How The Green Mafia Plays The Game – Incestuous Self Dealing

Manipulative Schemes Divert From Mission & Starve Grass Roots Activism

[Update below – full disclosure]

A controversial aspect of the behind the scenes criticism in the Open Space debate was the fact that the same old incestuous inter-locking set of individuals and conservation/Land Trust organizations and private Foundations were self dealing – and were intentionally deceptive in the well funded campaign to mask those private self interests (and there were pay to play possibilities in the $750,000+  KIG campaign that no one wants to talk about).

I’ve called this dynamic The Green Mafia – or The Mitigation Whores: private interests prevail over public interest.

So, one would think that in the wake of the nasty Open Space diversion debate, that the groups that manufactured that deceptive and damaging campaign would lay low – if only out of basic decency, if not respect for the critics of their dastardly deed.

One would be wrong.

So today, I bring you just one small example of how the Green Mafia plays the game (with a  little help from my friends!).

Increasingly, I’ve noted – and criticized – a proliferating series of events by environmental groups that can most generously be described as “entrepreneurial”.

The goal is fundraising and the events are typically outside the scope of the environmental group’s mission, sometimes even undermining that mission (consumption oriented events sponsored by corporations interested in public relations or advertising objectives).

(Look, I’m a big fan of William Morris and I get the relationship between culture and politics and organizing – but these events are no Woodstock or Peter Seeger or Bob Dylan or CSNY  “Won’t You Please Come to Chicago” or “Ohio” or Woodie Guthrie or “We Shall Overcome” : they are corporate, non-political, and commercial and reinforce all the wrong values).

These events sometimes focus on cultural or historic issues in a way that suggests the involvement – ahem, manipulation – of private Foundations.

Often, these events divert significant financial and staff resources from traditional environmental advocacy work at critical points in time.

One recent example is the Waterloo Village event sponsored  by the Highlands Coalition.

Instead of defending the Highlands Regional Plan from attack as it moves into a critical phase, they wasted months of scarce staff and resources on event planning instead of advocacy.

Another damaging consequence of this kind of “mission creep” is that it diverts resources from local grassroots activists doing real effective work on the ground – those groups get starved, while elite big groups pursue diversions.

With that backdrop in mind, today I learned of the “Craft beer pub crawl in Morristown on Saturday”

The inaugural Hopped Up Highlands Craft Beer Pub Crawl, a fundraising event sponsored by the New Jersey Highlands Coalition, is scheduled to take place Nov. 8 in Morristown.

That piqued my interest, initially at what I thought was another cultural diversion project like the Waterloo event.

But, it actually is far more insidious and a perfect example of how the Green Mafia works.

Connect these dots to see just how that works – or just follow the hops (beer pun):

1. The pub crawl was sponsored by the Highlands Coalition.

2. The Dodge Foundation is a major supporter of the Highlands Coalition.

3. The Morris Area Society of Home Brewers are co-sponsors of the event. see http://www.mashnewjersey.com/

4. Tom & Meghan Jambor are active participants (and founding members) – http://www.coldhardbrews.com/2013/01/morris-area-society-of-homebrewers.html

5. Meghan Jambor *was* Meghan Van Dyk prior to getting married.

6. Meghan Jambor? She works at Dodge – http://www.linkedin.com/in/meghanvandyk  and http://www.grdodge.org/about-us/staff/meghan-jambor/

Now, given these relationships, are we supposed to believe that this event sprang independently from the crackerjack staff of the Highlands Coalition and that its sole purpose is Highlands Advocacy?

Or are people in Foundations using their friends in conservation groups to promote their own selfish economic interests?

The gloves are off folks – when I see this stuff, I will call out the gross abuses.

Oh, BTW,  I saw nothing in statements by the Highlands Coalition urging pub crawlers to take public transportation or arrange for a designated driver in car pools.

That is totally irresponsible as well. Even Budweiser says to do that!

What happens if a drunk gets killed in a car crash – HiCo would be one of the entities sued.

I doubt that they are insured for that!

Did Corporate Chris Daggett and their lawyers sign off on all that?

They are putting their organization on the line.

Who knows, maybe Dodge Foundation is putting up funds for this and they would get sued and put out of business too?

[Update – full disclosure]

I am sure that those I criticize here will claim that I am motivated by sour grapes, particularly on my criticisms of the role of Dodge Foundation, because I applied for and was denied Dodge funding.

(full disclosure: I was once paid as a contractor to the Highlands Coalition – I think the contract was for $40,000 but could be wrong on the amount –  to lead their effort on negotiating with DEP on the Highlands regulations. As I’ve written previously, the Coalition got its money’s worth because I was able to increase DEP’s proposed 4-8 acre minimum lot size generated by their recharge and septic density models to 88 acres!).

Well, those critics would be correct in one aspect – I did apply for and was in fact denied funding by Dodge.

The sour grapes issues involving the Dodge denial now prompts me to tell a delicious story of corruption in my next post.

But for now, let me just provide a brief explanation of what I applied to Dodge to fund and why they denied funding that proposal.

In a January 25, 2013 letter to me, Dodge President and CEO Chris Daggett denied a NJ PEER proposal on this basis:

In your case, your proposed engagement of environmental partners to build community support for an ecosystems benefit approach to regional planning in the Delaware Bayshore is commendable, but is not consistent with your stated primary organizational mission of protecting public employees and monitoring natural resource management agencies. We currently support many of the organizations working through the Delaware Bayshore Coalition organized by ANJEC and we would hope that you might engage that group in building consensus for your approach.”

In a subsequent post, we will explain how Dodge and Wm Penn Foundations, in concert with the Green Mafia, strangled an emergent Pinelands/Highlands regional planning and regulatory model for the Delaware Bayshore in its crib.

This is really gonna heat up now!