Proposition 86 14 Oct 2006 09:29 pm
Proposition 86: Controversy gets wider exposure
The No on 86 folks got a bit of unfortunate publicity recently when it was revealed that the political firm of the president of the California NAACP, Alice Huffman, was paid $100,000 by a campaign account affiliated with Philip Morris, the tobacco company, at the same time that the NAACP was endorsing the No on 86 position. Huffman’s position was that there was no connection between the funding from Philip Morris and the position taken by the NAACP on the ballot measure. To be sure, other African-American political groups (including the California Black Chamber of Commerce and the Black Business Association) have taken a similar position, saying that the tobacco tax envisioned by Proposition 86 supporters is a regressive tax that would have a disproportionate impact on communities of color.
An article appeared about the alleged conflict of interest in the Capitol Weekly on Thursday. That same night, KTVU ran a lengthy report about the matter on its 10:00 pm newscast, complete with an interview with a prominent African-American anti-tobacco activist (Huffman’s only appearance was in some old file footage from last year, with the sound muted).
These days, even an article published on a Sacramento website that’s read mainly by politicians, lobbyists, reporters, and consultants can wind up with a significantly larger audience given the right circumstances.