Beverly Hills Battles with Style and Grace

A GROWING COALITION of who's who in Beverly Hills city politics has joined with the Chamber of Commerce, the restaurants, leather and fur stores and a host of other Beverly Hills merchants and citizens to fight Measure A, an initiative on the May 11 city ballot.

The proposed Measure A would label fur products with methods that may or may not have been used to kill the animals. Sanely calling themselves "Beverly Hills Coalition for NO on A," half a dozen former mayors, school board members, presidents of homeowners associations, city commissioners and other community leaders are urging citizens to apply for absentee ballots for this special election, to vote from the privacy of their homes, but TO VOTE. It appears the only way this election could be lost is by voter apathy.

Editorials are pouring in from around the country, denouncing the initiative (see below). The battle in Beverly Hills is far removed from, but so important to, our fur farming families scattered around the country. As we make our living by transforming beef, fish, dairy and poultry production leftovers into an exquisite natural fiber for some of the world's most beautiful garments, it is good to know there are people out there who are still willing to fight for common sense and decency.

Win or lose, fur farmers send a heartfelt thank you to our new friends in Beverly Hills.

THE FUR INITIATIVE is neither logical or feasible, but if a large majority of the voters sit by and ignore the election it can become a law they will later regret. It's bad enough the city is being forced to pay the thousands of tax dollars this unwanted election will cost, but it will be worse if voters stay away from the polls and allow it to pass. March Schwartz, Beverly Hills Courier, Feb. 19, 1999

I ADMIT THAT LOS ANGELES, with its various self righteous obsessions, can be a very funny silly place, but I get a little tired of hearing about it. This time it is the Beverly Hills Fur Initiative that has them rolling in the snow, so to speak. They (people outside the city) thought the initiative was the funniest thing they ever heard ... the fur label idea is goofy, a product of minds too narrow to embrace other ideals. Al Martinez, Columnist, Los Angeles Times, Mar. 2, 1999

THERE IS A LOT OF POLITICAL SILLINESS in the world, and not all of it is in the nation's capital. Some of it is in Beverly Hills ... But the Beverly Hills proposal is about something more extreme, something truly nutty. It amounts to shameful economic warfare ... it is just a short hop from the killing of animals to drape the human body to the killing of animals for human food. A fur is a steak is leather. ... The animal rights groups that thought up the (labeling) exercise is called Beverly Hills Consumers for Informed Choices, but it is the kissing cousin of the national group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. PeTA is famous for pulling dumb stunts to attract attention ... Beverly Hills is a small, elite enclave of little more than 30,000 citizens. It symbolizes the power of money, big money. But if it votes for this stupid labeling trick, it would demonstrate that money is not the equivalent of brains. Marianne Means, Seattle Post Intelligencer, Feb. 11, 1999

IF THE ANIMAL RIGHTS ACTIVISTS get away with mandating warning labels on furs, you can bet they will demand warning labels on beef, veal, chicken and fish products. Walter Williams, Washington Times, Feb. 11, 1999

THE ELECTION WILL COST Beverly Hills in excess of $50,000. Creators of this initiative chose to launch their ballot issue in Beverly Hills because the city has broadcast power ... When I was approached about signing the petitions, I asked who was sponsoring the initiative. 'The city of Beverly Hills is,' I was told. This was not precisely the truth. Margaret Harris , Beverly Hills Chronicle

WE LABEL THIS PRACTICE as moral fraud, an insidious action which has the effect of stealing the exalted reputation our city has built over the years. March Schwartz , Beverly Hills Courier, Feb. 5, 1999

HOWEVER, THE LABEL ISSUE is more significant. It is politics by harassment and as such it trivializes government, law enforcement and the law itself. Ventura County Star, Feb. 8, 1999

See also:

April 1999:
17: Don't Label Beverly Hills By Teresa Platt, Executive Director, FCUSA.
16: Beverly Hills Coalition for No on A
New website on animal rights labeling initiative.

February 1999:
11: In Beverly Hills, Fur Is Flying Over Truth-In-Slaughtering Label Direct link to Seattle Post-Intelligencer, with permission.
8: Fur Labels Aren't Needed Ventura County Star editorial, reproduced with permission.
7: Should Furs Have Tags on How Animals Were Killed? Reader's letter to Westside Weekly, a publication of the LA Times.
5: Fur Flies As City's Name Is 'Used'; This Is A Grievous Type of Fraud Beverly Hills Courier editorial, reproduced with permission.
3: Hold the Label in 90210 More on labeling initiative.

January 1999:
9: Initiative Qualifies by A Hair. How Now in Beverly Hills?

November 1998:

23: Are the Signatures Valid in Beverly Hills? Fur Farmers Think Not
6: Animal Rights Signature Drive Goes Down in Flames in Beverly Hills

June 1998:
18: "Hold the Label," says Teresa Platt, executive director, FCUSA.

For further information contact: Teresa Platt, Executive Director, Fur Commission USA, 826 Orange Avenue, #506, Coronado, CA 92118 USA, (619) 575-0139, (619) 575-5578/fax, furfarmers@aol.com, www.furcommission.com.

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