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04/28/06 - Fighting continues between Sonoma GMO opponents

By Ali Bay - Capital Press Staff Writer

The campaign to ban genetically engineered organisms in Sonoma County may be history since voters rejected a proposed 10-year moratorium last November.

But a battle continues between the farm group that helped bring down the controversial measure and the non-profit advocacy organization that launched the anti-GMO campaign.

Working in tandem with the Sonoma County Farm Bureau, the California Farm Bureau Federation has filed a complaint with the Fair Political Practices Commission, alleging that the non-profit group Occidental Arts & Ecology Center has tried to hide funding sources used to promote Measure M.

“Unlike your Sonoma Farm Bureau where everything was transparent and open ... the true identity of where (Measure M) money has been coming from changed hands two, three, maybe four times – we don’t know,” said Marko Milkotin, a spokesman for the Healthy Foods Coalition. The coalition is made up of county farm bureaus and other agricultural organizations that support biotechnology.

Milkotin said money collected for the campaign by Californians for GE-Free Agriculture, one of Occidental Arts & Ecology Center’s project organizations, was pooled into the center’s general funds and then redistributed to the campaign in an effort to hide the original source of funding.

While an attorney hired to handle the complaint believes Occidental Arts & Ecology Center may have violated both political campaign laws and tax laws while giving money to the GE-Free Sonoma County campaign, the center is calling the allegations nothing more than an effort to smear the non-profit group.

“It’s just sheer attack politics, and it’s really shameful,” said Dave Henson, Occidental Arts & Ecology Center’s executive director and the former campaign director of GE-Free Sonoma County. “They’re just saying things that aren’t happening. They’re accusing us of something we’re not doing illegally. It’s rather bizarre that they would pick this fight.”

Henson said the center takes in funding for its diverse programs, including gardening and arts courses. Money from small to major donors is spent how the organization sees fit, unless it is designated for a specific purpose. He said the group was a major contributor to the campaign, but did so in a “perfectly legal” fashion.

Fighting between the groups involved in the Sonoma County campaign isn’t new.

This is the second time the Farm Bureau has filed an FPPC complaint against Measure M supporters since the campaign began. Last October, the Farm Bureau alleged several other groups involved in the campaign, including the Center for Food Safety and Organic Consumers Association, which are part of the Californians for GE-Free Agriculture coalition, were skirting political reporting rules.

According to a Jan. 11 response to that complaint, the FPPC is looking into the allegations.

Occidental Arts & Ecology Center has also complained about the local Farm Bureau’s actions during the campaign. Henson alleged the organization tried to mislead the public about the initiative’s mission by saying it would limit availability of cancer and HIV drugs. Occidental Arts & Ecology Center also pointed out the Farm Bureau didn’t report staff time and salaries used to fight the initiative.

“That’s fraud – clear and simple,” Henson said. “And we could win if we filed.”

Lex McCorvey, president of the Sonoma County Farm Bureau, said his organization filed an amendment reflecting the time he and his staff spent on the campaign. Much of his time, however, was volunteered, McCorvey said.

Farm Bureau leaders said it’s tough for local farmers and ranchers to fight political measures that are funded by sources outside of the region.

“It makes it hard to compete on a level playing field,” McCorvey said.

But accepting donations from people outside of the county was common on both sides, Henson said.

“If you look at where they got their money, they had a lot of local contributions – and they had a lot of out-of-county contributions (including support from other county Farm Bureaus),” Henson said. He said Measure M funds came mostly from Sonoma County sources, but also from organic and sustainable food groups outside of the region.

He also pointed out that the county Farm Bureau loaned about $100,000 to the anti-Measure M campaign and questioned whether the group could find a way to recoup that money locally.

McCorvey said a local social event is planned for later this year to solicit donations from farmers and ranchers.

Ali Bay is based in Davis. Her e-mail address is abay@capitalpress.com.