Sonoma County GE Moratorium Measure Fails

Sonoma County went to the polls last night to vote on Measure M, a
proposed ten-year moratorium on GE-organisms. The initiative failed by a
56% to 44% margin. The GE-Free Sonoma press release is pasted below.

GE-Free Sonoma County, the organizers of this grassroots campaign,
report that the opposition won votes with money, fear and misinformation.
By contrast, the Sonoma County campaign involved literally hundreds of
volunteers who had never been politically engaged before, and inspired
and educated thousands of Sonoma County citizens. This has laid the
groundwork for ongoing efforts in the county to continue working for a
sustainable food and farming future.

The past two years of grassroots campaigns — win or lose — to protect
regions from the threats of genetic engineering in Mendocino, Butte, San
Luis Obispo, Trinity, Humboldt and Marin counties have all contributed
to a much higher level of awareness throughout California about genetic
engineering and its dangers for food, farming and democracy. Hundreds
of thousands of Californians who had no knowledge of genetic
engineering are now better educated, and studies show that the more information
people have about genetic engineering, the more concerned they become.

On the immediate horizon, a pre-emption bill is likely to be heard in
the Assembly and Senate Agriculture Committees in 2006, and we will be
calling on all of you to voice your opposition once again to defend
local democracy and all of our rights to build healthy, local food systems.

Stay tuned!


— Californians for GE-Free Agriculture coalition

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Yes on M, campaign for a GE-Free Sonoma County
Press release
Nov. 9, 2005
Measure M narrowly fails

Yes on M volunteers celebrated their effort Wednesday even as they
mourned the defeat of Measure M.

“We spoke the truth to voters, but were outspent by opponents who ran a
campaign of fear and deception,” said campaign coordinator Daniel
Solnit. “We are proud of the many hundreds of Yes on M volunteers who stood
up for farmers’ rights, our health and our environment.”

Measure M lost by a margin of 44 percent to 56 percent of 140,768 votes
cast, according the Sonoma County Registrar of Voters. Its passage
would have meant a 10-year moratorium in Sonoma County on releasing GE
organisms into the environment.

“I spoke with hundreds of Sonoma County voters – tabling, phoning,
knocking on doors,” said Didi Schlabach of Sebastopol, one of some 500 Yes
on M volunteers. “It’s hard to compete with the barrage of
misinformation from the opposition. If this had been a fair campaign, we would have
won by a landslide.”

The Yes on M campaign was sponsored by the Occidental Arts and Ecology
Center, the Sierra Club, California Certified Organic Farmers,
Community Alliance with Family Farmers, the North Bay Labor Council, Sonoma
County Conservation Action and the Small Boat Commercial Salmon
Fishermen's Association.

What next?

Yes on M campaign director Dave Henson said the campaign was successful
in raising awareness about the risks associated with genetically
engineered crops and foods.

“More than 60,000 people voted yes on Tuesday,” he said. “Before this
campaign, there were probably only a couple hundred people in our county
who had a strong opinion on GE contamination. That’s an incredible step
forward.”

The Yes on M campaign also gathered a core of volunteers who will
remain engaged in important issues, Henson said.

“We had at least 500 volunteers, the vast majority of which had never
been involved in an issue campaign before,” he said. “People are still
very excited about keeping our crops and environment free from GE
contamination, keeping our food safe, and creating sustainable agriculture in
Sonoma County. There’s an enormous commitment to taking the energy of
this campaign and turning it into positive social change.”

“I think we did a tremendous job of educating voters,” said volunteer
Jan Jackson of Windsor. “I worked with a lot of people who don’t
normally get into this sort of thing. But this was so important to them that
they gave many hours.”

Jackson said she remains positive.

“I’m determined to keep going,” she said. “If we had another campaign
starting tomorrow, I’d do it in a heartbeat.”

Contact http://www.gefreesonoma.org or call (707) 823-4410.


For more information, contact media coordinator Dawn Pillsbury:
824-1017, dawn [at] gefreesonoma.org




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