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Howard Kaloogian, an erstwhile California state assemblyman
who also successfully led the charge to knock the
CBS documentary “The Reagans” from network
television, intends to pressure cinemas not to show
the film. His not-for-profit political action committee,
MoveAmericaForward.org, is behind the drive.
“This movie is nothing more than a political
campaign advertisement against the war on terrorism,
our troops and President Bush,” the organization
asserts. “‘Fahrenheit 9/11’ should
be shown as a recruiting video for Al-Qaeda, not in
our movie theaters.”
“Since we are the customers of the American
movie theatres,” it adds, “it is important
for us to speak up loudly and tell the industry executives
that we don’t want this misleading and grotesque
movie being shown at our local cinema.”
As such, the site lists the phone, fax and email
information for ten cinema chains that have opted
to display the film, as well as that of 14 chains
that have not yet decided. It does not say whether
anyone in the organization has actually seen the film.
Miramax Films, which owns “Fahrenheit 911,”
declined to comment.
“We’re not handling the film,”
a spokesperson said.
MoveAmericaForward.org, an alias for MoveAmericaFoward.com,
was apparently registered by Russo, Marsh and Rogers,
a San Fransisco PR firm. The “WHOIS” lookups
for the site have recently been erased; WhatReallyHappened.com
believes that the registries were erased to mask the
site’s true owners.
The site claims to be non-partisan, though in its
Yahoo! Groups profile its mission includes “rebuffing
the now-constant attacks on our military and the war
against terrorism by the shamelessly liberal news
media.”
MoveAmericaFoward did not answer calls for comment.
Kaloogian, who served as a California state assemblyman
from 1994 to 2000, lost the Republican primary for
governor to Arnold Schwarzenegger, and, in February,
the GOP primary for Barbara Boxer's senate seat. He
made himself wealthy by helping senior citizens with
estate planning.
Other members of MoveAmericaForward include Sal Russo,
a former special assistant for Ronald Reagan, who
led the failed presidential bids of Jack Kemp and
Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), and Lew Uhler, founder
of the National Tax Limitation Committee.
Kaloogian is no stranger to controversy, not even
within his own party. One private citizen started
a website intended to debunk claims that Kaloogian
led the California recall effort, noting that he did
not contribute any of his own money or collect any
signatures. LA Weekly noted that he even staged a
rally in front of the capitol waving petitions, none
of which were actually signed.
He maintains a personal
blog with Blogger, aimed at rebuking the “shameleslly
[sic] liberal media and left-wing politicians.”
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