WHERE DOES BUSINESS END, NAACP BEGIN?

Byline: SHARON WOODSON-BRYANT Local View

NO one was covered with a hood or white sheet, but years later I found out that many of them were from the Ku Klux Klan. I had been with the head of the Florida NAACP and an NAACP lobbyist. We had driven about 30 miles south of Tallahassee to a dark, backwoods location for a secret meeting in 1978 where the NAACP was brokering a deal with the Klan to shore up support for a union for both black and white citrus workers.

That was my first introduction to marriages of convenience and their political power. But clearly Alice Huffman -- president of the California National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and a political consultant -- is a master at such marriages.

Campaign payments of $160,000 from Philip Morris were made to Huffman's political company, A.C. Public Affairs, to oppose the Proposition 86 cigarette tax. Huffman called Proposition 86 a regressive tax that would disproportionately impact the black community. And the California NAACP also opposed the measure.

It has also been reported that in addition to the smoking money, Huffman was on retainer with AT&T for $12,000 per month. She never disclosed this to the NAACP, even as she testified on behalf of the organization in support of legislation to ease access for the phone company into the lucrative cable industry. Huffman said AT&T top executives had assured her that they would provide service to poorer black neighborhoods.

Only a little over a year ago, Huffman drew attention when it was disclosed that she received payments from pharmaceutical companies -- which the NAACP had sided with against a labor-backed initiative aimed at reducing drug costs. The drug companies spent more than $800,000 through Huffman's political organization, including $400,000 for a mailer and $330,000 for her consulting fees.

Now some activists in the black community are wondering where Huffman's consulting operation ends and the NAACP begins. Huffman, who is also on the board of directors for the national NAACP, denies any link between her private payments and the public stances of the organization she heads. But critics point out that her consulting firm lists the exact same address as the state NAACP.

According to Sacramento's Capitol Weekly, James Sweeney, a legislative advocate for the California NAACP, said that Huffman agreed to detail all her relevant corporate contracts to the state executive committee before endorsement votes were taken. Huffman also offered to resign from her post if the committee believed there was a conflict of interest.

But Huffman is considered a lightning rod with legendary credentials as a social activist. A player in California politics for three decades, she was the first woman to head the California NAACP and was co-chair of the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston.

Since her election to the state NAACP post, Huffman transformed the group -- largely on the strength of corporate money -- from an officeless association to an organization with a nearly half-million-dollar annual budget.

But critics worry about corporations and industries trying to buy influence and black votes. The NAACP endorsement is not only political cover, but a seal of approval for black legislators and voters. What Huffman's private consulting business does is up to her, but some believe it crosses the line when she gets the NAACP involved.