CNP in California (published in 1996)

Published in Freedom Writer April 1996

CNP in California
Over sixty Californians are members of the Council for National Policy (CNP) and nowhere in the country have CNP members been more politically active and spent more money than in California. Since 1988, many of these members have assumed a very active lea dership and generous financial role in a variety of ideological causes moving the California Republican Party into the ranks of the Radical Religious Right.

One of the most influential CNP members no longer lives in California, but his long shadow reaches from the Rocky Mountains to the Sierras. James Dobson, formerly of Pomona, now presides over his Focus on the Family (FOF) empire from Colorado Springs.

According to a November 26, 1995 article in The Los Angeles Times, California state Senator Rob Hurtt Jr. came under the influence of Dobson in the early 80s. Hurtt, in turn, helped bring together a group of men who have built a formidable political machine by spending over $8,000,000 from their own pockets to change the face of California politics. All are members of the CNP. This group of men now consists of:

• Howard Ahmanson Jr., the heir to the Home Savings fortune, chair of the California Independent Business PAC, successor to the Allied Business PAC, 20+-year trustee of R. J. Rushdoony's Chalcedon, board member of the Claremont Institute, and deep-pocket political campaign contributor. In a 1985 Orange County Register interview, Ahmanson stated he wanted to dedicate his fortune to see that we had Biblical law integrated into our everyday lives.
  
• Roland Hinz, owner of Daisy/HiTorque Publications, publishers of Dirt Bike and Motocross magazines. His wife, Lila, has served on the board of directors of Paul Weyrich's National Empowerment TV.
  
• Edward G. Atsinger III, owner of 29 commercial Christian radio stations, graduate of Bob Jones University, and board member of the National Religious Broadcasters Association.
  
• Richard A. Riddle, owner of I. W. Walker, a box manufacturing company and a partner in Richray Industries, an import-export company which does a lot of business with South Korea, and a graduate of Bob Jones University.
  

The group has gone through several name changes. It started out as the Capitol Commonwealth Group which became the Allied Business PAC which in turn has been reborn as the California Independent Business PAC. It has helped to elect over one-fourth of the 120 members of the California legislature.

Because of California political campaign laws, Sen. Hurtt has been forced to drop out of the California Independent Business PAC. However, that did not keep him from spending almost $2,000,000 on political campaigns in 1994.

In 1987, Hurtt, Ahmanson, and CNP member Preston Hawkins, a developer, founded the
Capitol Resource Institute (CRI) in Sacramento as a public-policy organization affiliated with Focus on the Family (FOF). Since CRI's founding, Hurt and Ahmanson have provi ded over 75% of the annual budget.

With a small staff, CRI conducts a multitude of activities such as lobbying the legislature on behalf of Hurtt and FOF, publishing at least two monthly newsletters, conducting daily and weekly radio programs (mostly on Atsinger's radio stations), providin g voters' guides, and presenting Community Impact Committee seminars.
Ahmanson's megabucks also provide support for such organizations as the Western Center for Law and Religious Freedom, the Reason Foundation, the Claremont Institute, the Heritage Foundation, the California Prolife Council, and Chalcedon, Inc.
In 1994, the men supported a failed school-voucher initiative by providing over $450,000. According to a Common Cause report, in 1994 they were responsible for almost 10% of all the money donated to the California Republican Party.

Another CNP member is assemblywoman Barbara Alby, an ally of former state senator H. L. (Bill) Richardson, a long-time Christian Reconstructionist activist. Assemblyman Howard Kaloogian of San Diego County is a new member. Former assemblyman Patrick Nolan is still listed in the 1995 CNP phone directory as a member, although he is presently a resident of a federal correctional facility. Nolan pleaded no contest to political corruption charges. Christian Reconstructionist guru R.J. Rushdoony has been listed as a member for many years, although he claims he hasn't been to a meeting in years and doesn't know who pays his annual membership fees. Some other Californians who are members:

• Pat Boone, actor/singer/info-mercializer
  
• William Dannemeyer, former U.S. Representative
  
• Robert K. Dornan, U. S. Representative and candidate for the Republican presidential nomination
  
• William Saracino, Citizens for Responsible Representation, slate mailer expert
  
• Louis K. Uhler, U.S. Taxpayers Association, author of California legislative term limits
  
• Barbara Keating-Edh, Citizen Alert, failed candidate for the Assembly
  
• James Dignan, former chair of the Republican State Party
  
• Dr. Henry M. Morris, retiring president of the Institute for Creation Research
  
• Margret Lesher, former owner of the Lesher publishing empire which she reportedly sold for $350,000,000
  
• W. Robert Stover, chairman of Western Temporary Services (among their temporary services, they supply most of the Santas for department stores and malls in California)
  
• Larry Arnn, president of the Claremont Institute (promoters of the anti-affirmative action initiative)
  
• Robert W. Poole, president of the Reason Foundation
  
• Joseph Farah, former editor of the now-defunct Sacramento Union
  
• Ms. Terry Siemens, a former Miss California
  
• William Rusher, fellow of the Claremont Institute
  
• David Balsiger, movie and TV producer
  
• John Stoos, former executive director of California Gun Owners Association, political consultant
  

To define most CNP members as radical is charitable. As one looks at the activities in which CNP members are engaged, it would appear their goal is the total destruction of society as we know it. They are leading the charge to deny minorities equality, destroy public education, and the institution of government. California is their testing ground.
Published in Freedom Writer April 1996