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From: "Scotty Johnson" <[log in to unmask]>
To: "(Farm Bureau Investigation}" <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2000 15:34:14 -0700
Subject: INVESTIGATION UPDATE
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Hello Folks,
I am contacting you with an update on the Farm Bureau
investigation and asking your assistance.
THIS EFFORT NEEDS YOUR HELP!
It is rumored that in response to the recent "60 Minutes" expose,
Farm Bureau leaders are spending truckloads of money doing
public relations damage control. We hear that the Iowa Farm
Bureau alone has spent $250,000. What is most revealing is their
response.
Instead of addressing the allegations raised in the broadcast about
Farm Bureau leaders “stock options”, “agribusiness investments”,
and other “conflicts of interests,” farm bureau leaders chose to
discredit “60 Minutes.” They claim “60 Minutes” may have been
“duped” by “extremists environmentalists. “ (Ohio Farm Bureau
“Special Track”)
While applying the definition “extremist” to Defenders or Wildlife, or
GREEN is patently false, it is also humorous to believe a reporter
of Mike Wallace’s stature could “duped.” What seems “extreme”
in all this is their refusal to answer the allegations.
Farm Bureau leaders need to come clean. If they truly care about
“family agriculture” they need to admit their giant agribusiness
financial ties, apologize, correct the problem and begin to support
their farmer members.
This, however, does not appear to be in the making.
Instead, it is going to require that some courageous public
official(s) stands up to Farm Bureau’s power and calls for an
investigation.
Please take a few moments today and contact your elected
officials and challenge them to do something to help the
environment and family farmers. I have included a sample letter
that you might send, either by mail or via the internet. Also, please
take a moment and call your state and federal congressional
representatives.
Remember, every voice counts.
To find a phone number for your federal congressional officials go to:
<{ GOTOBUTTON BM_1_
http://clerkweb.house.gov/mbrcmtee/mbrcmtee.htm>}http://clerkweb.house.gov/mbrcmtee/mbrcmtee.htm>
Then click on “Official Members Telephone Directory “
Scotty Johnson
Rural Community Outreach Coordinator
GREEN GrassRoots Environmental Effectiveness Network
520 623-9653
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SAMPLE LETTER
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Member of Congress:
As your constituent, I am urging you to initiate an investigation into
the corporate ties, business activities and lobbying objectives of
the American Farm Bureau Federation and also its special tax
break. As you may have seen in a recent 60 minutes broadcast,
Farm Bureau leaders are not only advancing an extreme anti-
environmental agenda, they are profiting handsomely from
corporate agribusinesses, while American farmers are going
broke. Meanwhile, American tax payers are called to foot the bill
for massive farm bailouts ($22 billion- 1999) resulting from
agribusiness driven farm policy. Furthermore, these activities are
financed by a unique tax break which allows the Farm Bureau to
avoid paying taxes on much of their income.
Unfortunately, the recent CBS expose only scratched the surface
of Farm Bureaus operations. A more comprehensive report by
Defenders of Wildlife, entitledAmber Waves of Gain has brought to
light further allegations.
Please consider the following points:
The Farm Bureau is not the organization of farmers it claims to be.
A substantial portion - as much as eighty percent by some
estimates - of its membership has no interest in agriculture
whatsoever. This vast majority of members have no right to vote on
the Farm Bureau's agenda or its officials. The Farm Bureau has
built a huge insurance and financial empire that has ownership
interests in "for-profit" businesses with interests that compete with
their farmer members.
The Farm Bureau has taken advantage of its tax-exempt status to
advance an anti-family farm and generally extremist political
agenda that seems to have little or nothing to do with the purposes
for which it was awarded its special non profit status.
The Farm Bureau may have intentionally mis-represented its
interests to Congress to receive a special tax privilege passed as
part of the 1996 "Small Business Jobs Protection Act" which
exempted them from paying the Unrelated Business Income Tax
on non-farmer membership dues.
Still, these reports, like the tip of an iceberg, may only reveal a
small portion of the questionable activities surrounding the Farm
Bureaus immense financial and political empire.
I strongly implore you to demand accountablility and transparency
from this powerful and elusive organization. Please do the right
thing and call for an investigation of the American Farm Bureau
Federation.
Sincerely,
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BACKGROUND
The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) -- with its roughly
3,000 constituent state and county farm bureaus -- ranks among
the richest and most powerful non- governmental organizations in
America. The organization was recently listed by Fortune
Magazine as the 14th most powerful lobbying forces on Capital Hill.
AFBF claims to have more than 4.9 million members. It has
artfully portrayed
itself as the voice and champion of our nations family farmers for
nearly 80 years. The vast majority of the Farm Bureaus members,
however, have no connection to farming or agriculture and are
instead simply policyholders of one of numerous insurance
companies affiliated with state farm bureaus or are customers of
other farm bureau business ve n t u res. (At latest count there we
re some 54 farm bureau
insurance companies.) Such members have no vote in selecting
the Farm Bureau leadership or say in establishing or carrying out
Farm Bureau policies.
Because of the Farm Bureaus intricate web of nonprofit and for-
profit businesses, it is hard to estimate the organizations total
worth. However, it appears to take in more than $200 million
annually from membership dues, more than $12 billion in revenue
from its cooperatives, and more than $6.5 billion annually in net
insurance premiums.
The Farm Bureau has a history of controlling the very
congressional committees charged with overseeing issues related
to agriculture. The last time a congressional subcommittee
chairman tried to investigate them was in 1967 when
Representative Joe Resnick (D-NY), acting as chairman of the
subcommittee on rural poverty, did so. His inquiry was
unceremoniously squashed when the Farm Bureau complained to
House leaders. Following this incident Resnick's chief of staff
Samuel
"Sandy" Berger, the current Chief of the National Security Council
wrote, "the Farm Bureau is far more than simply an organization of
farmers, as it so often claims. The nation's biggest farm
organization has been quietly but systematically amassing one of
the largest business networks in America, while turning its back on
the deepening crisis of the farmers whom it supposedly
represents."
In 1996, Congress slipped into law a provision exempting the Farm
Bureau from paying taxes on virtually any kind of membership
dues. Since the Farm Bureau collects membership dues from
millions of people who are not involved in agriculture, this translates
into tens of millions of tax-free dollars
from these unrelated business activities. By our estimate, the
Farm Bureau avoids paying nearly $61million annually in taxes on
unrelated business income. In addition to the anti-farmer agenda
portrayed in the 60 Minutes expose, AFBF spends a great deal of
money and time opposing environmental laws such as the
Endangered Species Act, the Clean Air and Safe Drinking Water
Acts,
wetlands laws and pesticide regulations. It regularly opposes
government regulation to reduce air and water pollution and
pesticide use and to protect wildlife, habitat, rural amenities and
food quality. It is critical of efforts to counter global warming and
has advocated abolition of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It
has launched lawsuits to halt reintroduction of endangered gray
wolves. It is allied politically
with, and provides funding for, right-wing interests and the so-
called wise-use movement, which works for the supremacy of
private property ownership and against the protection and
conservation of public lands. In addition, the Farm Bureau takes
other extremist positions, including eliminating the U.S.
Department of Education; slackening child labor laws; and
repealing the voting rights act of 1965.
Plenty of farmers and ranchers see common ground with
environmentalists. Some are Farm Bureau members who cannot
make their voices heard. Others have
dropped their membership and are working for change in other ways. Yet the
Farm Bureau has pursued a deliberate strategy of fostering enmity between
farmers and environmentalists, two groups that could benefit from working
together. To view or download a copy of Defenders report, Amber Waves of Gain:
How the Farm Bureau is Reaping Profits at the Expense of Americas Farmers,
Taxpayers and the Environment logon to Defenders web site at
<www.defenders.org> <
{ GOTOBUTTON BM_2_ http://www.defenders.org>}
Finally, you might want to inquire whether your insurance company
is owned by the Farm Bureau, because if so, you are probably a
member whose dues are used in ways you don’t approve.
--- end forwarded text
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Rex L. Bavousett
Photographer
University of Iowa
Our old name: University Relations - Publications
Our new name: University Communications & Outreach - Publications
100 OPL, Iowa City, IA 52242
http://www.uiowa.edu/~urpubs/
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voice: 319 384-0053
fax: 319 384-0055
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