POWER GRAB

During the Recall, Salzman drummed up an army of Orks and true-believers. One can forgive the likes of his defenders such as Sylvia de Rooy and Ellen Taylor, who believe in the cause and do not yet realize how they have been - and continue to be - used.

Everything "R. Trent" Salzman does serves to further his agenda. From getting into the neighborhood poker game in Trinidad to infiltrating the county's political power structure and orchestrating smear campaigns against those who stand in his way.

I have watched the lies unfold - everything from the so-called "Alliance for Ethical Business" and "timber yes, fraud no" to soliciting letters to the editor against Debi August to resorting to writing the letters himself under false names.

Through Salzman's efforts, his activist group believed they had secured in Paul Gallegos a powerful weapon and they would do anything to keep it. He has covered for Gallegos' bungling and incompetence, blaming others and misdirecting public attention wherever possible.

He has cultivated reporters, especially at KMUD, which became his mouthpiece. He has bullied and threatened and cajoled the local news media, directing the news coverage and with the help of the high powered public relations expert, Michael Shellenberger, he has been successfully "framing the debate."

Salzman has worked diligently to spin Gallegos' catastrophic failures in a positive light. He didn't lose the grant, it was politics, he didn't lose the grant, he was simply weaning the office from grant funding, he's not losing prosecutors, he's building for the future (though the imaginary bright young prosecutors failed to come knocking at Paul's door.) His non-existent relationship with the men and women of law enforcement is a plus not a negative, because it will allow Gallegos to prosecute the cops in the Cheri Moore matter (never mind that is what Ken Miller wants him to do).

Meanwhile Salzman works to secure a larger power base here in Humboldt County. He needs more politicans who will do what he tells them. He is frustrated by people who are independent, and who he cannot bend to his will.

Months ago Salzman began laying the groundwork for his takeover of the Eureka City Council - the "Good Old Boys" and the class warfare cards, which are the only cards left in his deck. You could hear Bob Ornelas and Michael Twombly and his "Local Solutions" cohorts pumping the message on KHSU, and KMUD.

He hopes to get you foaming at the mouth at the thought of "Big Boxes" and "evil Corporations" in order to get his way

Fortunately, in the fullness of time, Salzman's antics are being exposed, and being seen for what they are. The lies exposed in the North Coast Journal's investigation were, and are, just the tip of the iceberg.

Do not be fooled by groups that pretend to be grassroots, that give themselves nice sounding names that disguise their true intent.

You deserve to know who is behind groups like the so-called "Alliance for Ethical Business" the sham "Local Solutions", and the newly created "Redwood Progressives" - and CREG, the Citizens for Real Economic Growth. they are all one and the same.

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