ALAN GUEBERT, THE FINAL WORD: The oldest advice in journalism goes something like "Follow the money, follow the women or follow both."

Following the political action committee, or PAC, money upstream from the House Appropriations subcommittee on agriculture takes you to some ag’s business and lobbying masters, according to Federal Election Commission data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.

For example, in the 2001-02 House election cycle agribusiness showered the eight Republican and five Democratic members of the ag appropriations subcommittee with $1,072,242 in PAC contributions. Eighty-eight percent of the cash, or $840,211, went to the subcommittee’s GOP members; 22%, or $232,031, went to Democratic members.

The big PAC hitters are the same big hitters that smack farmers and ranchers in every Congressional farm policy fight these days: the American Meat Institute, National Cattlemen’s Beef Assoc., National Pork Producers Council, ConAgra and Cargill.

In the 2001-02 election cycle, AMI contributed $29,000 to subcommittee members’ PACs --- $28,000 to Republicans, $1,000 to Democrats. Similarly, NCBA ladled out $23,750, $20,500 to Republicans and $3,250 to Democrats. Another cattle group, the Texas Cattle Feeders Association gave Republicans $11,000 and Democrats $500.

NPPC put $11,200 in PACs of Republican subcommittee members and gave only $1,000 to Democrats, all, surprisingly, to ranking minority member Marcy Kaptur. (Golly, NPPC really does believe in small, independent pork production.)

Trans-nationals agribusiness made its desires known, also. ConAgra, one of the nation’s largest meatpackers until mid-2002, lathered subcommittee members with $30,750 in PAC cash, $27,750 to Republicans. Cargill slipped $12,000 to members’ campaigns, $10,000 to Republicans.

Individually, no member was better at the agbiz shakedown than Henry Bonilla, chairman of the subcommittee that holds USDA’s purse strings. Bonilla raked in $250,414 of his $1.05 million in 2001-02 PAC money from agribusiness.

Bonilla’s biggest ag PAC daddies were the same groups who fought against country of origin labeling in the 2002 Farm Bill: $5,000 from NCBA;

$10,000 from Texas Cattle Feeders; $10,000 from AMI; $7,000 from

ConAgra, $2,000 from NPPC; $3,000 from National Meat Association

Money, however, doesn’t buy influence, claim members of Congress.

As such, Bonilla would have American farmers and ranchers believe it’s a coincidence that his biggest PAC contributors just happen to be the same ones who want to strip USDA’s budget of the money needed to write COOL’s red meat rules.

Bonilla pulled that trick off [June 19]

Still don’t believe that Congressional coincidences just happen?

First look at a list of ag’s biggest PAC greasers during the 2001-02 election cycle below. Next compare their farm policy goals --- kill COOL, no competition title, taxpayer money to clean up livestock waste, no funding for the new Conservation Security Program—to what was and was not contained in the final 2002 Farm Bill.

ADM--$1.87 million

NCBA--$488,760

Smithfield Foods--$410,950

ConAgra--$276,100

AMI--$210,917

NPPC--$101,464

 

See, coincidences can occur. To prove it, just follow the money. Or better yet, just follow ADM, Henry Bonilla, NCBA, NPPC, ConAgra and Cargill.

Mike Callicrate

P.O. Box 748

St. Francis, KS 67756

785-332-3344