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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