Former Fresno Mayor Alan Autry has stepped down as head of a farm-water advocacy group to protest its campaign against Rep. George Radanovich of Mariposa.
Autry quietly resigned his paid, part-time position last month as executive director with Families Protecting the Valley. Autry, a longtime friend and political ally of Radanovich, now says the mostly Republican farmers who founded the Madera group seem primarily intent on undermining Radanovich.
"This is an organization that is more interested in getting even than in getting water," Autry said in an interview.
But Kole Upton, a prominent Madera County farmer and board member of the group, disagreed.
"We are not in business to support or attack politicians," Upton said. "We are in the business of public education."
He characterized Autry's departure as a "mutual parting of the ways," which came about because the organization wanted to highlight Radanovich's role in the controversial San Joaquin River restoration settlement. Autry, he said, didn't want to do anything that would embarrass Radanovich.
"We want to promote actions by politicians that will sustain and enhance our water supplies in the Valley," Upton said. "Autry is more 'make friends with current legislators -- no matter who they are.' "
On Sept. 28, the group aired a radio ad on KMJ (AM 580) attacking Radanovich for his support of a San Joaquin River restoration bill. The ad pointedly linked Radanovich to liberal "Bay Area" politicians who joined in backing the bill.
Autry -- who said the ad had been recorded and air time bought without his knowledge -- said he had been having trouble getting the board to meet to authorize him to act and had other management issues unrelated to the congressman.
But the ad -- and his recognition that the group would be going after Radanovich -- persuaded him to leave.
"It singled out George Radanovich, and that's not what I signed up to do," Autry said. "Unfortunately, some people can't get past their determination to get this one person out of office."
Autry's vision for the organization -- and one he said other Families Protecting the Valley board members shared -- was to protect central San Joaquin Valley farming interests and ensure the agriculture industry received its promised water allotment.
Autry said he is no fan of the San Joaquin River restoration settlement, and doesn't think it will succeed in restoring a long-dead salmon run. But he also said those who supported it -- including Radanovich -- felt it was the best deal possible under the circumstances.
For that, Autry said, Radanovich doesn't deserve "a death sentence."
Originally founded to fight a Madera County water bank proposed in the 1990s by a subsidiary of the energy company Enron, Families Protecting the Valley had fallen relatively quiet until recent years. Board members, including prominent Valley farmers and businessmen Denis Prosperi, Upton and Robert Smittcamp, reactivated the group to fight the San Joaquin River restoration effort.
The restoration plan was negotiated to settle a lawsuit filed by environmental groups. Originally introduced by Radanovich in 2006, the legislation authorizes channel improvements and other work designed to permit water releases from Friant Dam and the return of a salmon population by 2013.
A former Radanovich campaign contributor, Smittcamp has publicly vowed to support a Radanovich challenger because of the river deal. Prosperi and Upton are both equally critical of the river plan.
In June, Families Protecting the Valley contributed $3,000 to Democrat Les Marsden's long-shot challenge to Radanovich.
A two-term mayor, who now has his own radio show on KYNO (AM 1300), Autry joined Families Protecting the Valley this summer after the group's contribution to Marsden. He was given a one-year contract at $5,000 per month.
At the time, Autry said he was told that the organization would no longer be explicitly campaigning against Radanovich. He said "the board assured me the organization was not going to single him out."
But Upton said Autry was hired as a paid staffer for the group, and was directed to get out a message on the water issue. That wasn't happening, he said.
"We were paying Autry to do things that were not getting done," he said. "There was a difference in philosophy."
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