WISE USE CONFERENCE NOTES , Elyssa Rosen : Sierra Club Nevada Held Office August 10,1994 The Lheme of tire 1994 Wise Use Leadership Conference was "going mainstream;" the weekend itself was any tiring but. About 70 people attended the July 15-17 conference at the Sparks, NV, Nugget convention center. According to other attendees, this represents about a 50 percent decline since last year. An adjoining conference room was used for display tables, filled with promotional materials about anti-gun control legislation sponsored by the Gun Owners of California, the connection between environmentalism and paganism or pantheism, tables with "Clinton-free Zone" t-shirts and buttons, representatives of Power and Authority of County Government; and lots of books that claimed to expose the environmental movement. Books included Trashing the Economy by Ron Arnold, Trashing tire Planet, by Dixie Lee Ray, and titles by Mark Pollot and Robert Bork. Across tire room sat a Norwegian whaler who talked off tire ears of passersby about international fishing regulations. Charles Galvin Murphy offered me a carton full of his paperback, the Big Green Circus, for free, leaving me to wonder if he were being generous because he's funded to distribute as widely as possible...or were tire books just not salable? During tire conference, audience participation was more wild than mainstream, activists at tire microphone resembled vigilantes rooting each other on, intent on threatening individuals rather than swaying public opinion. The sessions themselves lacked issue orientation or strategy-. In fact, the sessions were purely about how to gain publicity, credibility or cash. There was no explanation or discussion of the private property rights agenda, what the rationale was re opposition of specific regs whatsoever, v Most of the sessioirs devolved into name-falling, and speakers brought in several creative labels for environmentalists. A1 Schneberger of the New Mexico Cattlemen's Association asserted that the rising number of environmentalists paralleled the increase of witches' covens in the region. Michael Coffman, a forest scientist who has recently written The Politics and Religion of Environmentalism and reportedly is a Lyndon LaRouche groupie, likens conservationists to druids, and warns that evolution is a code word for reincarnation. Still others sought a connection between Nazism and environmentalism. Some of the admissions were interesting. Cushman openly told the group to get their employees registered to vote, and that 501C3s should be "more political." The weekend emphasized fear & negative campaigns, but identification with home and small business owners appeared to be the up-and-coming tactic of choice. The following is a summary of the sessions: What works and What Doesn't: Chuck Cushman & Kathleen Marquardt Cushman dominated this disorganized hour. He spoke of distributing Clinton-free zone buttons on a United Airlines flight on the way to Reno, which was sanctioned by the crew. Baucus, Richardson, Lehman, Bingaman, Reid and Bryan are all concerned about the backlash WUM has created, and reported that LaRocco's fear of VVUM pressure led him to ask Foley to keep liim off the milling law reform conference committee, Cushman explains tire War on tire West's agenda this way: Clinton was elected by environmentalist money with the goal of ending mining, ranching, recreation and private property rights. Tins gives the wise use movement an opportunity. VVUM isn't contrived qr a pr scam. Our task is' to educate comity commissioners about what they can do. Wayne Hage's involvement with Dick Carver in the bulldozing of a Nye Comity closed road July 4 is a good example. Cushman's network was able to "drive George Miller crazy" with amendments on the California Desert bill. It's important to make members of Congress record their votes so WUM can hold them responsible. Petitions aren't as effective as letters, letters not as effective as phone calls. Audience members suggest groups buy War on the West letterhead (six groups that printed newsletters were represented at the conference); attach pictures of families to any political correspondence; and focus on getting WUM message into the public school curriculum. Marquardt's contribution was that the War on the West is a war on western culture. She promoted attendance of the Endangered Species hearing in Helena, MT: WUM should be there with victims & press. Political campaigns (Cushman): Spoke of successes with organized recalls. Both C3s and C4s need to get more involved in politics. Must limit for good candidates, and go after homeowners in grassroots organizing. Negative campaigns work. Dirty politics works. Get your employees registered. Opposition Research: Ron Arnold & Robert Gordon Gordon explained process of researcliing costs of listing species under ESA. Claims responsibility for totaling up budgets and publicizing that information. ITe recommends avoiding exaggerated, excessive statements that detract from WUM credibility. Avoid rumor and tire tabloid approach. Document sources. Arnold plugs his year-old book. Trashing the Economy, which examines top 60 enviro groups, their history, funding sources, expenditures. He's obviously proud of tire number of footnotes. Says enviro groups are puppets for big-money foundations. WUM can embarrass enviro groups by getting dieir 990 forms from the IRS. Re Greenpeace: 'Those people who knock on your door, asking for $20 to save tire whales, diey're investing hi Wall street." Arnold introduces a little soldier on the WUM opposition research front, who reportedly dug up dirt on die Nature Conservancy. Without providing details, the activist claimed that a foundation funding TNC's fight to stop hmber sales is actually operating sales themselves. Building Your Membership with Publicity and Direct Mail: Tom DeWeese DeWeese began by sharing a memory of sitting in his hot tub, which apparently caused him to come up with brave new concepts for fund raising. The VVUM edge over enviros is that enviros must use recycled paper, which costs more. Listed seven sources of funds: rich mentor, car washes & bake sales, unsolicited donations, foundation grants, corporate contributions, out of pocket and direct mail. Focuses his talk on direct mail. Groups should go to professional brokers for lists. Campaigns of fear work the best for copy writing. The Wife Letter is tire most effective ("My man is but fighting the fight. I'm here tending the hearth....but I worry about him so.") He says he hasn't found a way to get the anti-environmental message to work through tire mail because people generally believe that environmentalists are good people. Key to making WUM cause work is the private property issue. Grantsmanship: Bev Kincaid Kincaid takes credit'for raising $14 million for tire Mountain States Legal Foundation. Her secret is one-on-one communication, and she relies on the people skills of William Perry Pendley. A case statement must include social concern, Lhe service your group offers, and a plan of action (not just a mission statement). It’s vital to list who will receive services, and the demographics of that segment of the population. She reveals that tire top 10 percent of her donors give 60 percent of ML States Legal's funds, and that 27 percent of their money comes from 13 donors. Investigations and Freedom of Information Act: Alan Gottlieb Gottlieb says he first met Cushman after the L.A. riots, "where tire Asians were protecting themselves." His recommended reading for FOIA activity is a handbook released by tire church of,Scientology. Fie offers a strategy to FOIA newcomers...get ideas for investigations through OMB archives by finding out what they collect iirfornration oir. Fie tells WUM to be sure to say you want the information for non-commercial use, that-it’s in the public interest and that you’d like it for free. Salute to Wise Use Heroes: William Perry Pendley Pendley begins tire lunchtime pep rally by telling us that environmental groups have failed to succeed in changing our values and culture. They've failed because tlrey are hr conflict wiUr Ure constitution. Grassroots of WUM will continue to grow. Ben Nighthorse Campbell is an example of how WUM is non-parhsan. Me must continue to put a human face on the movement & expose Ure lridden costs of enviroirmental policy. WUM is not an east-west issue anymore, as evident in takings cases. (Ron Arnold is honored witir Ure Wisest of Ure Wise award, and a standing ovation) Late Breaking Legal Issues for Non-Profits: "CYA Before the Shooting Starts": William Wewer Environmentalists are trying to wipe us off the face of Lhe earth. We can fight back by taking over PACs by buying memberships and voting in new policies. An attendee asks Wewer whether WUM can attack enviros through civil rights laws and RICQ. Wewer says this probably won't work; WUM should focus oir recalls and voting officials out of office. He firmly believes WUM is Lhe majority; WUM grassroots doesn't have Ure hidden agenda Ure greens have. Another audience member asks, is there any way to hold bureaucrats accountable? Wear them down? Sue Urem personally? Wewer says you can go alter a bureaucrat for things they do on their own time. But this could make government come to a standstill (and the crowd cheers). Audience members continued to bring up RICO, because it allows us to "go against them personally, as Well as their lawyers, for dragging their heels." Others favored increasing litigation, because there are no legal limits to it. Information Highway: Shep Tucker & Chuck Cushman Tucker: enviros have gotten a lot of mileage out of e mail: used census-track data to come up with risk assessment to make issue of minorities having more exposure to industrial toxics, "which may or may not be true." This little bit of information is very powerful, so VVUM must get on line and do the same tiring. He IDs wise use library on CompuServe, under "land rights": access by "go politics, library 17." Crisis Political Action: A1 Schneberger & Peter Fallon Fallon is a Florida dentist who waged war on a flood bill. He was able to derail tire House bill with backing from the National Association of Realtors. The agenda of the radical enviros is to remove people from coasts so enviros can buy it for pennies on the dollar. Advises VVUM to learn lobby language, ie, "This flood bill presents an irreparable burden; we cannot tolerate it." Schneberger represents tire New Mexico Association of Cattle Growers. Calls for increased use of radio PSAs and ads in small markets. VVUM must fight tire problem of charismatic macrofauna, or cute fuzzy bears. Plays some anti-wolf reintreduction, and pro- mining, ranching, timber and farming radio spots that were accepted by various stations as PSAs. Cow Belles do their part by writing letters to tire editor, producing video, and holding Ranch Days as outreach to 250 primary school kids. Ecosystem Management: Ruth Kaiser Federal government is the root of all evil. It's the number one polluter, done more to destroy environment than airy other source. Government creates problems so it can solve them (i.e. Crime Bill). Protection isn't the issue, power is. Brady bill is unconstitutional, so a Flagstaff sheriff has sued feds and refused to enforce. YVe need to be leaning on federal officials for violation of oath of office. For tire past tlrree years Kaiser has been teaching activists about tire federal role of county land use plans: how they trigger the National Enviroirmental Policy Act, which requires the country plan to be given equal consideration with the federal plan. Tltis will force tire feds to pay for impacts to communities. We can't throw out the feds rights away; it's going to take a westerir state, not counties, to get federal lands back. We need 17 western states to sue feds over this issue. Brady Bill allows tire use of our local officers as federal employees. If they can do that with the Brady Bill, they can do that with the EPA. (?) (I'm just writing this stuff down) Environmental Movement's Hidden Agenda: Michael Coffman Coffman defines environmentalists' nature faith with tire following tenets: •everything is god (pantheism), including rocks, snakes and water •all things have equal intrinsic values •biocentric view of reality lire above represents a "one-way road to nihilism," which Coffman links to the annihilation of the human species. The word "development" in sustainable development terminology need not be restricted to technology; it's the evolution of everything. And evolution is code for reincarnation. Conservation biology is a religious/political tool: it advocates corridors where nature is undisturbed due to the underlying belief that anything humans do is bad. The ideological basis for biodiversity is lire extinction of humans. There's no scientific basis for biodiversity. Maurice Strong wants to make nature the central organizing principle of global society. The Biodiversity' Treaty must be defeated, because it says the root cause of all problems is human beings.'The Treaty exemplifies the green agenda's war-like rhetoric. Standout quotes: "You'd almost have to wrestle a kid to the ground to convince them bears don't have rights."—A1 Schneberger ' 'The side benefits of CompuServe is that I can check the stock market while my wife plays Jeopardy."—Shep Tucker "Joe Coors has credibility. When you get to Exxon and tire others, it's tough to find an entrepreneur ."—Bev Kincaid (on how personality can drive fundraising campaigns) "When you find tire government fighting its citizens, tire source of tire coirflict is the environmental movement." —Ron Arnold "Environmentalists never die, and they print tire money." —Ron Arnold 'The government is tire wrong target: environmentalists are tire right target. You have to do sometlring about them. You have to shut their doors."—Sion Arnold "It's the cockroach theory...let in tire light. Use their documents and-their defectors against them.”—Ron Arnold