Broken Window
The Arizona Cattlemen’s Association said they believe their office was vandalized in retaliation for their opposition to Prop 204.

Smashed windows. Federal agents. Death threats. Goodfellas.
It’s not the latest Martin Scorsese film. It’s just the cloud of events surrounding the escalating campaign battle over the Prop. 204 Humane Farms initiative, a bitterly fought ballot measure that would ban the restrictive gestation crate used in hog farming operations.
While backers of the initiative have conducted teleconference fundraisers with actor Paul Sorvino, known for portraying the intimidating mob boss “Paulie” in the movie “Good Fellas,” opponents of Prop. 204 — members of Arizona’s agriculture and livestock industry — reported to the FBI they have been targeted with death threats and vandalism.
The opposing campaign’s Web site has also received intimidating e-mail messages, said Robert Shuler, an attorney representing the Arizona Pork Council, a substantial donor to the fight against Prop. 204.
The FBI has been notified about the threats, which first started in August, said Mr. Shuler, adding ‘Hogwash’ signs decrying the initiative have been stolen from his front yard and his newspaper has been urinated on by who he thinks are radical animal rights supporters.
One message read, according to Mr. Shuler: “Stop killing. You will be killed the same way you killed your livestock. You have no place in the afterlife.”
“They’ve said this matches the pattern with what they have seen in other states with animal rights issues,” he said, of his contact with the FBI.
‘Meat is Murder’ was spray-painted on the home of member of the anti-Prop. 204 campaign, and a “brown gooey substance’ was smeared on the house of another, said Mr. Shuler, who said the FBI has advised the campaign to avoid issuing further details of the attacks.
Cattlemen’s group vandalized
The agency has not returned calls to the Arizona Capitol Times, but similar versions of the accounts were given by the executive director of the Arizona Cattlemen’s Association.
The Cattlemen’s office was vandalized three weeks ago when a big rock was thrown through a large window.
The director, Bas Aja, said animal rights activists are suspected in the vandalism because a portion of an anti-204. campaign sign was found on the south side of the office where the window was broken.
The battle between Arizona’s agriculture industry and the Arizonans for Humane Farms, a conglomerate of state and national groups centered on animal issues, has been growing intense, with each side accusing the other of misleading the public and using unsavory campaign tactics.
Jim Klinker, chairman of the Campaign for Arizona Farmers and Ranchers, alleged last month that approximately 140 of the black and yellow Hogwash campaign signs were stolen from areas in central and southern Phoenix by supporters of Prop. 204, a group he describes as “known to play fast and loose with the rules.”
He backs his allegations by pointing to questionable campaign tactics used by Farm Sanctuary, a New York-based animal rights organization that passed a similar measure in Florida in 2002.
Farm Sanctuary, a major contributor to the Arizona effort to ban the gestation crate for female hogs, eventually agreed to pay $50,000 to the Florida Elections Commission that year as part of a settlement for alleged fundraising improprieties.
Opponents of the initiative like Mr. Klinker argue that Arizona is the local theater of an underhanded national attempt to trick voters into harming meat production by stoking false fears of animal cruelty.
But supporters of Prop. 204 like Cheryl Naumann, who is chairman for the Arizonans for Humane Farms, and also CEO of the Arizona Humane Society, say the initiative is reasonably limited to banning the use of a crate so small that animals are rendered immobile and unable to act upon any instinct.
Ms. Naumann, the self described conservative Republican from a Texas ranching family, rejects the accusations of threats and vandalism. Not a single member of the Arizonans for Humane Farms initiative has heard from the FBI — a factor she regards as important given the seriousness of the accusations.
“If there was a legitimate concern, we would have been contacted,” said Ms. Naumann. “The fact that we haven’t is very telling of the validity of this claim.”
She cited the popularity of the initiative found in recent polls, and said the claims of intimidation and the attempt to link the initiative’s backers to radical animal rights groups are made out of desperation.
“It’s pathetic,” she said. “These are strictly moderate animal welfare groups and there is nobody within the campaign that would jeopardize this initiative.”
This week, the Social Research Laboratory at Northern Arizona University released results of a survey of 403 randomly selected Arizonans likely to vote in the Nov. 7 general election.
The polling found 72 percent of the respondents would support the initiative, with 55 percent of that figure indicating strong support and 17 percent were somewhat supportive.
The Arizonans for Humane Farms campaign is also supported by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and radio talk show host Paul Harvey.
And any accusations of stealing against proponents of the initiative is ironic, said Ms. Naumann, who alleged a person close to the Campaign for Arizona’s Farmers and Ranchers is guilty of the same charge.
“The reality is we love their signs and would never dream of removing them,” she said last month. “They send a clear message to the voters that the opposition does not have a message, but just a lot of anger.”
Ms. Naumann said that her organization believes a Phoenix resident who lives part-time in Tucson attended a Sept. 7 meeting in Tucson under false pretenses of support for the initiative and made off with about 40 signs.
A police report has been filed with the Tucson Police Department, which has also been provided with the license plate number of the alleged thief, she said.
Consultant: Campaign wants focus to be on the crates
Jay Heiler, a former chief of staff to Former Governor Fife Symington and current consultant to the Humane Farms initiative, said the campaign has tried to keep the focus of attention to the policy in question — the use of the restrictive crates.
As a result, they have avoided “demonizing” the owner of a large hog farming operation in Snowflake that uses the crates, and talking to reporters regarding the alleged sign theft in Tucson.
It is not clear if Mr. Sorvino specifically supports Arizona’s Prop. 204, said Michael Markanian, who heads the Humane Society Legislative Fund, which oversees the “Party Animal” teleconferences to raise money and awareness for animal-related legislative issues.
The actor has committed himself to federal legislation to ban the slaughter of horses for consumption. The meat is considered a delicacy in France, Belgium, Italy, and Japan, where it is rumored that 1986 Kentucky Derby winner Ferdinand was slaughtered and eaten following dismal racing performances, said Mr. Markanian.
Calls and e-mails were not returned from Melissa Raubvogul, a New York-based spokeswoman for Mr. Sorvino.
People at approximately 110 individual house parties in 40 states participated in the Oct. 8 teleconference with Mr. Sorvino to raise money for the Human Society Legislative Fund and individual ballot committees in Arizona, Michigan, Colorado, Florida and Portland, Ore., according to Mr. Markanian.
Four such parties occurred in Arizona, he said.
Ms. Naumann said that she was aware of the fundraiser but did not participate and is unsure of what financial benefit her campaign received or will receive as a result of the conference call.