This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Jan. 15, 2011 - Wayne Pacelle, national president of the Humane Society of the United States, expects to be engaging in quite a bit of shuttle diplomacy between Washington, D.C., and Jefferson City over the coming months as he seeks to save Proposition B.
Pacelle spent this past Wednesday and Thursday in the state Capitol, "getting the lay of the land," as he put it in an interview, before leaving town.
The "land" in question was actually the cadre of state legislators who are sponsoring measures aimed at repealing or altering Proposition B, the measure that narrowly passed statewide Nov. 2 and which imposes restrictions and care requirements on dog breeders.
During his two-day visit, Pacelle said he told the legislators that they "should respect the will of the people, even if they disagree with the outcome."
Pacelle added that his chief message was really two-pronged:
A) Proposition B should be allowed to go into effect in the form that voters approved. "It's premature to unravel any part of Proposition B before it goes into effect."
B) The Humane Society and its allies are "not intending to do a ballot initiative on farm animals."
Pacelle believes that Proposition B would have garnered more support in rural counties -- where the majority voted against the measure -- if voters there had not been swayed by inaccurate assertions that the Humane Society and its allies ultimately planned to target all farm animals.
The issue was the poor treatment of dogs in Missouri's long-disparaged "puppy mills," he said. "The initiative is not something we like to do," Pacelle said. He added that he emphasized the point that the Humane Society and its allies stepped in only after the General Assembly declined to take action for decades.
Pacelle contends that some legislative opponents are wrong to focus on the 100-plus counties that rejected Prop B. All the urban and suburban counties supported the measure.
Such an urban-suburban comparision, said Pacelle, ignores the fact that the measure -- which did win a majority of votes -- won them by carrying a majority of the state Senate districts, a majority of the state House districts, and a majority of the congressional districts.
In any case, Pacelle acknowledges that despite his personal appeal, "I'm sure some lawmakers are proceeding with their efforts to undue Proposition B."
That's one of the reasons that Pacelle led a telephone town hall Wednesday night that attracted 13,000 supportive participants from around the state. The aim is to galvanize grassroots support and keep them involved -- and vigilant -- as the legislative session proceeds.
Pacelle said pro-Prop B supporters also have been contacting the office of Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat, to gauge his support -- and possiblly request a veto -- should the GOP-controlled legislature pass a measure dramatically changing Proposition B.
But in hopes of preventing such a showdown, Pacelle expects to be making more trips to Jefferson City to make more appeals to legislators.
