Iowa egg recall turning into election issue

In politics, timing is everything. And, if Labor Day remains the traditional mark of when the public really begins to pay attention to political campaigning, there could very well be some egg-ceptional shifts in public opinion over the next few weeks.

From left, Bill Northey, Francis Thicke, Brenna Findley and Tom Miller.

Races for Iowa Attorney General and Secretary of Agriculture have already come under new scrutiny in relation to the ongoing investigation into the recall of more than half-a-billion Salmonella-tainted eggs, and candidates vying for repeat performances as Iowa governor are realizing they are not immune to the scandal either.

All eyes turned to Iowa last month when two Iowa egg producers began the massive voluntary egg recall. As the number of people made ill by the eggs escalated to more than 1,500, federal inspectors descended upon various farm sites connected to Austin “Jack” DeCoster, owner of several agribusiness interests that have become infamous for running afoul of state and federal regulators.

In addition to outlining filthy conditions at Wright County Egg, owned and operated by the DeCoster family, and Hillandale Farms, operated by Orland Bethel, investigators pointed an accusatory finger to a feed mill, also owned by DeCoster, as at least one possible source of the Salmonella contamination that had sickened so many.

Nearly immediately, Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey came under fire for his department’s oversight role. Although Iowa farmers are allowed to produce feed for their own livestock use with minimal government oversight, feed mills that sell feed or provide feed to contract feeders are subject to licensing and inspection by the Iowa Department of Agriculture.

It is a situation that Dustin Vande Hoef, a spokesman for the department, appeared to acknowledge when he told the Associated Press that an inspector would be visiting the DeCoster mill, which is one of the state’s largest, to comb through its records.

When Northey’s Democratic challenger Francis Thicke began to use the possibility of lax oversight by the department as a campaign talking point, however, Vande Hoef released a statement that accused Thicke of  holding a position that advocates “stepping beyond the department’s legal authority and violating private property rights.”

“The law makes no distinction based on size and gives no authority for the Iowa Secretary of Agriculture to pick-and-choose private feed mills to inspect,” Vande Hoef said.

At least one state official, Sen. Gene Fraise, who leads the agricultural committee, has advocated that size should matter for state regulators.

“These big corporations, they are sliding under the radar screen because they say they are, quote, ‘private farms.’ We ought to take a good hard look at that. If you get to a certain size, you are not a private farmer anymore. You are a corporation,” Fraise told the Associated Press.

According to officials within the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the mill owned by DeCoster was not only providing feed for that company’s birds, but was also supplying feed to Bethel’s operations at Hillandale Farms, which would make the mill subject to licensing and inspection by the Iowa Department of Agriculture. While there is currently no penalty that can be levied by the department against the feed mill, the situation could be handed to Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller’s Office for further investigation and/or could be a part of upcoming federal hearings on the recall.

A state-led investigation of DeCoster, however, may spark increased public scrutiny of Miller, who faces a Republican opponent on the November ballot for the first time in some years. As The Iowa Independent first reported, Miller accepted a $10,000 campaign contribution from Peter DeCoster, who is a son of Jack and who also served as the day-to-day manager of now-beleaguered Wright County Egg and Quality Eggs, L.L.C. When approached by The Iowa Independent about the donation, Miller indicated that the money came after the DeCoster businesses were declassified as “habitual violators” of state environmental regulations — a classification that Miller in his role as attorney general had fought to establish in 2000.

Following The Iowa Independent report, Brenna Findley, Miller’s Republican opponent, called on him to return the donation, which Miller did.

Regardless of cause, however, the Iowa public is beginning to realize that mandated oversight of a critical component of the nation’s food supply was not done.

“No press release. No official statements. No acknowledgment of the largest salmonella outbreak in recent history,” noted The Daily Iowan editorial board about the Iowa Department of Agriculture on Wednesday.

“If the Agriculture Department is serious about protecting consumers, it must step in to fill the void. The current agency regime appears unlikely to do so, however. … All too often, the agency has shirked its regulatory role and instead served as big agribusiness’ mouthpiece.”

Such criticism has also extended to Republican Terry Branstad’s gubernatorial campaign, which chose to unveil its plan to “grow Iowa’s agricultural economy,” which included the allusion to a more ag-friendly regulatory process, in the midst of increased public scrutiny on government’s failed role as regulator of the egg industry.

The first to voice outrage of Branstad’s plan, not surprisingly, was the gubernatorial campaign of Democratic incumbent Chet Culver.

“It is shocking that during the egg recall, Branstad says that he believes there should be less oversight,” said campaign spokeswoman Ali Glisson. “It’s clear that Branstad is out of touch with the current issues facing Iowa’s farmers. Removing oversight isn’t going to help create new farms, it’s going to put into jeopardy Iowa’s food supply.”

State-based advocacy group Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, long known for their opposition to “factory farms,” also called out Branstad in the wake of the policy roll-out, noting that Branstad had received at least $232,903 from agribusiness interests in 2010 alone.

“[Branstad] must be tone deaf to be calling for a deregulated factory farm industry and increased nuisance lawsuit protections the same week that more details are released about how the lack of robust regulations led to the largest salmonella outbreak and egg recall in U.S. history,” said Hugh Espey, executive director of Iowa CCI.

When it comes to campaign donations from state agribusiness, however, Democrats have also taken money, albeit historically less than what Republicans have garnered. But when looking only at contributions made by DeCoster and members of his immediately family, the benefit has exclusively been to Democrats.

During the past decade, the DeCosters have contributed $62,500 to the Iowa Democratic Party (all in 2000) and $400,000 to the Democratic Governor’s Association (from 2003 to 2010) — both groups that support the re-election of Culver.

Although the Republican National Committee reported receiving $50,000 from A.J. “Jack” DeCoster in October 2002, a filing two months later showed that same amount as being refunded.