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Farm Bureau director told: Quit
By JERRY PERKINS
Register Farm Editor
05/25/2000
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Iowa Farm Bureau director Don Narigon said he has been asked to
resign from its board for pursuing questions initially raised in a "60
Minutes" television show that was critical of the farm organization.

Steve Morain, general counsel of Iowa Farm Bureau, said in a
statement Wednesday that delegates from the 12 southwest Iowa
counties Narigon represents had asked for his resignation because
of "internal matters detrimental to Farm Bureau caused by Mr.
Narigon."

Farm Bureau officials declined to comment further.

Narigon, 65, said he was told at a May 2 meeting of Farm Bureau"s
12-member board of directors that he had 48 hours to resign. He
declined and hired an attorney.

"This is fallout from the "60 Minutes" show," Narigon said. "I"ve
been trying to get some answers, and I think I"m getting too close
to something."

The CBS broadcast on April 9 raised some troubling questions
about how the Farm Bureau is run, Narigon said, and led him to
ask about the organization"s finances.

The segment accused the organization of building a for-profit
business worth billions of dollars while tens of thousands of farmers
are in financial trouble.

"60 Minutes" correspondent Mike Wallace interviewed Ed
Wiederstein, an Audubon farmer who is president of the Iowa Farm
Bureau Federation and chairman of FBL Financial Group, a Farm
Bureau-linked life insurance company.

Wallace asked Wiederstein about lucrative stock options granted
to him, to FBL officers and to Farm Bureau directors, including
Narigon, when the insurer became a publicly traded company in
1996.

The show also cited American Farm Bureau"s opposition to
environmental protection laws, the Civil Rights Act, the Equal
Rights Amendment, gun control and a higher minimum wage.

Whether Narigon will be removed as a Farm Bureau director will be
decided by 100 voting delegates of the Iowa Farm Bureau, who will
meet June 15-16 in West Des Moines. A two-thirds majority will be
needed to remove Narigon from the board.


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