Drakes Bay Oyster Company: Conservative Tar is Sticky

[Update 8/18: In an article from PRWatch on the Koch Brothers' funded Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity setting up "news websites" in 40 states, it notes the Franklin Center also donated $994,000 to Cause of Action in 2011. As noted, it was Cause of Action's "agenda" which suddenly made Phyllis Faber aware of there being more than an oyster farm's continued operation in a designated wilderness area driving their legal support of Drakes Bay Oyster  Company's continued operation. Found on the Franklin website are the various "news outlets" in each state, with Washington's being the "Freedom Foundation" where Scott Roberts operates out of. Mr. Roberts has helped Ed Kilduff promote his perceptions on wetlands, not accepted by the Department of Ecology nor San Juan County. Ed Kilduff was recently interviewed by Robin Carpenter in an "infomercial" on whether Marin County is the same as San Juan County in Washington. Tar is sticky.] 

 

Plausible Deniability

(Dilbert)

Recent public relations strategies executed by firms representing Drakes Bay Oyster Company have attempted to distance themselves from what has been termed "right wing conservative" groups who support commercial operations within wilderness areas. Most prominent of those groups supporting legal work for DBOC was Cause of Action whose efforts brought the case currently being considered by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to this state. The relationship between DBOC and COA was severed in large part when Phyllis Faber realized the agenda of COA and donors to that group were not aligned with her philosophy.

How was I to know?

Phyllis Faber

Since that time press releases, blogs, and radio interviews have all attempted to distance DBOC from any ties to conservative groups, attempting to align themselves with perceived "liberal" entities. Included in this have been alignment with San Francisco restaurant groups whose only stated concern is to continue providing local $3 oysters to their patrons. Another attempt to swing the narrative was public relations "expert" Sam Singer with Singer Associates submitting a statement for conservative radio talk show host "WZ" to read explaining his relationship with DBOC proclaiming that he was "democrat". One other example has been use of the conservative land use group Common Sense Alliance's board member Ed Kilduff's blog, Trojan Herron, to create Trojan Herring, publishing pieces authored by east coast resident, cook book author and fervent DBOC supporter Sarah Rolph (the former was interviewed by Robin Carpenter, lamenting the name calling which was going on but which side stepped Mr. Kilduff's very focused "name calling" of those in Washington who disagree with him).

In the Marin County fog created by public relations firms an attempt to deny past relationships relies heavily on "plausible deniability." Phyllis Faber and Corey Goodman's "how were we to know" letter cutting the ties with Cause of Action on the surface was admirable (an unfavorable News Hour report on public radio resulted in COA demand all interview tapes). Follow-up interviews on conservative radio shows did nothing to distance themselves from those who wish this commercial operation in a designated wilderness area to continue. The Freedom Foundation's use of Ed Kilduff in their videos only served to layer more tar onto the affair.

Citizens in Marin County are fortunate to be able to live in a bucolic landscape, adjacent to one of the most densely populated urban areas in the United States. It is that way because people such as Ms. Faber saw the pressures from development flowing into the county fracturing the landscape. She and other stepped in to implement land use regulations and create groups to acquire farms to prevent development at a local level. Citizens, and Ms. Faber, need to elevate themselves above the fray of Marin County and consider the national impact which the continued operation of this commercial operation in a designated wilderness area is going to result in.

A "cannery" and "local family run business" sound very romantic but they do not hide the reality of this being looked on by those whose agendas are far different than what is being portrayed by the public relations firms enlisted. Plausible deniability has been used in politics for decades. Public relations firms are "gifted" in their ability to create the fog in which this exists. Marin County citizens need to be able to see through this fog.

Drakes Bay Oyster Company is in Crisis Management Mode

Sam Singer: "The Fixer"

Founder and CEO of 

Singer Associates, Inc.

 

Drakes Bay Oyster Company is in crisis control mode, enlisting Singer Associates to help put a new frame around an old picture. DBOC's "free" legal advice from Cause of Action ended when COA demanded Public Broadcast Service's NewsHour turn over all video tapes used in their article on DBOC. It resulted in a public relations nightmare which shattered the relationship between DBOC and COA like a shotgun blast hitting a skeet. Drakes Bay Oyster Company has begun to understand that nothing is free and there are multiple agendas at play, many of which see DBOC as a simple pawn in a larger game, upon which the tar of right wing conservatism has been spread and it doesn't know how to get it off.

PCSGA Attorney

Robert M. Smith

Newly hired California 

attorney at Plauche & Carr

(created through representing

the needs and wants

of the shellfish industry)



In the shifting tides of aliances for DBOC the Pacific Coast Shellfish Growers Association has also distanced themselves from DBOC. In their latest "Complaint about Information Quality" (signed by newly hired California attorney Robert Smith, previously with Jenkins and Hogin) they claim their new complaint is not "moot" as their 2007 "Complaint" was found to be, and as was Cause of Action's most recent "Complaint."

In PCSGA's new "Complaint" they acknowledge the "Secretary of the Interior decided to not renew DBOC's lease as a matter of discretion" and that "...the Secretary did not rely on the EIS in making his decision..." Instead of "jobs" or the "Lunny family" PCSGA's concern is the shellfish industry's actions have been found to have adverse impacts which outweigh benefits. Their concern is the environmental impacts will "be cited in review of other shellfish proposals throughout the country, thereby harming the PCSGA and its members."

 

        Bag of Clams

       in dirty water.                                          Clean water.

                      

"Proof" that a bag of clams                       "Proof" water is clean 

in an aquarium filters water                       if you don't pollute it.

which pollutants were added to.

They should be concerned. Constant repetition of "filter feeders" and "nitrogen removal" will not make an insignificant role any more significant. There is no problem with Drakes Estero's waters, nor will there be if DBOC oysters are removed. Even if there were some problem it is not something which will be managed by shellfish. As seen in virtually every healthy body of fresh water throughout the world, oysters have nothing to do with it. Controlling what enters the waters is what matters. As Dr. Land with the University of Texas, Austin, noted so clearly, "Pollution must be stopped. Sopping up never works."

Singer in Action
Today's online Wall Street Journal brackets a public relations "creation" on Drakes Bay Oyster Company with this line at the top and the bottom:

The Wall Street Journal news department was not involved in the creation of this content.

At the bottom, just above the second disclaimer of the "...not involved in the creation of this content" is the contact information: Sam Singer, 415-336-4949 (Cell) In short, what is passed on as "news" is nothing more than an office press release from Singer and Associates, picked up through nothing more than "chummy relations" (see below).

Reuters pr creation on the same topic from Singer and Associates was more to the point: "Reuters is not responsible for the content in this press release." Is this really news reporting or "chummy relations", similar to Dr. Goodman's Marin Media Institute's ownership of Point Reyes Light?



Terrorists attack Foie Gras, Treasure Island Becomes Developed (maybe), and Americas Cup is "Foiled"
Mr. Singer's efforts have included  developing a communication plan to "battle a terrorist attack on producers of foie gras", to have been on the communication team for "some of the largest real estate and transportation development projects in California, including the redevelopment of Treasure Island", and trying to explain why the America's Cup is looming as a financial disaster. Can he make this open oyster on the shelf of a grocery store edible? Not likely.

"I've got friends in high places."
Part of his attraction to those "...who apparently don't feel capable of dealing with the media themselves" is "because of the chummy relations he has cultivated with reporters and columnists at the city's major news outlets" (SFGate, January 7, 2008).  This apparently includes the Wall Street Journal, owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation which also owns Fox News.

Rupert Murdoch

Owner of News Corp.



Mr. Singer has a lot to "fix" with Drakes Bay Oyster Company. The shattered shards of skeet spread on the tidelands of Drakes Estero through the shotgun approach of past decisions speaks for itself. The conservative tar which has been spread on DBOC in its attempt to usurp the Congressional declaration that Drakes Estero will become a wilderness when DBOC ceases operation will not wash off. Mr. Singer's best plan of action is to try and get those shards stuck onto DBOC's layer of tar, put it out to pasture, and let PCSGA attorneys discover - once again - its complaint is a moot point.