PetPAC is an organization formed to protect the rights of
pets and owners through public awareness education, grassroots organizing, and advocacy at the local, state and national level.
William "Bill" Hemby has served as the Legislative Advocate for the California Organization of Police
and Sheriffs (COPS) for 23 years. Bill has been involved in thousands of legislative bills in Sacramento, California and Washington
D.C. His legislative experience ranges from national security issues to leading efforts on the rights of pets and their owners.
Since 9/11, Bill has provided homeland security and anti-terrorism training to peace officers in California and around the
nation.
After serving in the military overseas, Bill served 15 years as a police officer with the San Francisco Police
Department and retired as a Sergeant. Bill Hemby is the recipient of the San Francisco Police Department’s Gold Medal
of Valor, the highest award an officer can receive. In 1981, then Governor Jerry Brown appointed Bill to serve as a Commissioner
on the Youthful Offender Parole Board, conducting sentencing and parole hearings for young offenders.
For the past 30
years, Bill has shown dogs. Bill and his wife Cyndi have seven Borzoi dogs, two rescue Afghans, one cat and two horses. Their
love of animals is a deeply held passion.
An ABC-TV affiliate in Atlanta aired an Investigative Report on where the Humane Society of the United
States spends its money. Twenty four hours later, the story was pulled from the air. I wasn’t able to locate it in their
archives either, even though there were older investigative stories still there. I spoke with Mark Winne of Channel 2 and
was told that it is routine to take down this type of news report, however he was less specific when asked why it wasn’t
saved in their archives. A copy of the video played on YouTube for one day then mysteriously disappeared from that site as
well.
PetPAC posted, on our site, the written transcript you see below, sent to us by several
of our supporters.
Friday morning PetPAC received an email from an attorney representing WSB-TV
ordering us to remove the written word from public view. I have to conclude, as others have already, that this demand has
been triggered by some powerful action to squelch the story.
Since HSUS has not come out publicly
to protest the facts contained in this story, nor has WSB-TV issued any form of retraction I think it logical to assume the
story has to be substantially true and accurate.
So much for freedom of the press and the First
Amendment to the Constitution. Since those of us in PetPAC do not want to upset TV broadcasters, we have not made any further
attempts to get copies of the video story. However, the transcript sent to us from others, not taken from the station website,
unsubstantiated as it is reprinted below.
Where Humane Society Donations Really Go
ATLANTA -- A Channel 2 investigation is looking into millions of dollars in donations given to the Humane Society
of the United States.
A national consumer organization says the society solicits pet-lovers for
money, but little to none of that money ever goes to help local shelters.
Critics tell Channel
2 Action News reporter Amanda Rosseter that this isn’t just consumers misunderstanding who they are giving in to –
but an organization actively misleading donors to get money.
“They do their marketing very
well, that's for sure,” said Trey Burley of PAWS Atlanta.
Critics say the national organization
takes advantage of people who think they are giving to local shelters. DeKalb's "PAWS" shelter says there is no
regular funding help from the $100 million HSUS budget.
“I think that some of the folks
who donate to the national organization may be under the false pretense that that money is going to a local cause,”
said Burley.
While the HSUS does work to stop puppy mills, it also gets media coverage and donations
doing it; but the puppies then go to local shelters who have to pay and care for them.
“They
may initialize the resources for a rescue, but again the animals go to a shelter somewhere in the country,” said Richard
Rice, VP of the Atlanta Humane Society.
Critics say HSUS also takes advantage of high-profile
events. After hurricane Katrina, HSUS CEO Wayne Pacelle promised on national TV to reunite pets with their owners—and
raised $34 million for the cause; but public disclosures of where that money went add up to less than $7 million.
The Louisiana attorney general launched an 18-month-long investigation, and it then ended it when HSUS offered to
build the state a new shelter.
The HSUS annual report for 2007 showed $120 million in revenue,
including $5.4 million just from online donors.
Then there's $112 million in expenses -- most
of which appears to have gone to legislation for animal rights bills. The list includes raccoons, mice, wild horses, burros
and primates.
The center for consumer freedom says all worthy causes, but HSUS shouldn't mislead
to get money.
So where does all the money go?
“It goes to lobbying,
it goes to political contributions, it does go to pay huge staff salaries and benefits," said David Marposko with Center
for Consumer Freedom.
Channel 2 Action News went to a local HSUS meeting to find out. The two
hour discussion was about activist plans and lobbying. The Georgia director for the HSUS agrees that’s mostly what she
does.
“I think that in all of our literature, it is very explicit as to what our campaigns
are and what we are doing,” said Cheryl McAuliffe, Georgia Director for HSUS. “We help where we can and focus
on our programs, which are national and international.”
McAuliffe said there are just too
many local shelters to help.
“I always tell people, contribute to your local shelter first,”
said McAuliffe.
When asked how much her budget is for the state of Georgia, McAuliffe said she
didn’t have a budget and neither did the other states. McAuliffe said all money is controlled from headquarters in Washington,
D.C.
