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posted by cmn32480 on Saturday May 30 2015, @03:57PM   Printer-friendly
from the no-more-horsing-around dept.

The Intercept reporter Lee Fang obtained emails through an Idaho public records request exposing dairy lobbyist involvement in crafting "Ag-gag" legislation. "Ag-gag" describes a class of agricultural industry anti-whistleblower legislation that now exists in several states, usually prohibiting photography and audio/visual recording:

State Sen. Jim Patrick, R-Twin Falls, said he sponsored the bill in response to an activist-filmed undercover video that showed cows at an Idaho plant being beaten by workers, dragged by the neck with chains, and forced to live in pens covered in fæces, which activists said made the cows slip, fall and injure themselves. The facility, Bettencourt Dairies, is a major supplier for Burger King and Kraft. The workers who were filmed were fired.

Introducing the bill, Patrick compared the activists behind the Bettencourt video to marauding invaders who burned crops to starve their enemies. "This is clear back in the sixth century B.C.," Patrick said, according to Al Jazeera America. "This is the way you combat your enemies." Patrick's bill was introduced on February 10, 2014, sailed through committee within days, and was signed by Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter on February 28. The legislation calls for a year in jail and fines up to $5,000 for covertly recording abuses on farms or for those who lie on employment applications about ties to animal rights groups or news organizations.

But the groundwork was laid by Dan Steenson, a registered lobbyist (pdf) for the Idaho Dairymen's Association, a trade group for the industry. Steenson testified in support of the ag-gag bill, clearly disclosing his relationship with the trade group. Emails, however, show that he also helped draft the bill. On January 30, before Sen. Patrick's bill was formally introduced, Steenson emailed Bob Naerebout, another Dairymen lobbyist, and Brian Kane, the Assistant Chief Deputy of the state attorney general's office, with a copy of the legislation. "The attached draft incorporates the suggestions you gave us this morning," Steenson wrote, thanking Kane for his help in reviewing the bill. Kane responded with "one minor addition" to the legislation, which he described to Steenson as "your draft." The draft text of the legislation emailed by Steenson closely mirrors the bill (pdf) signed into law.


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Nerdfest on Saturday May 30 2015, @04:39PM

    by Nerdfest (80) on Saturday May 30 2015, @04:39PM (#190140)

    It seems like owning your own government officials is the sign that you've really "made it" these days.

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  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 30 2015, @04:41PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 30 2015, @04:41PM (#190141)

    I doubt it's ever really been all too different, they're just more shameless about it today (or less competent when it comes to hiding it).

    • (Score: 2) by edIII on Saturday May 30 2015, @07:42PM

      by edIII (791) on Saturday May 30 2015, @07:42PM (#190198)

      Considering that the government is openly, but secretly, negotiating the TPP with its horror story without any input from the allegedly represented unwashed masses, it's more likely they are simply emboldened by their superiors success?

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  • (Score: 2) by Hairyfeet on Sunday May 31 2015, @04:27AM

    by Hairyfeet (75) <{bassbeast1968} {at} {gmail.com}> on Sunday May 31 2015, @04:27AM (#190312) Journal

    Its called regulatory capture [wikipedia.org] and its as old as dirt, see cable rules being written by people who then immediately get cushy jobs working for cableco, the rules for the bailout being written by Goldman Sachs, Obamacare being written by big pharma, it goes on and on and on.

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