California Political Empowerment Committee

California Political Empowerment Committee is a a tobacco industry front group funding attack ads in the 2006 primary election for California's State Board of Equalization, which regulates state cigarette sales and oversees $40 billion in tax collections.

Notably, a mailing from a group called the California Political Empowerment Committee accuses a candidate of "being a shill for Big Tobacco," according to the Los Angeles Times. The group has received at least $57,000 from Altria's Kraft subsidiary, Lorillard and UST. 

The mailing targeted state Assemblywoman Judy Chu, saying she "accepted money from tobacco companies and then voted to reduce penalties on them for illegally selling cigarettes to minors." Chu is actually a "staunch foe of the industry and refuses to accept its campaign cash." Public health activists called the mailing "a cynical attempt to drive voters toward her opponent," state Assemblyman Jerome Horton, who is "one of the Legislature's biggest beneficiaries of tobacco money."