Politically-Motivated Animal Endorsements Harm Animals, Help Pols

Recent research by animal advocacy group No Kill Long Beach shows that the dubiously animal-friendly political action committee known as "Animal PAC" is a mechanism that is being used by members of a local political party to get people elected in that party at the state, local and federal levels. In other words -- like Garcia, Uranga and Price, it is using animals and the donations of compassionate, animal-loving people to get their politically-preferred people elected, whether they are truly animal-friendly or not.

Federal Election Commission documents reveal a link between Animal PAC, which says on its website that it “help[s] elect lawmakers who support humane policies that protect and improve the lives of animals” and Councilmember Roberto Uranga’s 2018 City Council campaign. The link is Animal PAC’s treasurer, who also serves as the treasurer for Councilman Uranga’s campaign, according to Uranga’s Form 460, obtained by No Kill Long Beach through the City of Long Beach’s CampaignDocs eRetrieval portal.

“We’re really just wondering what’s going on around these sudden endorsements by a PAC that doesn’t seem to have a great deal of connection to actual animal issues,” said Patricia Turner, Ph.D., Director of No Kill Long Beach (NKLB - formerly Stayin' Alive Long Beach), the Long Beach animal advocacy group that advocates for lifesaving programs and more humane treatment of animals at the Long Beach Animal Care Services (LBACS) animal shelter. The group began advocating for shelter reform five years ago, and in the past three elections has published an Animal Welfare Voter Information Guide, in which the incumbents this year received low ratings for their inaction in remedying significant problems at the city shelter.

NKLB started looking into the situation when the Press-Telegram published a story comparing NKLB and the dubiously animal-friendly Animal PAC on April 5. “It just seems really odd that a current councilmember running for re-election would have the same campaign treasurer as the PAC that’s endorsing him for his supposedly animal-friendly views,” Turner said. “It definitely calls into question the legitimacy of the endorsement.”

A review of documents on the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) website shows that the person who serves as both Councilman Uranga’s and Animal PAC’s treasurer has been sanctioned by the FPPC twice, most recently in 2014 for violating the Political Reform Act.

In addition, the Executive Director of Animal PAC identifies himself on his professional Facebook page as a California Democratic Party Executive Board Member for Assembly District 66. The California Democratic Party lists him as a “2017 Assembly District Delegate/EBoard Rep” for AD66.

Both the Executive Director and the Treasurer of Animal PAC are also active in the Beach Cities Democrats (BCD), according to a BCD newsletter published last August. Councilman Uranga’s/Animal PAC’s treasurer is also listed by the Center for Responsive Politics as the treasurer for at least 6 non-animal, Democratic PACS.

“We did a little research, and every candidate Animal PAC has endorsed over the roughly 8 months since its Facebook page was established is a Democrat,” Turner said. According to Animal PAC’s website, Animal PAC has endorsed the following politicians: US Senator Kevin de Leon, LA City Councilmember Paul Koretz-D, California State Senator Ben Allen-D, Assembly Member Adrin Nazarian-D, West Holly Councilmember John D’Amico-D and LA County Assessor Jeffrey Prang-D.

“Looking at these facts, it appears that Animal PAC is a mechanism for making certain candidates appear animal-friendly in order to appeal to animal-loving voters, whether or not the candidates have a record of helping animals,” Turner said. “Animal PAC is also soliciting donations for these candidates from compassionate animal-lovers, and it’s not clear that this money is actually being used to help animals.”

In addition to Councilman Uranga, Councilwoman Suzie Price and Mayor Garcia have all received what NKLB views as questionable endorsements from Animal PAC. Stacy Mungo, the one incumbent who has not been endorsed by the PAC, is listed as non-partisan on Ballotpedia, though she has been a featured speaker at Long Beach Republican Women Federated in both 2015 and 2017, according to their website. She has, however, taken the time to pose in pictures with animals during the campaign, in spite of the fact that Mungo, along with Garcia, Price and Uranga, did not act decisively to put in place a strong adoption and foster program after learning about the problem from NKLB four years ago.

Although the Animal PAC Facebook page has been in existence since July 2017, the PAC’s FEC Statement of Organization was not filed until March 30, 2018 – 12 days after No Kill Long Beach’s Voter Information Guide came out assigning low ratings to the incumbents based on their lack of action and poor legislative records in the area of animal welfare. “It certainly does look as though the incumbents are doing their best to sell themselves as proactive, animal-friendly candidates. Unfortunately, their records of inaction show their indifference to the animals’ suffering,” Turner said. Nearly 7,000 animals have been euthanized at the Long Beach Animal Shelter since Mayor Garcia and the other incumbents were elected four years ago. “Most of these animals could have been saved if the incumbents had implemented the shelter reforms we have been advocating for for years now,” Turner said. “Rather than lead the charge to save these innocent lives, they have instead chosen to merely appear animal-friendly by accepting the endorsement of, and possibly campaign contributions from, a PAC which seems to exist solely for this purpose.”

About No Kill Long Beach

No Kill Long Beach is an initiative whose ultimate goal is to make Long Beach a no kill city, as defined by saving all healthy and treatable animals in the city shelter. No Kill Long Beach accomplishes this by advocating for the implementation of the No Kill Equation: responsible, humane, cost-effective policies and programs that will reduce the shelter population and increase adoption rates. For more information on the organization’s work to promote an end to the unnecessary killing of healthy and treatable animals in the Long Beach Animal Care Services shelter, check out their website at www.NoKillLongBeach.org.

No Kill Long Beach can also be found on Facebook at www.facebook.com/NoKillLB and on Twitter www.twitter.com/NoKillLongBeach