Who Rules Humboldt County?

By the Democracy Unlimited Steering Committee

A recall campaign has been launched against the Humboldt County District Attorney (DA) Paul Gallegos. This recall is the latest chapter in a resource-related crisis that has been dividing this Northern California county for decades.

Pacific Lumber Company, taken over by Maxxam Corporation in 1986, has been a key employer in the county for 130 years. There has been a longstanding battle over how the county’s resources should be managed. This debate is often framed as a community rift between loggers and environmentalists; but who is really benefiting from a divide and conquer portrayal?

In March of 2002 Paul Gallegos ousted twenty-year incumbent DA Terry Farmer, and a month later filed a suit against Pacific Lumber. Shortly thereafter a recall campaign was launched against him. Democracy Unlimited offers the following article as a way to reframe the ongoing environmental and economic crisis in terms of a focus on democratic power. Understanding that the conflict is a struggle for sovereignty between a corporation and “We the People” empowers us to take more decisive action and creates a model for other communities facing corporate assaults.

When District Attorney Paul Gallegos filed a fraud lawsuit against Pacific Lumber/Maxxam Corp., representatives of the company insisted that the charges were baseless.

When opponents of Gallegos initiated a recall effort, representatives of Maxxam insisted that they were not involved.

We do not yet know if the allegations that the corporation submitted fraudulent and deceptive data in order to secure government approval of timber plans are true. But we now know that Maxxam's PL contributed over $40,000 to the attempt to recall the district attorney effort (and you can rest assured that Pacific Lumber doesn't spend a dime that isn't in Maxxam's best interest as well). We also know that without this incredible infusion of money and resources, the recall effort probably would have failed.

Gallegos knew he was taking a huge political risk by suing Maxxam. Longtime Humboldt residents remember that The Pacific Lumber Co. was once a good place to work. PL treated its workers well, and logged slowly and steadily. Good timber jobs seemed guaranteed. There were also over half a million salmon in our North Coast rivers and over 40,000 fishing jobs.

After Texas-based corporate-raider Charles Hurwitz "acquired" the company in 1986, all that changed. Maxxam plundered the workers' pension funds, and mismanaged its timber stocks so badly that today there's almost nothing left. Hillsides fall into rivers. Homes are flooded. And thanks largely to Maxxam's policy of clear-cutting, there are only about 5,000 salmon left, even fewer timber jobs, and virtually no commercial fishing opportunities.

But the most troubling aspect of this fraud lawsuit/recall effort goes beyond the harm Maxxam allegedly causes our community. It even goes beyond whether Maxxam deceived public officials. This unfolding scenario provides a pointed example of the degree to which large corporations have hijacked our economic and political institutions. The very fact that it seems "radical" to have a duly elected district attorney attempt to uphold the law against a powerful out-of-state corporation is chilling.

In a democracy, "We the People" are hallowed words. We are the only source of legitimate political power. We are supposed to rule. This means Humboldt residents should be making the fundamental public policy decisions that affect our lives. In reality, we are allowed to choose between "paper or plastic" at the grocery store. Unelected and unaccountable corporate CEOs make public policy, pretending that their decisions are entirely "private" corporate matters beyond the scope of our authority.

Maxxam's ability to engage in politics rests upon the illegitimate doctrine that corporations are "persons" under the law, vested with constitutionally protected free speech rights as guaranteed by the First Amendment. To be sure, every PL employee has the absolute right to sign petition recalls, ask others to do so, contribute money, and to loudly and vigorously denounce Gallegos (and any other public figure). But they hold these political rights by virtue of their status as people in a democracy. No corporation can legitimately claim political rights.

Ironically, when PL was founded in 1869 it would have been impermissible for the corporation to participate in local politics. The grandchildren of the American Revolution were reared with a sense of reverence for political freedom, and well understood the similarities between a king and a CEO. So it is no surprise that the California Constitution of 1879 strictly forbade corporations from making political contributions or engaging in efforts to influence politics.

Today, Maxxam's Pacific Lumber pours money onto the recall, and even claims in court that they have the constitutional "right" to lie in the documents it submits to California Department of Forestry. Imagine the uproar if the district attorney filed a lawsuit against a welfare cheat, and the accused made the ludicrous claim that he had the "right" to lie when applying for government aid.

The fraud lawsuit against Maxxam will be decided in a court of law. But in the court of public opinion, Maxxam has already lost. Regardless of one's position on the lawsuit, or even on the Gallegos recall effort, the corporation's attempt to eliminate its accuser speaks volumes.

It's time for "We the People" to take our sovereignty as seriously as our ancestors did. Let's take our county back from Maxxam Corporation.


This article was first published in the Times-Standard newspaper in November 2003 and was also printed in the February/March 2004 issue of the Sentient Times.