AKC BUYS PAWS?

Visiting the AKC Board, Senator Rick Santorum (PAWS sponsor) picks up $29,000 from AKC Officers listed here.  How many contributions did Santorum receive from AKC and HSUS?

Report by Bob Kane, SAOVA

Members of the AKC Board of Directors and staff listen to Senator Rick Santorum discuss the Pet Animal Welfare Statute of 2005 (PAWS) during his March 13, 2006 visit to the American Kennel Club.

For more AKC info on Santorum's visit http://www.akc.org/news/index.cfm?article_id=2830

The following donations to Rick Santorum's reelection campaign were reported to the Federal Election Commission in late March 2006:

Ronald H. Menaker, AKC Chairman & Spouse $8,400 + $11,600 to PA GOP Committee

David Merriam, AKC Vice-chairman $500

Steve Gladstone, AKC Board Member $1500

Nina (Cornelia) Schaefer, AKC Board Member $500

William Newman, AKC Board Member $1500

Dennis Sprung, AKC President $1000

John Lyons, AKC COO $500

James Stevens, AKC CFO $500

Charles L. Kneifel, AKC VP $500

Noreen Baxter, AKC VP $500

James Holt, AKC Lobbying Consultant $2000

Rick Santorum Payback To AKC?

Should the bill receive a fair review in a Senate committee hearing, it will come under heavy attack for its new, alternative "dealer" inspections. The change is very clearly anti-competitive and has been structured to give the American Kennel Club (AKC) a market advantage over other canine registries. That same provision has caused the Doris Day Animal League to reverse its earlier support position and oppose PAWS. HSUS's support continues.

Can AKC's management buy its way out its competitive problems,collaborating with animal rightists, while simultaneously hurting other registries and its customers? Only if we let it.

http://saova.org/1139.html
http://www.nopaws.org

Senator Santorum's Pennsylvania reelection campaign polling continues to trail moderate Democrat Bob Casey, although the gap between them is closing. Sportsmen and animal rightists could well determine this November 2006 contest result. Anti-hunter, anti-breeder HSUS CEO Wayne Pacelle has already donated $6000 towards Santorum's reelection and promised the support of his organization's 300,000 PA members on November 8, 2005. The animal rightist Dark Prince's anti-hunting efforts are well documented and widely circulated within the sportsmen community. This is his latest general public pronouncement,  

The Keystone State has approximately one million licensed hunters. Time will tell how this much-watched 2006 political campaign plays out, but S1139 PAWS and HSUS will be huge factors, in SAOVA's view.

SAOVA Letter To American Kennel Club (AKC)

Last month, AKC delegates reelected the director who has been the most outspoken supporter of PAWS. Ken Marden, the GSP Club director who had voted against PAWS, lost his reelection bid, leaving no performance dog owner on the AKC Board. Rick Santorum toured AKC's offices the day of the vote, perhaps campaigning. http://www.akc.org/news/index.cfm?article_id=2830 Many of you received SAOVA's January 20th analysis of AKC's inept management and plunging canine registration market share, now at its 40-year low. 

Ron Menaker, please resign.

Sincerely,

Bob Kane, President
Virginia Hunting Dog Owners' Association
Sportsmen's and Animal Owners' Voting Alliance -
Working to identify and elect supportive legislators
** NO PAWS **
http://saova.org/1139.html

Handy links: _______________________________________

Project: PAWS 2005 Over 900 pages of factual, no frills, no PAWS INDEX
PAWS, PPA, HSUS & AKC Why AKC vigorously supported PAWS and fought the PPA
AKC Letter To Puppy Mills overnight service, no late fees, toll free number, etc.