Revenge of the sockpuppet

Some time ago, HumaneWatchers exposed a “secret group” of HSUS fans who were undermining HumaneWatch’s industry-funded efforts to spread lies and libel around the internet. That covert group had been hiding in a place where only the most clever of investigators could have found them: a Facebook group named “Stop HumaneWatch“.

Members of SHW were undoubtedly stunned by the revelation. “How could they have identified us?” they must have wondered. “They must have a spy in our midst!”

HumaneWatch revealed more of that investigative prowess today. David Martosko singlehandedly uncovered the fact that HSUS employees Anne, Sarah, and Hillary were operating under the pseudonyms “AnneHSUS”, “SarahHSUS”, and “HillaryHSUS”. It was a fiendishly clever disguise that only a master of deduction (or perhaps opera) could have exposed. Well, that, or someone who actually reads their comments, in which they often and openly disclosed the fact that they are employed by the HSUS.

Not content to rest on his already-squashed and misshapen laurels, Martosko repeated his false claim that HSUS uses “unethical tactics to hide their identities”, linking to his earlier article about veterinarian Patty Khuly. Following the “sockpuppet” incident — which did not involve an HSUS employee — Dr. Khuly publicly apologized “for having egregiously implied the HSUS was behind the missives”. And in a phone interview, she confirmed that she had notified David Martosko in email that she had no evidence implicating the HSUS or its employees in the incident.

Martosko was informed that his sockpuppet story is incorrect. He knows that his repetition of that falsehood is a lie. and he continues to lie about it, just as he refers to the retracted WSB-TV story he provided misinformation for.

Martosko writes in his blog on sockpuppets:

By trying to hide your identity when you leave a comment, you’re trying to influence everyone else’s perception of how credible the article is by pretending to be a disinterested third party who’s just offering a fair critique.

But here’s a news flash for HSUS employees: Blogs keep logs. And those records include the IP address of everyone who stops by to leave an incendiary remark.

Martosko’s definition is slightly off — a consistent pseudonym does not a sockpuppet make — but his warning about IP traces is absolutely correct.

The HSUS does not use sockpuppets. There is an official policy against it at the Humane Society of the US, and their employees are invariably patient, professional, and courteous in the face of mind-numbing ignorance and hate from HumaneWatchers. If HSUS employees depended on these unethical tactics, they would certainly have been exposed and discredited by now.

Allow me to demonstrate.

Consider the following comment left on this website by an individual named “Greg”, who signed up with the fake email address “SuckItSchiff@EatMe.com”:

Where’s the DISLIKE button? Hope the money from Pacelle feels good. Your heart is a black rock.

When we first saw this comment, we dismissed it as the usual HumaneWatcher bile. But the homoerotic oral fixation expressed by “Greg” towards our happily-married webmaster disturbed us. So we followed Martosko’s advice on incendiary remarks, and traced the IP address of the poster through an IP geolocation service.

A well-known drunk driving zone in Burke, VA

Lo and behold, that IP address is assigned to Verizon FIOS account belonging to a Washington DC account holder residing in Burke, VA. And that address happens to be a stone’s throw away from the home address of that serial liar and crusader against sockpuppetry, David Martosko.

Geolocation is not an exact science: without a subpoena to force an internet provider to hand over access records, only the neighborhood can be pinpointed. So it’s possible that it was one of Martosko’s sexually conflicted neighbors hiding behind that phallocentric sockpuppet identity, and they just happened to randomly target this website with a personal attack. Sure. It could happen.

But it’s far more likely that this is yet another example of Martosko’s true colors showing through his threadbare suit.

Martosko’s lawyer, Atticus Reaser, specializes in DUI defense, traffic defense, and computer crime defense. When David Martosko called his office, Mr. Reaser hit the trifecta.

And here’s a teaser for an upcoming article: if Mr. Reaser can brush up on libel law, he’ll have hit the superfecta.

CEO compensation, revisited

Several months ago, we examined the HumaneWatch myth that claims that HSUS pays its employees “lavish” salaries. That myth was thoroughly debunked, but HumaneWatch has never been an organization that let truth stand in the way of a good fiction. Recently, HumaneWatch’s primary source of hot air has begun distributing a chart of Wayne Pacelle’s salary. In an attempt to make those numbers look bigger and scarier, they’ve resorted to tallying up fifteen years of compensation into one sum. I wonder how much money HumaneWatch creator Richard Berman has made off “donations” to his “nonprofit” organizations in the past fifteen years? Considering that the three million dollars in cash he plunked down for a house outweighs the sum of all of Wayne Pacelle’s compensation at HSUS combined, I’m guessing it’s a substantial amount. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to determine that figure, because Berman passes corporate donations through his for-profit PR firm, which — unlike HSUS — does not make its financial statements available for public inspection. We presented the following table in our previous article on CEO compensation.
CEO Compensation
American Meat Institute$738,987.00
American Kennel Club$737,067.00
National Milk Producers Federation$647,632.00
ASPCA$516,710.00
American Red Cross$455,690.00
American Farm Bureau Federation$420,415.00
HSUS$252,540.00
As you can see, Wayne Pacelle makes a fraction of what many national nonprofit CEOs are paid. But to really put things in perspective, consider what CEOs make at for-profit companies:
CEO Compensation
Merrill Lynch$83,785,021.00
American Express$50,126,585.00
Walt Disney$27,665,413.00
Coca-Cola$21,648,740.00
Tyson Foods$15,302,009.00
ConAgra Foods$13,452,747.00
Now consider that HSUS is the world’s largest animal charity, running campaigns in all 50 states. Their operations handle rescue, veterinary care, sheltering, investigation, litigation, legislation, education, outreach, and more. And the success of those operations rest squarely on Wayne Pacelle’s shoulders. The latest edition of the Charity Navigator CEO Compensation Study sums it up beautifully.
We recognize that many donors will be hesitant to agree that the CEO of their favorite charity deserves a six figure salary. To the skeptics, we ask that you keep in mind that most of the charities included in this study are multi-million dollar operations. Leading one of them requires an individual that possesses both an understanding of the issues that are unique to the charity’s mission as well as extensive management and fundraising expertise. Even so, charities tend to pay less than private sector firms for similar competencies. For example, the charities in our study pay a median total compensation of roughly $150,000, compared to median salaries at S&P 500 companies of $1 million, excluding bonus packages and stock options that drive the median compensation up to $6.6 million.
Compared to nonprofits of a similar size and scope, Wayne Pacelle is paid peanuts. Compared to corporations in the private sector, his salary is nonexistent. The claim that his salary is “bloated” and “lavish” is an unsupportable interpretation of these facts. For more information: HSUS Financial Statements NY Times: Nonprofit Advocate Carves Out a For-Profit Niche Charity Navigator 2010 CEO Compensation Study
Update: January 20, 2011 Reader DWhite pointed out that the organizations selected for our comparison are not all 501(c)(3) nonprofits. While we have doubts that the differences between a 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit and a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization are significant enough to invalidate the comparison, we’re willing to re-examine the numbers. Further, DWhite questions whether HSUS paying 26 employees more than $100k is excessive. For the new comparison, we’ll compare the HSUS against the American Kennel Club, the March of Dimes, the Susan G. Komen Foundation, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and the American Cancer Society. All of these are large-scale, national 501(c)(3) nonprofits with annual revenue between $40,000,000 and $350,000,000. And in addition to CEO compensation, we’ll look at the number of employees paid in excess of $100,000 per year.
CEO Compensation *
American Cancer Society$852,879.00
American Kennel Club$737,067.00
March of Dimes$627,104.00
Susan G. Komen$558,607.00
Humane Society of the US$268,386.00
Mothers Against Drunk Driving$256,380.00
* includes compensation from related organizations
Total EmployeesPaid More Than $100K
Susan G. Komen28937 (12.8%)
American Cancer Society2,199222 (10.1%)
American Kennel Club53231 (5.8%)
March of Dimes2,058102 (4.9%)
Humane Society of the US62929 (4.6%)
Mothers Against Drunk Driving591 6 (1.0%)
While there is no charity that’s a perfect analog to the HSUS, these examples do provide a representative sample of national, large-scale, 501(c)(3) nonprofits. As compared to similar organizations, HSUS compensation is not only reasonable, its compensation is well under that of many leading U.S. charities.

Martosko’s downward spiral

In July of 2010, David Martosko made the following statement on the HumaneWatch blog:
Instead of seeing my name plastered on everything, you’ll soon be reading articles contributed by various members of the HumaneWatch team. There will even be some outsiders sharing their own analysis.

Some time thereafter, Martosko’s personal biography disappeared from the HumaneWatch site.

Martosko has a substantial ego, and has always enjoyed the limelight, so his sudden withdrawal aroused our suspicions. We now know the reason for his announced departure.

On July 8th, 2010, David Martosko was arrested for yet another alcohol-related incident. He was taken into custody and charged with Class 3 and Class 4 Misdemeanor offenses: trespassing on school/church grounds at night, public swearing, and intoxication. This is Martosko’s 18th run-in with the law that we are aware of.

Martosko was previously arrested in 2008 for a number of violations, including driving while intoxicated, refusing a breathalyzer test, and drinking *while* operating a vehicle. That’s especially shocking conduct when you consider that the Center for Consumer Freedom — HumaneWatch’s parent organization — aggressively attacks Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and protests blood alcohol limits and sobriety checkpoints.

Following his newest arrest in July, Martosko has denied his erratic behavior at the Nebraska town hall meeting. He remains evasive about the events of that night, accusing eyewitnesses of “spinning tall tales”, but declining to refute any of the specific allegations made against him.

Martosko was barred from the town hall meeting in Nebraska due to his belligerence and odd behavior, which culminated in his confronting the meeting’s host, Kevin Fulton, with a recording device at a men’s room urinal. Martosko’s report on the incident only mentioned that Kevin was “reached for comment”, but unsurprisingly did not provide much detail on the location or circumstances of the attempted interview.

At the time, Martosko’s behavior seemed inexplicably bizarre. In light of his arrest on an earlier night for loitering at a church/school while drunk, belligerent, and obscene, his behavior in Nebraska makes a lot more sense.

David Martosko was granted a continuance until May 10th, 2011. We’ll let you know the outcome of that hearing and sentencing as soon as the information is available, and its impact on the HumaneWatch smear campaign.

Despite our differences with Mr. Martosko, we sincerely hope that he will find the strength to confront his addictions in the coming New Year.

Update: January 3, 2011
General VA Court Case information is now available for the trespassing charge and public intoxication/swearing.

Update: January 10, 2011
A FOIA request for the details of the incident was denied due to the criminal investigation underway against Martosko.

This correspondence is in response to your email received by the Internal Affairs Bureau of the Fairfax County Police Department in which you requested a copy of the police report and warrant associated with Mr. David Martosko’s arrest. I have determined that it is not releasable under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act. The complete police report is considered to be criminal investigation information or material. As such, it is exempted from disclosure under Section 2.2-3706 (F) (1) ofthe Code of Virginia. If I can be of further assistance please do not hesitate to contact me. Sincerely Timothy W. Field Second Lieutenant Internal Affairs Bureau 4100 Chain Bridge Road Fairfax, VA 22030 703-246-2980 FCPDFOIA@fairfaxcounty.gov

We’ll try again later this year, after Martosko’s hearing and sentencing.

Whitewash weekend

When an industry front group pretending to be a charity bashes legitimate animal welfare charities, I get annoyed. When they try to use shelters as pawns in their smear campaign, I get furious. Supporting shelters is admirable, and absolutely necessary to facilities strained to the breaking point. I donate to my local shelters year-round. But HumaneWatch has managed to pervert that selfless act into a wholly selfish publicity stunt, which they’ve named “Shelter Supply Saturday”. We call it “Whitewash Weekend”. For the better part of a year, HumaneWatchers have been spitting on shelters and shelter personnel, while they fight spay/neuter laws, deny overpopulation, accuse shelters of profiting from their work, defend substandard breeders and animal brokers like Hunte Corp., and rail against any legislation that would ease the flood of abandoned and neglected animals into our nation’s shelters. Now HumaneWatch is attempting to whitewash that abuse by encouraging their members to send supplies to shelters — wrapped in HumaneWatch propaganda, of course. It will take a lot more than a dishonest greeting card to cover up HumaneWatch’s anti-animal agenda. Shall we take a look at the scoreboard?
Humane Society of the USHumaneWatch
  • A scheme to boost traffic for their website by offering a $100 donation for a winning comment. ($1700 total)
  • A scheme to convince supporters to donate shelter supplies, and give the credit to HumaneWatch.
Like HumaneWatch’s short-lived attempt to buy comments on its largely ignored website, this stunt will be forgotten in a month… but shelters will continue to struggle year-round. Meanwhile HumaneWatchers will resume their attacks on shelters and staff with comments like these:
You do realize that there is no real pet overpopulation, right? We have a mismanaged shelter system that imports animals from overseas to fill some shelters, rather than ship animals from one part of the country to another–among other problems. — Kim Egan, HumaneWatch Facebook group, July 17, 2010
There are scandals every day about how shelters HAVE room and kill animals because they are just too plain lazy to clean up after them. Or they kill them because they hired a sadist who enjoys it, or they kill them because it’s ‘easier’ than making good faith efforts to adopt them out. — Katie Dokken, convicted animal abuser, “Shelter Supply Saturday” Facebook event, Dec. 3, 2010
I have seen more deplorable conditions in shelters than I have EVER seen at a breeders! — Erica Eblin, HumaneWatch Facebook group, Nov. 10, 2010
Oh, but the shelter workers won’t blame the BS law; they’ll blame the big, bad breeders for having so many dogs and having to unload them or be shut down. They’ll make up stories of “rescuing” these poor dogs from near death in horrible conditions and slap excessive “adoption” fees on them, all the while looking for reasons NOT to “adopt” to the vast majority of wonderful potential owners. Then they’ll claim there aren’t enough homes out there for dogs. — Cathy Merchant, HumaneWatch Facebook group, Nov. 3, 2010
There is a large national rescue… here in CO looking for space…. They already go to the auctions down there and bring back dogs… Every dog that comes in will have some bad luck story about how they rescued it from a fate worse than death. People will be screened and rejected–it’s a Dog!!! — Cindy DeBerge, HumaneWatch Facebook group, Nov. 3, 2010
HumaneWatch, don’t lie to us and say that the HSUS does nothing for shelters. Don’t lie to us and say you support shelters when you encourage abuse like this. And don’t you dare claim to support shelters when you’ve never done a thing for shelters that didn’t benefit you directly.

Understanding HumaneWatch

Have you ever wanted to warn a friend about HumaneWatch, but didn’t have the time to explain? We’ve got the answer. The Understanding HumaneWatch handout provides the basic facts about the Center for Consumer Freedom, HumaneWatch, and their multi-million dollar smear campaign against animal protection charities. Print it, post it, pass it around! http://www.stophumanewatch.org/Documents/UnderstandingHumaneWatch.pdf