From gmwatch, 12/5/09--
NOTE: More on Vilsack crony and funder lobbying  for Monsanto on anti-trust.
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Iowa law firm files as Monsanto  lobbyist ahead of DOJ/USDA antitrust 
workshops
Lynda Waddington
The Iowa  Independent, 4 Dec  2009
http://iowaindependent.com/22980/iowa-law-firm-files-as-monsanto-lobbyist-in
-advance-of-ag-antitrust-workshop

As  the U.S. Departments of Justice and Agriculture gear up for an 
unprecedented  series of investigative workshops on agricultural competition and 
regulatory  issues, a Des Moines law firm with deep political ties has signed 
on to  represent agribusiness giant Monsanto.

The five workshops, which will  begin in Ankeny in March 2010 and span four 
other states over the next year, are  an opportunity for producers to speak 
directly to federal officials about  antitrust concerns.

In several key agricultural sectors, farmers and  producers have long 
complained that their revenue seems to bear little relation  to the prices 
consumers pay for their products or the prices that dominant  companies make for 
ultimately selling to them. For example, as dairy farmers  have struggled 
through recent volatile price markets, some producers have  pointed to evidence 
of corruption and soaring profits for processors, who sit  between 
producers and consumers in the distribution chain.

The Iowa  workshop, which will serve as an introduction to the entire 
series, will focus  primarily on seeds - a market that is dominated by Monsanto. 
The company now  controls nearly all genetically modified cotton, soy and 
corn seeds. In fact, it  is estimated that more than 80 percent of all corn 
and more than 90 percent of  all soybeans in Iowa are grown from genetically 
modified seeds on which Monsanto  holds a government patent.

Because of its market dominance, it is  impossible to imagine a discussion 
on crop seeds that does not include both  criticism and applause for the 
work of Monsanto and, by that same token,  impossible to imagine a discussion 
that does not also include criticism and  applause for U.S. Secretary of 
Agriculture Tom Vilsack.

When he was  nominated to President Obama’s Cabinet, many of Vilsack’s 
critics pointed to the  fact that he was named Governor of the Year by the 
Biotechnology Industry  Organization for his “support of the industry’s 
economic growth and agriculture  biotechnology research.” The former Iowa governor’
s critics have long argued  that he gave too much preference to 
agribusiness in general — and to Monsanto in  particular.

Although any investigation stemming from the planned  workshops will be 
initiated and managed by the Department of Justice, the fact  that they are 
being jointly sponsored by the USDA is raising some flags simply  due to Vilsack
’s connection to agribusiness and biotechnology.

Adding  fuel to the fire, The Iowa Independent has learned that long-time 
Vilsack friend  and monetary supporter Jerry Crawford has signed on as a 
federal lobbyist for  Monsanto. The Crawford, Quilty & Mauro law firm in Des 
Moines filed lobbying  registration papers with both the U.S. House and Senate 
on Nov. 10, indicating  that they would be representing Monsanto in the 
areas of competition/antitrust,  environmental law, regulations and policies. 
The firm has no other federal  lobbying contracts, and Crawford has a personal 
history with Vilsack.

In  addition to supplying the Vilsack campaigns (1998 to 2002) and 
Heartland 527-PAC  with more than $150,000 in donations, Crawford was listed as the 
Heartland PAC  treasurer on documents filed with the Internal Revenue 
Service. He also served  on the board of directors for the Democratic Governors 
Association, and has been  called “one of the leading Democratic strategists 
in Iowa.” Crawford has been  chairman of the Polk County Democratic Party, 
and has served as state chairman  or legal counsel for presidential campaigns 
in Iowa for nearly as long as the  state’s first-in-the-nation caucuses have 
held influence.

Two additional  attorneys in the firm - Nicholas Mauro and Jim Quilty - are 
also listed on the  federal lobbyist registration forms. Monsanto also 
employs seven state  lobbyists, according to state records, none of whom appear 
to have direct ties  to the Crawford law firm.

Philip J. Weiser, deputy assistant attorney  general in the Department of 
Justice’s Antitrust Division, spoke frankly with  producers gathered in 
August for a conference on competitive markets saying that  the department “
understand[s] that there are concerns regarding the levels of  concentration in 
the seed industry — particularly for corn and  soybeans.”

“In studying this market, we will evaluate the emerging  industry 
structure, explore whether new entrants are able to introduce  innovation, and 
examine any practices that potentially threaten competition,” he  said.

Mark Kuhn, a 12-year Democratic state legislative veteran from  Charles 
City who is not seeking re-election, plants non-modified soybeans and  some 
modified corn. ”You just have to be careful,” he advised, “and make sure  that 
you don’t co-mingle or contaminate the non-GMO soybeans. It is  manageable.”

In 2005, Kuhn was also a lead legislative opponent of a bill  that removed 
local and state oversight as to where modified crops could be  planted. The 
bill ultimately succeeded. It’s a piece of law that those who  oppose 
genetically-modified crops refer to as seed preemption — and one of the  chief 
arguments cited by those who opposed Vilsack being named U.S. Secretary of  
Agriculture.

“I just felt that local governments should be given the  right, if they 
want to, to decide where transgenic crops can be grown or not  grown,” Kuhn 
said. “In certain areas the organic market is a viable market, and  if a grower 
or a community or a county decides that they want to tailor to that  
market, they should have the right to do so.”

Kuhn describes the Iowa  legislation, which many feel was prompted by 
then-Gov. Vilsack, as “a rush to  stop a movement that had begun in California” 
to ban modified crops.

“It  is interesting because you would assume that [if local governments 
could not  have oversight] that the state would have some control over it or 
some ability  to determine what is a transgenetic crop. But we don’t. That’s 
all federal,” he  said.

“We don’t even have a definition on our seed label of what  transgenetic 
crops are. Yet we label weed seed, inert seed and everything else —  
germination, when it was grown, where it was grown — but we have no definition  for 
genetically engineered seed. There’s nothing required on the label;  
therefore, there is no requirements on the patent holder.”

As the dates  of the workshops near, the Department of Justice plans to 
provide additional  updates and information, including the names of speakers. 
Comments are also  being accepted in advance of the workshop. The should be 
sent to the Department  of Justice, 450 5th St. NW, Suite 11700, Washington, 
D.C. 20001, no later than  Dec. 31. They can also be sent by e-mail to  
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