Center for Consumer Freedom

[Guest guest]

<http://www.consumerdeception.com/> http://www.consumerdeception.com

 

 

<http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root & name=ViewWeb & articleId

=8984>

http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root & name=ViewWeb & articleId=

8984

 

What Is the Center for Consumer Freedom,

and WRIck Berman on CNNhy Is It Attacking PETA?

 

 

 

 

The Center for Consumer Freedom is a nonprofit corporation run by

lobbyist Richard Berman through his Washington, D.C.-based for-profit

public relations company, Berman & Co. The Center for Consumer Freedom,

formerly known as the Guest Choice Network, was set up by Berman with a

$600,000 " donation " from tobacco company Philip Morris.

 

Berman arranges for large sums of corporate money to find its way into

nonprofit societies of which he is the executive director. He then hires

his own company as a consultant to these nonprofit groups. Of the

millions of dollars " donated " by Philip Morris between the years 1995

and 1998, 49 percent to 79 percent went directly to Berman or Berman &

Co.

 

Richard Berman is an influence peddler. He has worked out a scheme to

funnel charitable donations from wealthy corporations into his own

pocket. In exchange, he provides a flurry of disinformation, flawed

studies, op-ed pieces, letters to the editor, and trade-industry

articles, as well as access to his high-level government contacts, who

are servants of the industries he represents.

 

Berman's name might sound familiar. In 1995, Berman and Norm Brinker,

his former boss at Steak and Ale Restaurants, were identified as the

special-interest lobbyists who donated the $25,000 that disgraced

then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who was hauled before the House Ethics

Committee for influence-peddling over the money. Berman and Brinker were

lobbying against raising the minimum wage.

 

Richard Berman is a spin doctor. For example, he has argued against a

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) initiative to lower the blood

alcohol content (BAC) limit for drivers by claiming that the stricter

limits would punish responsible social drinkers. He has claimed that

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warnings about

salmonella-related food poisoning are just " whipping up fear over food. "

 

Here's how an internal Philip Morris memo described Berman's spin: " His

proposed solution would broaden the focus of the 'smoking issue,' and

expand into the bigger picture of over-regulation. " Smoking won't kill

you; over-regulation will.

 

Berman is " a one-man wrecking crew on important issues. " His approach

has been described as " misleading " and " despicable. " Berman has been

called " a tobacco company whore, " but he's branched out since then.

 

Using " freedom of choice " as his battle cry, Berman has now taken on

PETA and a number of other groups and organizations whose points of view

could have an impact on the profits of his clients by waking consumers

up. Berman's Guest Choice Network has an " advisory panel " whose members

in 1998 included officials representing companies ranging from Cargill

Processed Meat Products and Outback Steakhouse to Minnesota Licensed

Beverage Association and Sutter Home Winery. Berman's clients are

companies with vested interests in low employee wages; cheap, unhealthy

restaurant-chain food, particularly meat; and tobacco, soft drink, and

alcohol consumption-companies like Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, Armour

Swift, and Philip Morris, whose product line includes Kraft Foods and

everything from Marlboro cigarettes to Oscar Meyer wieners and which is

a major shareholder in its former subsidiary Miller Brewing, now known

as SABMiller.

 

PETA's recent successes in gaining fast-food industry concessions for

more humane conditions for farm animals have sent ripples of fear

through the food and beverage service industry. About the same time that

McDonald's buckled to PETA's demands, Richard Berman changed his front

group's name and stepped up his attacks.

 

The key to Berman's aggressive strategy is, in his own words, " to shoot

the messenger ... we've got to attack their credibility as

spokespersons, " -an interesting remark from someone whose background and

funding so severely challenge his own credibility.