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Delta Coalition Calls on "Astroturf" Group to Stop Using Its Materials

by Dan Bacher
The California water wars heated up Tuesday as Restore the Delta (RTD) called on the “Friends of the Delta," an "Astroturf" group, to stop using RTD materials in information packets it distributes as part of a campaign to drum up support for the peripheral canal.

Graphic: The "Great Delta Toilet Bowl" ad paid for by "Friends of the Delta."
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Delta Coalition Calls on "Astroturf" Group to Stop Using Its Materials

by Dan Bacher

The California water wars heated up Tuesday as Restore the Delta (RTD) called on the “Friends of the Delta," an "Astroturf" group, to stop using RTD materials in information packets it distributes as part of a campaign to drum up support for the peripheral canal.

On its website, the "Friends of the Delta" is described as "a non-profit organization focused on educating the public on the need for a comprehensive Delta restoration and an enhanced conveyance system with the long-term vision of supporting efforts to provide a sustainable water supply for California."

Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, campaign director of Restore the Delta, said the group, rather than being an organization concerned about the restoration of the Delta, is instead a "disingenuous 'Astroturf' group based out of a public relations firm in Newport Beach."

“Residents and advocates of the Delta region have a right to know when they’re being hoodwinked,” said Barrigan-Parrilla. “The use of our material to further a cause that is completely counter to our mission is repugnant and must stop now. With ‘Friends of the Delta’ like these, who needs enemies?"

Barrigan Parrilla said the so-called “Friends of the Delta” has inserted materials from Restore the Delta in a briefing packet it is distributing http://www.friendsofthedelta.org/images/Complete%20Briefing%20Packet.pdf in "what may be an effort to deceive readers into believing they share a common goal with Restore the Delta and other Delta advocates."

My examination of the briefing packet confirms Barrigan-Parrilla's accusation that "Friends of the Delta" may be trying to portray themselves as being allied with Restore the Delta, even though the Astroturf group has been formed to support the Governor's plan to build the peripheral canal, a government boondoggle that Restore the Delta is strongly opposing.

The RTD materials are deceptively sandwiched between an August 17 letter by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to Senate President Tem Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg and Assembly Speaker Karen Bass urging them to support his peripheral canal/dams water package and a Friends of the Delta draft resolution "in support of government action to restore the Delta and provide a reliable water supply." The site displays a Restore the Delta action alert, including photos of the July 7 rally the group held at the state capitol to oppose the peripheral canal and to demand the inclusion of Delta communities in the water legislation process, and a flyer announcing the "Million Boat Float" against the canal held on August 16-17.

"Based on initial investigation, the phony 'Friends of the Delta' appears to be headquartered in the offices of the Sheldon Group, a public relations firm representing Southern California water interests and developers interested in seeing a peripheral canal built to divert water from Northern to Southern and Central California," according to Barrigan-Parrilla.

The contact address and phone number listed on the website are: Friends of the Delta, 901 Dove Street, Suite 140, Newport Beach, CA 92660,
949-777-9400. That is the address of the Sheldon Group, a group that describes itself as "a unique and public affairs company that connects our clients with decision makers and communities."

"With over 30 years of combined experience in the fields of politics, community relations, coalition building, city planning, community outreach, and media, our industry experts have the strategies and the tactics necessary to develop winning solutions and effective public outreach campaigns," the group proclaims.

Barrigan-Parrilla said that fake "Astroturf" organizations - groups that have no real members - are "nothing new in California water politics." Earlier this year, news accounts exposed the Latino Water Coalition as another “Astroturf” group “formed as a nonprofit and registered by influential Sacramento lobbyist George Soares, whose A-list of about three dozen agricultural clients include the California Rice Commission, the California Cotton Growers and Ginners Associations, the Friant Water Authority, the Nisei Farmers League and The Grape and Tree Fruit League, among others.

The group has cynically portrayed itself as the "protector" of the jobs of Latino farm workers, although Dolores Huerta, co founder of Cesar Chavez's United Farmworkers Union (UFW), and Arturo Rodriguez, president of the UFW, have denounced it as a front group for corporate agribusiness.The coalition, whose formation was suggested by Governor Schwarzenegger in a meeting he held with corporate agribusiness interests in Fresno, in April organized a "March for Water" through the San Joaquin Valley in which farmworkers were paid to march to give a "human face" to corporate agribusiness.

"In reality, this is not a farm worker march,'' Rodriguez told the New York Times on April 17. ''This is a farmer march orchestrated and financed by growers.''

Restore the Delta is calling on the counterfeit “Friends of the Delta,” a group as fake as the Latino Water Coalition, to cease and desist using RTD material in its propaganda. In addition, RTD calls upon this front-group to reveal their "true patrons" in the “About Us” section of their website and all collateral material.

In the "About Us" section, the Astroturf group says, "We are taxpayers, farmers, business owners, agency experts, and elected officials dedicated to educating the public and encouraging statewide participation in creating a sustainable water supply for California."

However, the shadowy group provides no names of its founders, board members or supporters. The Sheldon Group's website lists its "team" as Stephen Sheldon, President, David Graham, Director of Public Affairs; and Greg McCafferty, Director of Planning.

"Your support is essential in finding a solution to California’s water supply," Friends of the Delta proclaims on its website. "Please contact us at FriendsoftheDelta [at] gmail.com to discuss ways you can participate."

Some options of "participation" mentioned on the group's website include:

• "Attending one of the scoping meetings being held the state to receive input on the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) and voicing your support for a long-term solution for the Bay Delta and for the long-term sustainability of our water supply.

• Attending the Friends of the Delta informational meeting prior to the BDCP scoping meetings to learn about water issues in a comfortable environment.

• Join Friends of the Delta and identify additional members.

• Publish articles in your organization’s newsletter to educate on California’s water crisis.

• Compose letters to the editor supporting a solution to a sustainable Delta.

• Host a Friends of the Delta informational meeting in your community."

Restore the Delta's call for the Astroturf group to stop using its materials was issued the day after the organization paid for a four page ad in the Stockton Record headlined, "The Great Delta Toilet Bowl." The ad attempted to enlist Delta residents in a false campaign against water pollution by local cities and communities in an attempt to divert attention away from the catastrophic impact of increased water exports from the Delta on Central Valley salmon and Delta fish populations.

"Friends of the Delta paid for the ad so that in-Delta residents could become members of Families Protecting the Valley," said Barrigan Parrilla. "The board of directors for Families Protecting the Valley includes members like Bob Smittcamp, who is a grower in the Westlands Water District, lives in Fresno's posh zip code 93711, many miles away from his industrial farm that exports crops like almonds to Asia and Europe."

Barrigan Parrilla said Smittcamp has held fundraisers for Governor Schwarzenegger, who declared in a recent visit to Stockton that he is building the peripheral canal around the Delta (regardless of what the residents want!). Mrs. Smittcamp was also Chief Executive Officer of JoinArnold.com.

A survey of the website of Families Protecting the Valley reveals that it is an organization funded by corporate agribusiness, based out of Madera, linked with a right wing group, "the Tea Party Patriots." The donor's list features hundreds of prominent agribusiness corporations on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley: http://www.familiesprotectingthevalley.com/Donor'sList-i-14-14.html

To learn more about Westland's growers and the link between their practices and Central Valley poverty, click here to read Lloyd article's recent law review article: http://www.lloydgcarter.com/content/091101321_san-joaquin-poverty-and-industrial-agribusiness-law-review-article-lloyd-carter.

The ad quotes "science" provided by the Coalition for a Sustainable Delta, yet one more in a growing list of Astroturf organizations campaigning to build the peripheral canal and strip Endangered Species Act protections for Delta smelt, longfin smelt, Sacramento River chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead and other species.

"This group is housed in Stewart Resnick's headquarters for Paramount Farms in Kern County," said Barrigan-Parrilla. "Stewart Resnick is the Beverly Hills Billionaire who has made tens of millions of dollars annually from buying and reselling water back to the state for a tidy profit."

"The Coalition for a Sustainable Delta group poses as a science-based organization concerned about pollution in the Delta, when they are actually a propaganda group spinning facts to promote the Bay Delta Conservation Plan," said Barrigan-Parrilla." As expected, they never consider the possibility that water exports from the Delta have an impact on the ecosystem."

Resnick, a "limousine liberal" who supports the Coalition for a Sustainable Delta, is also a frequent political campaign contributor to Governor Schwarzenegger's "Dream Team," Senator Diane Feinstein, and earlier this summer to Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, she noted.

"In fact, the Resnick's contributions to Senate President Steinberg were made shortly before the beginning of the Conference Committee Process, which left Delta legislators out of the water deal making process," Barrigan-Parrilla stated. Click here to see contributions made recently to Darrell Steinberg: http://www.electiontrack.com/lookup.php?committee=1292824.

"So, in summary, what we are beginning to see is an ad campaign financed by Southern California water interests and San Joaquin Valley agribusiness to bring residents and supporters of the Delta into their coalition: a twenty-first-century- twist on what happened in Owens Valley," she said.

Regarding the content of the ad, Barrigan-Parrilla said, "it is highly ironic that the agribusiness industry, which has successfully lobbied the Schwarzenegger administration and shows up regularly at state and regional water board hearings to protest any strengthening of water quality standards for dischargers, is expressing concern about water pollution in the Delta. In fact, water boards and water agencies under the Schwarzenegger administration have been weaker on enforcing water quality standards for the Delta than regulatory agencies have any other time in recent history. They certainly have been lax in enforcing standards on municipal dischargers."

"Is discharge into the Delta a problem?" she added. "Of course it is. But it is also a problem that is exacerbated many times over by excessive exports and reduced inflows into the Delta. Plus, when one considers that growers on the Westside of the San Joaquin Valley are farming on drainage impaired lands that dump tons of boron, salts and selenium into the San Joaquin River that flows back into the Delta - and that these same growers want Northern California's water delivered to them through new conveyance - well, we couldn't make up fiction with more ironic twists and turns."

Barrigan-Parrilla warned, "This ad is just the beginning. Take the time to let local media outlets know that you disapprove of their willingness to accept these advertising dollars. In addition, we expect these astroturfing groups to charge forward with an assault on the endangered species act as a ploy to increase the amount of water exported from the Delta."

"And last, remember that political affiliation has nothing to do with protecting the Delta.," she emphasized. "A number of our State and Federal leaders from both sides of the aisle have been corrupted by the California water-money trail. Watch how your State and Federal Representatives vote on Delta legislation and vote accordingly in return at election time."

The disinformation campaigns by Astroturf groups are amping up just after California Legislature's recent passage of a water policy and water bond package that "clears the path" to the construction of a peripheral canal and Sites and Temperance Flat reservoirs. The Legislature completely excluded Delta legislators, fishermen, family farmers, California Indian Tribes, environmental justice communities and the vast majority of environmental organizations from the fast-track process that led to the package's passage and signing by the Governor.

Unfortunately, a few national "environmental" organizations including the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Environmental Defense, the Nature Conservancy and California League of Conservation Voters backed the legislation, selling out Delta and northern California residents and all of those who truly care about the future of imperiled Central Valley salmon and Delta fish populations.

For more information about Restore the Delta, contact Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, (209) 479-2053, Barbara [at] restorethedelta.org, http://www.restorethedelta.org.

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