{"id":58894,"date":"2015-06-01T12:00:38","date_gmt":"2015-06-01T11:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=58894"},"modified":"2017-01-24T18:15:27","modified_gmt":"2017-01-24T18:15:27","slug":"emails-reveal-dairy-lobbyist-crafted-ag-gag-legislation-outlawing-pictures-of-farms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2015\/06\/emails-reveal-dairy-lobbyist-crafted-ag-gag-legislation-outlawing-pictures-of-farms\/","title":{"rendered":"Emails Reveal Dairy Lobbyist Crafted \u201cAg-Gag\u201d Legislation Outlawing Pictures of Farms"},"content":{"rendered":"

28 May 2015 – <\/em>Across the country, legislatures are responding to whistleblowers and activists who have exposed inhumane and at times unsanitary\u00a0practices at farms by passing laws that criminalize the taking of photos\u00a0or videos at agricultural facilities.<\/p>\n

\"Mercy<\/a>

Mercy for Animals on Flickr<\/p><\/div>\n

Farming interests have publicly backed the campaign to outlaw recording. But emails I obtained through a records request reveal that in Idaho, which passed an \u201cag-gag\u201d law last year, dairy industry lobbyists actually crafted the legislation that was later introduced by lawmakers.<\/p>\n

State Sen. Jim Patrick, R-Twin Falls, said he sponsored the bill in response to an activist-filmed undercover video<\/a> that showed cows at an Idaho plant being beaten by workers, dragged by the neck with chains, and forced to live in pens covered in feces, which activists said made the cows slip, fall and injure themselves. The facility, Bettencourt Dairies, is a major supplier for Burger King and Kraft. The workers who were filmed were fired.<\/p>\n

Introducing the bill, Patrick compared\u00a0the activists behind the Bettencourt\u00a0video to marauding invaders who burned crops to starve their enemies. \u201cThis is clear back in the sixth century B.C.,\u201d Patrick said, according to Al Jazeera America<\/em>. \u201cThis is the way you combat your enemies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Idaho is a major center for dairy production, an industry that generates $2.5 billion<\/a> a year in the state.<\/p>\n

Patrick\u2019s bill\u00a0was introduced on February 10, 2014, sailed through committee within days, and was signed by Gov. \u00a0C.L. \u201cButch\u201d Otter on February 28.\u00a0The legislation calls for a year in jail and fines up to $5,000 for covertly recording abuses on farms or for those who lie on employment applications about ties to animal rights groups or news organizations.<\/p>\n

But the groundwork was laid by Dan Steenson, a registered lobbyist<\/a> for the Idaho Dairymen\u2019s Association, a trade group for the industry.<\/p>\n

Steenson testified in support of the ag-gag\u00a0bill, clearly disclosing his relationship with the trade group. Emails, however, show that he also helped draft\u00a0the bill.\u00a0On January 30, before Sen. Patrick\u2019s bill\u00a0was formally introduced, Steenson emailed Bob Naerebout, another Dairymen lobbyist, and Brian Kane, the assistant chief deputy of the state attorney general\u2019s office, with a copy of the legislation. \u201cThe attached draft incorporates the suggestions you gave us this morning,\u201d Steenson wrote, thanking Kane for his help in reviewing the bill. Kane responded with \u201cone minor addition\u201d to the legislation, which he described to Steenson as \u201cyour draft.\u201d<\/p>\n

The draft text<\/a> of the legislation emailed by Steenson closely mirrors the bill<\/a> signed into law.<\/p>\n

\u201cDan and the Idaho dairymen had a large input but also Idaho Farm Bureau as well as Idaho-eastern seed growers,\u201d Patrick said in an email to The Intercept<\/em>. \u201cThis was not about only dairy so but all of agriculture since all farms have risks of distorted facts,\u201d he\u00a0added. \u201cWe only want the whole truth to be told not just a few social media sites.\u201d<\/p>\n

The law made Idaho the seventh state to pass \u201cag-gag\u201d efforts. Similar efforts have been signed into law in recent years in Utah, Iowa and Missouri.<\/p>\n

This week, North Carolina may become the next state to do so. The North Carolina version of the act covers not just farms and agricultural facilities, but many other workplaces, including nursing homes and daycares \u2014 an expansion of the law that critics say<\/a> will muffle whistleblowers.\u00a0North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory is deciding<\/a> whether to sign or veto the legislation.<\/p>\n

View the Idaho emails below:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/2084808-idaho-ag-gag.html<\/p>\n

And here\u2019s the video:<\/p>\n

httpv:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Ki57eFs7XFo<\/p>\n

_______________________________<\/p>\n

Email the author: lee.fang@theintercept.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 firstlook.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

28 May 2015 – Across the country, legislatures are responding to whistleblowers and activists who have exposed inhumane and at times unsanitary practices at farms by passing laws that criminalize the taking of photos or videos at agricultural facilities… But the groundwork was laid by Dan Steenson, a registered lobbyist for the Idaho Dairymen\u2019s Association, a trade group for the industry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[170],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-animal-rights-vegetarianism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58894\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}