Oh no! Defenders loses its fund-raising ace

With last week’s dramatic and surprise announcement from Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin that she is stepping down from office later this month, political pundits, radio talk show hosts and bloggers of every persuasion have postulated ad naseum about the reasons for the abrupt move and what the future might hold for her.

But you can bet the farm that some of the most intense hand-wringing and speculation over Palin’s July 3 announcement has taken place behind closed doors from an unlikely  group of strategists and executives in charge of sustaining and directing the policies of one of the nation’s wealthiest and most political wildlife activist organizations, Defenders of Wildlife.

After all, with the resignation of Gov. Palin, Defenders has lost its single most powerful fund-raising tool—overnight.

In less than a year since she burst onto the national political scene, Sarah Palin has literally been worth multiple millions in donations to Defenders, an organization that is as close to a single-issue group as any animal advocacy group in the country. And the millions came from thousands of sympathetic Americans who swallowed Defenders’ demonizing characterization of Gov. Palin as an avowed enemy of gray wolves.

In late September 2008, just weeks after Palin was nominated as vice president on the Republican ticket, the Defenders’ 501(c)4 corporation, the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund, began running graphic national television advertisements denouncing her support of aerial wolf management. The Associated Press reported the short-running ad campaign, targeting “suburban women and moderate independent voters,” quickly netted the organization more than $1 million in contributions.

Despite the failure of the Republican Presidential ticket in November, Defenders of Wildlife recognized it had a winner in Sarah Palin and continued to use her exclusively in its own crusades and fund-raising efforts. Unfortunately, the truth played a less-than-supporting role in its campaigns that shamelessly exploited the Alaskan Governor.

In January, using actress Ashley Judd as its spokesperson, Defenders of Wildlife launched an intense media blitz denouncing Palin’s support of the state’s ongoing practice of managing wolves through aerial gunning in certain parts of Alaska. For several years, the Alaska Fish and Game Department has successfully used aerial wolf control as a means to help maintain caribou and moose numbers for subsistence hunters and to improve the survival rate of young and vulnerable game animals.

It’s unknown how much money flowed into the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund coffers thanks to the Ashley versus Sarah media frenzy, but you can bet it was considerable.

By the way, you wouldn’t have known it by listening the Defenders or Ashley Judd, but Alaska’s aerial wolf killing program has shown some excellent results in the past year. In November, agency biologists announced the aerial gunning that took place in 2008 “achieved its desired effect,” allowing significantly more caribou calves to survive. Fall surveys of the Southern Alaska Peninsula caribou herd completed in October found an average of 39 calves per 100 cows—a resounding improvement from fall counts of only 1 calf per 100 cows in both 2006 and 2007.

Just how reliant has the Defenders Wildlife Action Fund become on soon-to-be-departed Gov. Palin and how much will it miss her?

The non-profit has issued a total of seven press releases in all of 2009, and Mrs. Palin is the primary subject of every one.

While many Palin fans, supporters and constituents were saddened by her announcement last week, there were probably more than a few tears (and grimaces) at Defenders of Wildlife’s headquarters in Washington, DC. And it’s doubtful they’ll even send her a note of thanks for the millions of dollars they raised in a short nine months while shamelessly assaulting her unwavering support for the sound biological practices of the Alaska Fish and Game Department.

Comments

[Kevin]

Fantastic Article. Thank you for helping to provide a great viewpoint. I absolutely wish Sarah Palin success in whatever path she chooses for her future. Sarah did great things for the state of Alaska and served her constituents well.