Rick Berman

Rick Berman is the owner of Berman & Company Inc., a public relations firm based in Washington DC which aggressively targets groups seeking to promote controls relating to alcohol, tobacco, food safety, animal rights or the environment. According to Berman, 'Our offensive strategy is to shoot the messenger... Given the activists' plans to alarm beyond all reason, we've got to attack their credibility as spokepersons.'

Berman & Co. are behind the Center for Consumer Freedom, formerly known as the Guest Choice Network, known to have received a $200,000 donation from Monsanto. The Consumer Freedom campaign smears organic food as dangerous and promotes what it calls 'genetically improved food'. Berman and his firm paint GM opponents as terrorists, asserting that 'anti-biotech extremists' are part of a 'growing wave of domestic terrorism'. They say the people we need to worry about are not just al-Qa'ida but 'the middle-class kids down the street.' (Terrorists On The March -- In America, USA Today)

Berman & Co. have even declared the charity of the British and Irish churches, Christian Aid, a 'far-left leaning' group that 'flat-out lies about GE foods', hiding 'behind a religious facade to more easily malign farmers, scientists, food companies, and even PR people who deal with GE foods.'.

Berman & Co's internet PR campaign also includes ActivistCash.com which claims to 'root out the funding sources' of 'the most notorious and extreme groups that conspire to restrict the public's food and beverage choices'. However, the Center for Media and Democracy says ActivistCash.com draws on information already largely public and mixes it with distortions and misinformation. Curiously, Monsanto's $200,000 donation to Berman's PR activities only became public as a result of information from a whistle-blower. And Berman appears to take great exception to attempts to root out his own financial relationship with the various lobby organisations run by Berman & Co. He even threatened a lawsuit for defamation after attention was drawn to his 'funneling millions of corporate dollars - donated to non-profit organizations he runs - right into his own bank accounts. Berman pays himself the cash both directly and personally in the form of salary and benefits for his role as 'Executive Director,' as well as through payments he makes from the non-profits to his own corporation, Berman & Company, Inc., for 'consulting.' ' http://www.vegsource.com/articles/berman_release.htm http://www.parentalfreedom.com/response2berman.htm Berman was also implicated in a cash-for-favors scandal involving Newt Gingrich.

He's a Lawyer , his adgenda is big corporate money in his pockets , and he wants you to give up your union . Some of his other campaigns that he made BIG bucks on were....

Campaigns

• Fish Scam This campaign accuses some scientists and government agencies of scare mongering over the effects of consuming mercury through fish. According to their website:

Approximately 4.4 million U.S. households earning $30,000 or less completely eliminated their purchases of canned tuna between 2000 and 2006. During those years, women in those households gave birth to nearly 260,000 children. And canned tuna was the only source of omega-3 fatty acids their mothers could afford to buy. These children are victims of public-health malpractice by green groups and the federal government, which have been issuing dire but exaggerated warnings about harmless levels of mercury that have always been present in ocean fish

• PETA kills Animals This campaign attacks the animal rights group PETA and claims they kill defencelesss animals. One quote from PetaKillsanimals.com states:

Animal rights nuts live in a world where the line between fact and fiction is blurry, at best. On Planet PETA, for instance, circus elephants aren't a source of family entertainment, or a fantastic mechanism to prevent the extinction of a vulnerable species

• Hands off the internet a campaign group with some very high profile corporate members dedicated to preventing any internet regulation. It is co-chaired by Mike McCurry a principal consultant at Public Strategies Washington, and Christopher Wolf a "pioneer in internet law"

• "Fatty Foods aren't Bad For You"

"Drinking and Driving is OK , as long as you do it responsibily" "Increasing the Minimum Wage Stops Kids From Getting Summer Jobs"

FROM: Future Of The Unions

A broader attack

The Berman-led campaign is just one part of a broader assault on labor. Only about 100 union-busting consultants existed in the late 1960s, but some 2,000 such firms today constitute a $1 billion-a-year industry. They draft anti-union literature, teach managers how to scare off union support, and run workshops with titles like “How to Stay Union Free.”