IFAS | Freedom Writer | January/February 1996 | california.html

CNP leads the way in California

By Jerry Sloan

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 leadership 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:

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 provided 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), providing 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:

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.

© 1998 Institute for First Amendment Studies, Inc.