Fur industry paid protesters to attend California and New York hearings on a fur ban

When California's legislature opened hearings on a proposed ban on fur sales, they met with stiff opposition: Andrew Aguero, who described himself as a Native American student said that it was "people from a privileged culture are telling people of my culture that our culture is inhumane" (the bill exempted traditional indigenous uses of fur from the ban); they also heard from Andrew DiGiovanna, another student who said he opposed the bill on environmental grounds; Edwin Lombard said it was an affront to the African-American community" who used furs to "show we could overcome barriers" like redlining.

At least some of these protesters were paid: Matt Gray (who complained that the regulation of fur and the legalization of cannabis were a "baffling" double-standard) got $7,000 from the Fur Information Council of America; while Aguero had published a Facebook post before the hearing reading, "Anyone in LA down to make an easy $100 this Tuesday in Sacramento and fight tyranny?"

An undercover researcher from a group that supported the bill took Aguero up on his offer and was referred to Republican consulting firm Mobilize the Message, who gave him a contract offering a system of payouts and bonuses for presenting himself to lawmakers as a concerned citizen and repeating their talking points.

Mobilize the Message was founded by Cliff Maloney, who is also president of Young Americans for Liberty, which contracts to many GOP PACs and groups, including the Stop AOC PAC, dedicated to neutralizing Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

It wasn't just California that heard from a suspiciously on-message cohort of pro-fur activists who claimed than bans on fur were racist: in New York, Harlem's Rev. Read the rest