PetPAC & COPS
 

PetPAC & COPS - The unpleasant underbelly of pet breeding.

The loudest opponents to spay and neuter legislation are also, coincidentally, the same groups who make money off of pets... either by providing "papers" for purebred animals or by generating donations by lying about spay & neuter legislation to gullible animal breeders. This website is focused on providing information on these groups and individuals - PetPAC, Bill Hemby, Kelley Moran, and the AKC.

What's up with PetPAC? Here's some history.

  • COPS, a political group with a long history in California politics, was founded in 1975. PetPAC was founded in early 2007 by contract lobbyist William “Bill” Hemby and political consultant Kelley Moran. Mr. Hemby is a central Sacramento figure in the COPS organization, and currently lobbies as the Director of Governmental Affairs for COPS. Mr. Moran is the Director of Political Affairs for COPS.
     
  • PetPAC was formed as a separate group from COPS in order to generate donations from opposing spay and neuter legislation, and Mr. Hemby writes of his hopes that PetPAC can “go on to create one of the state's most powerful lobby [sic].”
     
  • PetPAC’s website says the group was formed “to protect the rights of pets and owners through public awareness education”, among other things. In an unusually truthful email, Mr. Hemby tell ssupporters “What do we do? First of all we raise money, and lots of it.”

Please read on. We promise you an enlightening and informative experience.

Great News! The Pet Political Action Committee (PetPAC) is up and running. So, who are we, what do we plan to do, and how will we do it? ... I am Bill Hemby, contracted as the Director of Political Affairs for the California Organization of Police and Sheriffs, COPS, and Kelley Moran, (Moran and Associates), a political action firm specializing in campaigns, elections, political information and anything politics. We both have represented COPS for years, Kelley for 10, me for 30...
(Bill Hemby, posted in several online forums in late April, 2007

Some see COPS -- which claims a membership of about 5,000 -- as little more than a fund-raising operation that puts out mailers with a law enforcement seal of approval, encouraging people to vote for whichever candidate or issue group comes up with the requisite money.

(San Francisco Chronicle, October 9, 2002)

"They're mercenaries," said Dan Schnur, who was Gov. Pete Wilson's spokesman in 1994 when COPS broke with other law enforcement groups and endorsed Democratic challenger Kathleen Brown over Wilson, who had made his name as a tough-on-crime Republican.

(Los Angeles Times, October 10, 2002)

A politically powerful state law-enforcement group has raised millions of dollars for police causes, using fund-raisers who have included a registered sex offender and a convicted counterfeiter tied to organized crime.

The California Organization of Police and Sheriffs, which goes by the acronym COPS, also used Orange County phone solicitors who singled out Hispanics and threatened to cut off their 911 services if they didn't respond with a check.

The same fund-raisers impersonated police officers and once promised to knock points off a bad driving record in exchange for contributions, records show.

Since 1996, COPS has raised $ 6.48 million, leading critics to dub it the "California Organization of Phone Solicitors."

(Orange County Register, February 28, 1999. Emphasis added.)

In 1993 and 1994, COPS used a fund-raising company in Orange County that bullied and threatened scores of Hispanic Santa Ana residents, according to police reports.

In that instance, which resulted in two felony convictions, phone solicitors threatened to cut off 911 services if contributions weren't made. Records seized during an undercover Santa Ana police sting detailed nearly 350 contributions totaling $ 12,640. All the contributions bore Hispanic surnames.

(Orange County Register, February 28, 1999)

The phone operators believed Hispanics would be less likely to report illegal activity, police said. They repeatedly called, as often as five or six times, until contributions were made.

"What they were doing was absolutely disgusting," said Santa Ana Police Capt. Dan McCoy.

(Orange County Register, February 28, 1999. Emphasis added.)

The COPS slate took in $871,000 from candidates and causes in 2000 and paid Moran a management fee of $300,000, above and beyond expenses for printing and mailing.

(Sacramento Bee, June 20, 2002. Emphasis added.)

Telemarketers employed by COPS solicit advertising. But they also appeal to individuals for funds, saying the money will help support the survivors of slain peace officers and fund public-safety programs for children.

The following 10 California-based charities benefited the least from private commercial fundraisers they used in 2004. The fundraisers used by these charities raised $100,000 or more....

Charity: California Organization of Police and Sheriffs
City: Ontario
Fundraiser: Civic Development Group LLC
Money Raised: $4,342,287
Money to Charity: $663,057
Percent: 15.3%
Source: California attorney general

(Sacramento Bee, January 27, 2006)

In an earlier interview, Angele said that bullying tactics, such as those used in 1993 and 1994, when Hispanic Santa Ana residents were threatened with the loss of their 911 service, were a thing of the distant past.

Not according to Bob Jorgensen, a Fullerton executive recruiter, who said he encountered heavy-handed tactics just last year by a COPS solicitor. Jorgensen said he was told that COPS was compiling a list of names and contribution amounts that would be circulated to all police agencies in the county.

"I was told that if you were on the 'no donate' list and you got involved with the police that bad things might happen to you," he said. "But if you donated, good things might happen to you. It was a veiled threat kind of thing. "

(Orange County Register, March 2, 1999)

San Luis Obispo

Police are warning residents of a telemarketing scam by an organization that claims to represent police officers.

The San Luis Obispo Police Officers' Association received complaints from residents reporting solicitations for money from an organization called the California Organization of Police and Sheriffs, or COPS. The telemarketers call from the East Coast and ask for a $35 donation while claiming to represent local police.

COPS does not represent local officers in the county, police said. Residents who receive these solicitations are advised to report the calls to local police and ask the callers who they represent.

-- Leslie Parrilla

(The Tribune (San Luis Obispo), March 8, 2006. Emphasis added.)

 
 

Please note that the relationship between COPS and PetPAC cannot be construed as an indication that the fundraising methods employed by PetPAC will be similar to the methods used by COPS. Nor should the information presented here be construed as an indication that the percentage of funds raised by PetPAC ultimately spent on overhead will be similar to the COPS percentage. The article excerpts and quotes on this site are gathered from public sources and are presented as information only, so that the reader may be better informed. No relationship between PetPAC and COPS, other than the sharing of personnel, is implied.

This political parody site simulates design elements found on the site www.petpac.net and is protected under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The Supreme Court has held that parody is a valid form of protected speech when directed at public officials and public figures.