The COO left the group this week after enduring a barrage of attacks from a website called FreedomWoke, which had agitated for his firing by citing his record lobbying for the Legislative Branch of the Humane Society and his work on behalf of Animal Wellness Action. “Why Does FreedomWorks Go ‘Woke’?” read the site.
The entity behind that anti-Irby campaign is Berman and Co., a public relations firm founded by public relations executive Richard Berman, whose work for corporate interests led to him being labeled by his critics as “Dr. Evil.” Berman is no longer with the company, but Berman and Co. confirmed his involvement.
“Donors and FreedomWorks employees deserved to know about Marty Irby’s track record of supporting Big Government liberals,” said Will Coggin, FreedomWoke spokesperson and vice president at Berman and Co. “He should pursue his animal rights agenda elsewhere.”
It is quite uncommon for PR shops to venture into specific leadership battles within non-governmental entities. But Berman and Co. has a long and bitter history fighting against animal rights groups. One of the entities Berman and Company is associated with is HumaneWatch, an organization accused of being a front group for corporate interests that has repeatedly targeted the Humane Society. HumaneWatch is one of the websites that led to concerns about Irby.
In a series of texts, Irby said he resigned as COO of FreedomWorks on Tuesday while he was in Los Angeles for the Hollywood premiere of “Wild Beauty: Mustang Spirit of the West,” a wild horse documentary for which he was a special advisor and cast member. . Irby has a background in Republican politics, including as press secretary for former Representative Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.), but he said he is also driven by a desire to help “American equines and other animals.”
After leaving his post at FreedomWorks, he said he was going to focus on his role as senior advisor to the Animal Wellness Foundation in Los Angeles and open his own lobbying and public relations firm that would focus on the approval of the farm bill.
“I have new opportunities as a result of the movie premiering which has opened some doors for me in a big way,” he told POLITICO before sending over some glitzy photos from the movie premiere’s red carpet.
Irby accused FreedomWoke of campaigning against him to distract from what he called “corruption within the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.” He advocated for legislation called the Opportunities for Fairness in Farming Act that would reform the checkoff programs that provide funding for raw material research and promotion.
“I will say I am a die-hard Trump backing Republican who has been a supporter of President Trump since he first announced his candidacy for president in the primary,” he wrote in a text. “These attacks come only because I am an effective threat to industrial agriculture corruption, because I have worked since 2018 to successfully enact 12 animal protection bills and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association is terrified of what the public will find out if passes the OFF Act.” (Another Berman entity, the nonprofit Center for Consumer Freedom, has been involved in advancing the interests of the meat industryincluding a campaign against fake meat)
Last month, FreedomWoke cast Irby as an animal rights extremist who had worked for groups that supported Democrats. The website featured a photo of Irby standing next to former chairman Nancy Pelosi, referencing his previous praise for Democratic Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey (Irby said he simply compared him to Joe Biden).
In an interview, FreedomWorks president Adam Brandon confirmed Irby’s departure and said he wished the former employee well, but referred further comments to human resources, which did not respond to a request for comment.
Berman and Co. declined to provide details about his donors, but his history of advocating against animal rights groups and using nonprofits to advance his policy agenda has raised concerns in the past. The Humane League of Philadelphia sued the company and other related entities after a non-profit affiliated with Berman paid for an ad in The New York Times that read, “WHY DOES THE UNITED STATES HUMAN SOCIETY HELPS A TERRORIST GROUP RAISE MONEY?”
