Girl in ad for Calif. fuel initiative turns tables

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - It was a great image for the campaign of Proposition 10 — a little girl blowing a pinwheel while turning to look at a field full of commercial windmills.

There's one problem. The image was taken three years ago, and the girl, now 13, doesn't support the alternative-fuel initiative, which is championed by Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens.

In response, she has released her own video on YouTube to set the record straight.

The girl says the campaign used stock footage she filmed three years ago for a video library company. Her mother, Jennifer Luna Friedrich, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that she and her husband oppose the initiative, which critics describe as a money grab by Pickens and his natural gas company.

She wanted only her daughter's first name, Emma, to be used in news stories. The family lives in Sacramento.

"They never asked me what I think of Prop. 10, and even though I can't vote, I'm against Prop. 10 and my parents are voting no," Emma says in her video. "So when you see me and my pinwheel, please remember to vote no on Prop. 10."

While the campaign's video is available on the Internet, it's no longer airing on California television stations, campaign spokeswoman Amy Thoma said. The ad ran for a week during the Republican National Convention in early September.

Thoma said the Proposition 10 campaign respects Emma's right to her opinion.

The initiative would authorize the sale of $5 billion in bonds — to be repaid by California taxpayers — to give rebates to buyers of alternative-fuel vehicles and pay for the research and production of alternative-fuel vehicles. It would cost the state about $10 billion with interest.

The campaign has raised $21.5 million so far, nearly $19 million of it from Pickens' natural gas company, Clean Energy. Opponents have raised $125,000, mostly from public employee unions.

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