Nearly a year after a Los Angeles Times series leveled serious allegations against the Farm Worker Movement, the California Department of Justice issued a 12-page report completely vindicating the movement of major charges in reporter Miriam Pawel’s Jan. 8-11, 2006 articles that were investigated by the Attorney General’s office. Movement spokesman Marc Grossman issued the following statement from his Sacramento office after the report was released.
The Farm Worker Movement is gratified by the state Attorney General’s complete rejection of the L.A. Times’ serious charges that were investigated by the Department of Justice. The conclusion in the Attorney General’s letter stated, “The [L.A. Times] articles, on their face, appeared to raise serious questions regarding certain transactions. A closer review revealed that all of the allegations deemed by our office to require investigation were, in the end, found to be without merit.”
The same detailed information the Farm Worker Movement provided the Attorney General’s investigators was also shared well ahead of publication with the L.A. Times. Now it is hoped the Times and other outlets that reported on the series will give as much attention to the Attorney General’s report vindicating the Farm Worker Movement as they did the original accusations.
The commitment of the movement’s leadership and staff to their fiduciary obligations has never wavered. Neither has their dedication to the movement’s founding principals as its men and women each day go about the job of improving the lives of farm workers and other low-wage Latino workers. The Farm Worker Movement agrees with the Attorney General’s observance that it is “highly visible” and “subject to close scrutiny” and will take to heart recommendations on improving some of its administrative practices in order to avoid even the appearance of impropriety.