Trade Group Uses `P.C.' Berkeley as

[sbillenness@xxxxxxxx]

Trade Group Uses `P.C.' Berkeley as Scare Tactic
It successfully halts Seattle's Burma boycott 

Charles Burress, Chronicle Staff Writer
San Francisco Chronicle 
Monday, January 26, 1998 

The popular pastime of painting Berkeley as a bugbear of political
correctness has attracted a powerful new player -- the trade council
representing Microsoft, Boeing, Weyerhauser and other international
heavyweights headquartered in the state of Washington. 

The trade group recently held Berkeley up as a scarecrow in its successful
campaign to beat back a proposal before the Seattle City Council to boycott
firms that do business with Burma. 

Seattle could be trapped in the "impossible snarls" that hamper Berkeley in
buying basic items like gas and computers, said the Washington Council on
International Trade in a letter to the panel. 

The sponsor of the Burma law, then-council President Jan Drago, withdrew
the proposal last month after receiving the letter. 

Berkeley Councilwoman Linda Maio responded by sending a letter to the
Seattle council denouncing the "false claims," pointing out that Berkeley's
government buys high-quality gas and other goods and called on the trade
group to apologize. 

Drago's aide said she won't change her mind again, but some members of the
Seattle council are wondering which side to believe -- Maio and other
Berkeley officials, or the trade group and its lobbyist. 

In 1995, Berkeley became the first city to adopt sanctions focusing on
Burma's repressive military regime. Sixteen other cities, Alameda County
and Massachusetts have followed suit. But Berkeley is on the hot seat
because it was the first and because it has several such laws that restrict
city purchases from firms involved in certain activities, such as building
nuclear weapons, or certain other countries, such as Nigeria and Tibet. 

As a result, the trade group said, "Berkeley cannot purchase IBM or Compaq
computers; it must replace Motorola cell phones; it cannot buy gasoline
from major companies, and is thus relegated to low-grade gas which damages
equipment and possibly pollutes the air." What's more, the trade council
said, "The Berkeley sanctions . . . are in fact being challenged by the
European Union" before the World Trade Organization. 

Maio's reply was stern. "The Seattle City Council has been victimized by
the false claims of a paid lobbyist," she wrote, referring to Patricia
Davis, president of the trade group and co-author of the letter along with
the group's chairman, Karl Ege. Davis and Ege did not return calls for
comment. 

"We in Berkeley have become used to criticism, and in fact endured similar
barbs when we pioneered municipal efforts against apartheid," Maio wrote in
her January 8 letter. "We draw the line, however, when others use incorrect
information to malign us."

In fact, Maio said, Berkeley can still buy from IBM, is not replacing
Motorola equipment, and gets excellent gasoline from large companies like
Tosco. Moreover, Berkeley is not being challenged by the European Union.
(Massachusetts' Burma law is being challenged, however.) 

Berkeley's purchasing manager, Janice Hansen, confirmed Maio's statements.
IBM is involved with nuclear weapons, but waivers are permitted when no
"reasonable alternative" exists, Hansen said. Using a waiver, the city
bought an IBM mini-frame computer, she said. 

The contention that Berkeley "must replace Motorola cell phones" is also
false, Hansen said. "We have never had Motorola cell phones in the city,"
she said. She said police use radios from Motorola, another firm linked to
nuclear weapons, but that a waiver permits police to buy and replace them,
she said. 

And the city definitely has no problem obtaining high-quality gasoline from
its distributor, even if it can't buy from giants like Arco, Chevron,
Exxon, Mobil, Shell and Texaco, she said. No city equipment has been
damaged as a result, Hansen said. 

"It's become an urban legend now -- that Berkeley can't buy gas," said
Simon Billenness, a senior analyst with a Boston-based socially responsible
investment firm, Franklin Research and Development Corp., and the prime
proponent of the Massachusetts law on Burma. 

"It's interesting how a story like this goes around the world and the truth
about it comes up in a place like Seattle," Billenness said while visiting
his firm's San Francisco office last week. 

The story about Berkeley's alleged gasoline problem has appeared in several
publications nationally, most recently in the current issue of the Utne
Reader under the headline, "Berkeley's Oil Strike." It quotes Berkeley City
Councilwoman Polly Armstrong as saying, "In the end, we're going to have to
look for mineral rights under the city of Berkeley."

Armstrong said last week that she was "just being silly." Armstrong, who
always withholds her support from council actions related to foreign
affairs, said the gas story was "overblown."

Billenness said the "distorted story" began before the Berkeley council
voted last summer to boycott firms doing business in Nigeria. Contrary to a
tentative warning from city staff at the time, Berkeley found ample sources
of good gas. 

The gas scare also failed to take into account the waiver provision that
permits the city to buy from banned companies in a pinch, said Deputy City
Manager Phil Kamlarz. 

According to Billenness, the flurry of stories gained momentum because they
were "easily sensationalized" to fit a "crazy, wacko" stereotype of
Berkeley as a "city that's tied itself in knots with all this political
correctness." The stories were also used by corporate interests "who wanted
to discredit purchasing laws by discrediting Berkeley," he said. 

Will Maio's attempt to set the record straight have any effect on the
Seattle council? 

Drago's aide, Dan McGrady, said the information about Berkeley will not
affect the councilwoman's belief that the Burma law is "not appropriate and
not effective."

The trade group argued that such boycotts are ineffective and should be
replaced by constructive engagement with undemocratic regimes and
liberalizing economic growth. 

It also said such sanctions are costly to the city in staff time and red
tape, one assertion that Berkeley officials can agree with. 

Sally Clark, aide to Seattle Councilwoman Tina Podladowski, said the
council is divided over how to balance the welfare of the city with human
rights and the city's role in foreign affairs. 

Podladowski "wants to know if the city can spend its money effectively,"
Clark said. "She wants to know if we can buy IBM computers or if we can
purchase fuel." 

©1998 San Francisco Chronicle  Page A13 
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