and stronger! We must keep the fight strong and we will make Clean Money a reality! This article by Harrison Sheppard from dailynews.com details our progress:

State, local finance plans advance

Separate Los Angeles city and statewide efforts to establish a "clean money" system of taxpayer financing for political campaigns advanced Tuesday, with advocates hoping to reduce the influence of special interests in political races.
The California Nurses Association said it expects this month to turn in more than the 373,816 signatures required to place a measure on the November ballot that would establish a public-financing system for state campaigns.

Also Tuesday, the Los Angeles Ethics Commission said it is close to issuing a report on whether the city should implement a similar system for local candidates.

Advocates believe clean money can clear the way for universal health care and other reforms that have been opposed by well-funded lobbying groups. They also see it as an equalizer that would give underfunded groups and committees a better chance of being heard in Sacramento.

"After my first year in the Legislature, I realized you can do a lot of good, little things around the edges ... but for the big reforms, there is too much money in play and (there is) not the ability to get it done," said Assemblywoman Loni Hancock, D-Berkeley, who has authored a clean money bill pending in the Legislature.

For the full article CLICK HERE.