Humboldt Residents Join Taxpayers from Nine Other Counties in Class Action Lawsuit Against Huffman & Thompson

A member of the Committee for Peace and Justice stands at the Old Town Eureka Gazebo fountain, following the December 7th silent vigil. [Photo by Ryan Hutson]

Not one to be left out of a political justice campaign, Humboldt has joined the TAG class action suit alongside the group of Northern California residents,  to take legal action against their congressional representatives over misuse of taxpayer funds being spent to support Israel’s bombardment of civilians in the Gaza Strip. The newly formed organization, Taxpayers Against Genocide (TAG), plans to file the unprecedented class action lawsuit against Congressmen Mike Thompson and Jared Huffman in San Francisco this morning at the Federal Building in San Franscico, according to organizers.  

After filing the class action lawsuit at the federal building in San Francisco this morning, a press conference and rally is slated to take place outside, where media from near and far are expected to tune in. Among those activist groups taking part is Code Pink – known for its international political actions and for civil disobedience at home in the US, usually in Washington.  

A flier circulated on social media prior to the filing of the TAG suit invites class members to join and seek information related to the pending litigation. 

The Taxpayers Against Genocide, represented by Szeto-Wong Law firm out of the Bay Area, is alleging misuse of taxpayer funds. The lawsuit charges that the representatives abused their authority when they voted to allocate billions of US taxpayer dollars in military aid to Israel on April 20, 2024.

One member of the TAG lawsuit from Humboldt County, Robie Tenorio with the Humboldt Committee for Peace and Justice explained that many people in the community may feel that the larger strife between Palestinians and the State of Israel is “too complicated” or “too far away” for locals on the North Coast to get involved or to make any impact. But she offered a different perspective which focuses on the element of funding, rather than culture or politics. “This is why it’s a class action lawsuit – as Federal Taxpayers, we are complicit in funding this genocide, and we want our congresspeople to stop our involvement,” Tenorio told us. 

Robie Tenorio, at the December 7th vigil in Old Town, on why the Humboldt Committee for Peace & Justice joined the TAG Federal class action lawsuit. [By Ryan Hutson]

Tenorio explained, “We, the Humboldt Committee for Peace and Justice, has joined with the Taxpayers Against Genocide, and we are filing a class action lawsuit against Congressman Huffman and Congressman Thompson, who have continue to vote to send money to Israel in violation of US law and international law.” Tenorio continued, explaining, “specifically the fact that we are well aware [that the] United States has received very clear documentation that medical and food and aid in general is being denied to the people of Gaza and yet we still are arming Israel, so the class action lawsuit is basically coming together and saying the people in these congressman districts have been forced into supporting genocide… .” 

Putting a finer point on the pending complaint against the lawmakers, she added, “This is our money. Everyone knows we need [it] here at home. It’s our money and it’s been used to fund this genocidal campaign by Israel, so we are, asking them and compelling them to stop those funds for that money.” 

Echoing that sentiment was another Humboldt resident who has signed on as a class representative, and felt strongly about keeping local dollars circulating locally. Ellen P, who has been a supporter of local protests against the war, told us “so many people in this country, and in Humboldt County, are struggling to afford rent and food, access health care, and provide opportunities for their kids… All while our tax money goes to incinerate displaced families living in tents in the desert. This is not a partisan issue, it’s a humanitarian issue.”

Amnesty vs Accountability

Alleging the unlawful use of taxpayer funds to support what’s is being described as an illegal campaign of genocide by the State of Israel, Amnesty Internation has weighed in on the matter. 

According to Agnès Callamard, the Secretary General of Amnesty International,  “Our damning findings must serve as a wake-up call to the international community: this is genocide.” Callamard is further quoted explaining that here are potentially far-reaching implications for those UN member states which are knowingly supporting an ongoing genocide, saying, “States that continue to transfer arms to Israel at this time must know they are violating their obligation to prevent genocide and are at risk of becoming complicit in genocide. All states with influence over Israel, particularly key arms suppliers like the USA and Germany, but also other EU member states, the UK and others, must act now to bring Israel’s atrocities against Palestinians in Gaza to an immediate end.” 

Humboldt taxpayers are not pleased with the response that they have received thus far from Congressman Huffman, or Thompson, when they have initiated a dialogue on the subject. Several attempts over the past many months have been made by various activist groups in Humboldt County and neighboring counties, endeavoring to have a productive conversation with Huffman specifically, but according to activists involved in those conversations, common ground was not established. 

Ellen P., (who asked that we abbreviate her last name), explained that Huffman did make time to talk with the Pro-Palestinian activist group Humboldt For Palestine back in early winter of 2023, but said that the meeting was not satisfactory, noting that the congressman’s demeanor and response were both disappointing. “Several people spoke so eloquently and from a deeply informed place about how the genocide was impacting them and how it was wrong of Rep. Huffman to refuse to speak out or take any action against it. To be completely honest, I was aghast at Huffman’s response to this thoughtful and heartfelt plea from his constituents. He repeatedly interrupted speakers, admonished their use of language (even debating with us about the definition of “genocide” and “[apartheid]”), and tried to lecture us rather than listen to us. He made it very clear he was not at all interested in anything we had to say and that he is a committed Zionist.”

10 Counties, Hundreds of Members

The class action lawsuit, which has already garnered support from over 500 taxpayers from the 10 counties in Northern California that are represented by Democratic Congressmen Jared Huffman and Mike Thompson, is being viewed by organizers as a model that can be replicated nationwide.  According to two of the main organizers of the TAG lawsuit, Seth Donolly and Anna Marie Stenberg, the legal action being taken could be considered a political pressure campaign, and is one they hope will get far reaching attention and is expected to “spread nationwide.” 

Locally, the Humboldt Committee for Peace and Justice has endorsed the TAG lawsuit alongside a cohort of more than a dozen northern California organizations, such as Humboldt for Palestine, Mendo for Palestine, Mendocino County for Ethical Investing, Ukiah for Palestine and at least 2 dozen others according to media coordinators with the TAG group, each with related objectives around peace and freedom in various aspects of community. 

Among the group are several experienced rabble rousers bringing their respective skills to bear on the project. 77-year-old political activist Anna Marie Stenberg out of Mendocino County (and from the San Francisco Bay Area originally) is a veteran of numerous civil rights and anti-war movements over the past five decades and offered her experience in organizing the TAG lawsuit group. Stenberg, who was close with Judi Bari during the Redwood Summer of 1990, says she has been arrested over 50 times for nonviolent civil disobedience – including several times for civil disobedience related to Redwood forest defense in Mendocino County – and sees this lawsuit as a critical step in stopping what she and others say is a genocide perpetrated by the State of Israel, and supported monetarily and politically by the U.S. government.

“Legal pressure gets their attention. And we have to do everything we can to stop this genocide,” Stenberg said in an interview before the TAG suit was filed. “This is, I think, a really important thing that we can be doing.”

Stenberg said  “this action should spread nationwide, and other communities should take on their congressional representatives and or their senators in the same way.” The plaintiffs hope the legal pressure campaign will force the congressmen to address the alleged misuse of public funds.

Having seen many policy actions involving court cases in her time, Stenberg felt optimistic about the potential outcome, based on the enthusiasm the group has seen around the pending case. “I don’t know how it’s going to turn out, but I [do] know that the organizing, to have 10 counties in Northern California – as diverse as Marin and Humboldt, for instance – connected and talking to each other on Zoom and working together, that bodes well for the future because we really have to be working together on the most important issues,” Stenberg said by phone earlier this week. 

Stenberg felt strongly that the lawsuit could be instrumental in efforts to quell the financial support for the war, saying, “other communities should take on their congressional representatives and or their senators in the same way.” 

Litigation and Participation

The group of over 500 class members, with support from nearly 30 community organizations as of the publishing of this report, consist of federal taxpayers from a range of backgrounds who are described by class action representatives and organizers as a diverse reflection of Northern California at large. 

Community members who want to be a part of the lawsuit can join as a “member of the class” even after it is filed, so long as one is a resident of a county being represented by either congressperson, and also a federal taxpayer. Being a voter is not a requirement to join the suit.  

Some of the logos of endorsing community groups and not profits shown here, attached to a flyer circulated by TAG.

When asked why members of the group believe that individual people, residents paying taxes to the Federal government should have a say in how their tax dollars are spent by our officials, Ellen P. was clear in her hope that the public be given a greater voice in the spending habits of Washington. She wrote back via email saying, “The promise of our political system is that we elect our leaders and they answer to us. That we have a say in how our tax dollars are spent. And yet, from the President down to local representatives, it has become blindingly clear that our elected representatives answer to some other powers.” 

She continued, “Millions of Americans have made their demands clear over the last 14 months – end US support for Israel, no genocide in our name, arms embargo now! And yet we have been not only ignored, but beaten by police, arrested, and charged with crimes – all for exercising our First Amendment rights and expecting our representatives to do their jobs. Perhaps if they get dragged into court, they’ll be forced to listen.”

Another member of the Humboldt contingent, Kate McClain told us “That’s democracy. It is our money,” when asked why individual taxpayers should have a say, and told us that the action is rooted in the premise of democracy, and respecting the will of the voters. McClain said, “If we don’t feel our representative is representing us, we can campaign and vote for another to replace her/him.” 

Suggesting that a politician could become biased if political donations were to outweigh ethics, and that misinformation has been widely fed to the mainstream, McClain called attention to a political system that allows campaign contributions to be treated as political speech. McClain said, “Unfortunately big money, the Israel Lobby in particular, seems to have had a great influence on elections and representatives’ votes.” McClain Added, “We’ve all been served the kool-aid for 70+ years.”

In a separate but similar and also unprecedented legal development, a lawsuit brought by Palestinian American families charges the US State Department “under Administrative Procedure Act” for “Harming Plaintiffs by Arbitrary and Capricious Failure to Enforce the Leahy Law” which already exists on the US books. In a nutshell, the law named after Congressman Patrick Leahy as written, prohibits the U.S. from providing assistance to foreign security forces which have been “credibly implicated in gross human rights violations”, according to the State Department website. 

As reported by DAWN, that “historic” lawsuit filed earlier this week echoes sentiments of the TAG litigation, which also plans to call attention to the nation’s ongoing involvement in Israel’s bombing campaign.  According to reporting by DAWN, which acknowledges it is supporting the litigation, “Palestinian families devastated by Israeli human rights violations in Gaza and the West Bank filed a federal lawsuit today under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) challenging the State Department’s arbitrary and capricious failure to implement the Leahy Law prohibiting U.S. assistance to abusive Israeli security forces. The lawsuit, supported by DAWN, documents how the State Department has created unique, insurmountable processes to evade the Leahy Law requirement to sanction abusive Israeli units, despite overwhelming evidence of their human rights violations.” 

Congressman Huffman’s office was not able to provide a substantive response but did reply to our email, saying, “Unfortunately we won’t be able to get you a comment on this, I’m very sorry.”