Subject: Boycott Tangueray and Dump Pallotta
From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 5 Jun 1997 20:28:59 -0400 (EDT)

ACT UP Washington launches Tangueray Gin boycott
High Costs and low returns force Activists to call for a Justice Department
investigation of  AIDSRide promoter Dan Pallotta
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for immediate release
June 5, 1997
contact Steve Michael at 202-547-0854
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ACT UP Washington Media Alert

Washington, DC - It seems that the majority of the revenue from the Tangueray
AIDS Rides winds up in the pocket of its promoter Dan Pallota, and his
California-based PR firm Teamworks, causing an outcry from AIDS activists who
have long demanded accountability from the AIDS fund-raisers.  Citing high
administrative costs and low returns to the beneficiary AIDS service
organizations, ACT UP Washington is renewing its call for a complete
investigation of AIDS Ride finances by the United States Department of
Justice and calling for a community boycott of Pallota's chief corporate
sponsor, Tangueray Gin.  Activists hope that public pressure will convince
Tangueray's importer Sheffield and Somerset to end it's relationship with
Pallotta and deal directly with the AIDS community.

Calling for a Justice Deparment investigation of Pallotta's fundraising
practices
ACT UP Washington has drafted and sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General
Janet Reno calling for a Justice Depatment  investigation.
 "We believe that Dan Pallotta has duped thousands of well-meaning donors
into believing that the money they generate actually goes to help people with
AIDS.  Pallotta makes millions while people with AIDS continue to suffer.  He
must become the target of a Justice Department investigation." adds Wayne
Turner, also of ACT UP Washington. 

 ACT UP Washington sent a letter toUS attorney Eric Holder dated July 31,
1996, asking for an investigation into the business practices of Pallota and
Associates, noting that "The AIDS Ride is sounding more and more like a
pyramid scheme."  Holder never responded.   

 States ACT UP's Steve Michael in the letter to Holder, "Hundreds of
individuals throughout Washington, DC devoted their time, effort, and energy
to raise money for AIDS services.  They did it for people with AIDS...not for
the personal benefit of a California-based private, for-profit business."
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Tangueray boycott slated to begin on June 11th in DC & SF
Bottles of Gin to be poured down drain
 Activists are alarmed that high administrative costs of the AIDS Rides,
produced by Pallota throughout the country, drain local communities of money
intended to provide direct services to people with AIDS.  "We intend to send
a message to Tangueray that by working with an organization like Pallotta's
they are aiding in the exploitation of  the suffering of people with AIDS.
 The Ride in its present form does nothing but perpetuate the AIDS Industrial
Complex," states organizer Steve Michael with ACT UP Washington.  Activists
are planning to kick off the boycott by pouring out bottles of Tangueray gin
on June 11 in several US cities, including New York, San Francisco, and
Washington DC.  "Proceeds for AIDS services are just going down the drain."
adds Michael.  Activists hope to convince Tangueray's importer to fund AIDS
programs that directly benefit poor people with AIDS.  Michael continues,
"Everyone has seen the news accounts that thousands of people with AIDS all
across America are sitting on waiting lists for AIDS housing, drug assistance
and food. Those waiting lists are not shrinking.  They are growing.  Pallotta
and Tangueray are exploiting the plight of poor people with AIDS by creating
an illusion that some of this ride money actually trickles down to provide
basic life needs.  We are demanding that Tangueray pull out of their deal
with Pallotta and work with AIDS activists on the front lines to develop
creative approaches to help eliminate the waiting lists for direct services."
 
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ACT UP to Whitman Walker:
Follow the Florida example---Fire the Middle Man
In Washington DC, executive directors of the two participating agencies, Food
and Friends and the Whitman Walker Clinic, defended the high overhead costs
of AIDS Ride.  Even before receiving the proceeds from last year's AIDS Ride,
Whitman Walker Executive Director Jim Graham and Food and Friends' Craig
Schniderman, each diverted $200,000  from their agencies for a second AIDS
Ride, in addition to paying the promoter's fees, and $63,000 a piece to
maintain the 'pledge office.'.  This year's AIDS Ride will be from North
Carolina to Washington, and is scheduled to be held June 19-22 1997.  

ACT UP Washington has fired off letters to the board members of both
organizations, calling on them to intervene on behalf of people with HIV and
AIDS and cut the cost of the AIDS Ride by eliminating the middle-man, Dan
Pallotta.

 ACT UP Washington is calling upon Whitman Walker and Food and Friends, the
two DC recipient organizations, to follow the lead of their Florida-based
counterparts and immediately disassociate themselves from Dan Pallota and his
for profit public relations firm.  "Its time for the Boards of Directors to
step in.  Graham and Schniderman got too eager and too greedy, and poor
people with AIDS will suffer the consequences." 
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Florida AIDS groups fire Pallotta citing low return
 This week, AIDS agencies participating in Florida's Orlando to Miami AIDS
Rides dumped Pallota Teamworks after an editorial appeared in the Fort
Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel blasting the 82% overhead costs.  The Sun-Sentinel
echoed the concerns of activists by stating, "People who might willingly
contribute to the fight against AIDS will be less likely to do so if they
suspect that most of the money they donate is destined to wind up in a
promoter's pocket."
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The Philadelphia AIDS Ride Story
Pallotta is fined!
 Last year, the AIDS Ride from Philadelphia to Washington DC was marred by
controversy when participating organizations in Philadelphia received only 19
cents out of every dollar raised.  An investigation by the Pennsylvania
Attorney General's office resulted an $110,000 fine levied against Pallota &
Associates and fines of $8,000 a piece for each of the four participating
AIDS agencies.  

 An editorial appearing last week in San Francisco's largest Gay newspaper,
the Bay Area Reporter, called for a complete accounting of the revenue from
the San Francisco to Los Angeles AIDS Ride.  "all those riders' friends
pledging to help PWAs (People with AIDS), when they were actually fattening
up the producers and the bureaucracy to which the eventual 'proceeds' will
proceed."

 In a statement, Pallotta claims that an average of 60% of the AIDS Ride
proceeds go to AIDS service organizations, though there has never been a full
disclosure or public accounting to substantiate this claim, with several
cities reporting returns ranging from 18-40%.

 ACT UP Washington proposed more than a year ago to Whitman Walker and others
 that a broad range DC AIDS service organizations produce their own AIDS Ride
using community and volunteer resources.  Many smaller AIDS service
providers, particularly those serving minorities, are at a disadvantage
because they cannot afford to pay the up front fees charged by Pallotta.
 Several AIDS service organizations serving predominantly African Americans
with AIDS closed down last year because they were unable to compete for
outside funding after the AIDS Ride.

 "The AIDS Ride has high overhead.  The AIDS agencies have high overhead.  Is
any of this money actually going to directly benefit people with AIDS?" asks
Michael.