Iowa attorney and Democratic political insider Jerry Crawford, longtime supporter and friend of U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, has signed on as a lobbyist for Monsanto. (Photo: Crawford, Quilty & Mauro)

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 agriculturalworkshops@usdoj.gov.

An earlier report by The Des Moines Register said the cost would be $326 million, but that number includes projects that received initial approval but are not actually under contract with the state, said Erin Seidler, IDED’s public information officer.

Twenty-two projects have completed their contract and have been issued tax credits, totaling a little more than $32 million. An additional 26 projects have entered into contracts with the state to receive the 50 percent tax credit. Gov. Chet Culver has suspended payments of all film tax credits and there is no firm answer if those contracts will be honored. If they are, it will cost the state around $78 million.

The state gave initial approval to another 109 projects, but no contract has been entered into and no tax credits have been promised, Seidler said. That total makes up the largest portion of the tax liability cited by The Register, at nearly $253 million, and the state will not be liable for those projects.

“The Register is totaling the potential tax liability by using projects that are both under contract and ones that have simply made it past the first hurdle but are not under contract,” she said. “So that figure is not accurate.”

The total cost of tax credits is based on estimated spending projections for the projects in Iowa. If all 157 projects that are completed, under contract or approved for consideration are factored in, filmmakers are expected to spend nearly $726 million in the state.

The program, known officially as the Film, Television and Video Promotion Program, has come under fire after revelations of misconduct emerged last week. Responding to the accusations, Gov. Culver fired the head of the Iowa Film Office, Tom Wheeler, and asked the attorney general and state auditor to conduct an investigation into the program.

The top two officials at IDED, Mike Tramontina and Vince Lutz, have resigned.

An internal audit of the program found that credits were not used properly. For instance, some credits were used to purchase luxury vehicles (a Mercedes and a Land Rover) that were not used directly on the film and the amount of credits claimed was the full purchase price rather than the lease cost during the project. The audit found numerous irregularities, ranging from substandard reporting of how credits were used to using venders who reside outside of Iowa.

JAMA will announce its new policy in an editorial this week, according to an article in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal. The medical journal had been criticized for taking five months to acknowledge that a study on the use of antidepressants in stroke victims was written by a University of Iowa psychiatrist with a financial relationship with the maker of the pharmaceutical studied.

Grassley sent out a press release indicating he had asked eight medical journals to describe their ghostwriting policies as a broader effort to establish transparency with regard to financial relationships between the drug industry and medical professionals.

“Public dollars and the public trust are at stake in the practice of medicine, and the information that is shared in these journals can influence decisions made by doctors and their patients. Transparency can do a lot of good in building confidence that there’s nothing to hide, and that applies to how expert opinion is presented in public forums like these journals provide,” Grassley said.

Grassley also wrote a letter to 23 medical schools requesting information about their conflict-of-interest policies and disclosure of federal research dollars donated by pharmaceutical companies to staff physicians.

Both Grassley, an Iowa Republican who is ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, and U.S. Sen. Max Baucus (D-Montana), who is chairman of the committee, have been placed under the microscope due to former staff members now lobbying for the health care and pharmaceutical industries during the congressional discussion on health care reform. The lobbying firm Mehlman Vogel Castagnetti, which represents at least six pharmaceutical or health care products companies, includes both Baucus’ former chief of staff David Castagnetti and Grassley’s former health policy adviser Colette Desmarais. One of Mehlman Vogal Castagnetti’s clients — the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America — has doubled its spending to nearly $7 million in the first quarter of 2009.

Sources inside the Register’s newsroom confirmed that they were notified Monday morning, although most said they saw the news coming months ago when the first round of furloughs was announced.

“This is not news to us,” one employee said.

In a memo to staff, Gannett CEO Craig Dubow said the company would begin the second quarter “without any real relief in sight from this unprecedented economic downturn and its challenge to our company.”

The company had to decide between more layoffs (more than 2,000 employees were let go in 2008) and more furloughs (every employee was mandated to take a one week unpaid furlough during the first quarter of 2009).

“We chose, for most employees, a furlough program consisting of at least one week of unpaid leave to be taken in April, May or June,” Dubow said.

For Gannett newspapers like The Register, salaried employees must take one full week at one time while hourly employee must take five days over the course of the three-month quarter. Employees who earn over $90,000 will take a second week of unpaid leave.

UPDATE: The Des Moines Register becomes one of the first Gannett papers to report on the latest round of company-wide furloughs and adds one new detail: the 1,000 full- and part-time employees at The Des Moines Register, the Iowa City Press-Citizen and the Register’s weekly papers will have their wages frozen for at least one year.

The forum is scheduled to take place Oct. 10 from 10 to 11:30 a.m. in the station’s studio. KGLO News Director Bob Fisher told the Mason City Globe Gazette that the two candidates have agreed to meet face to face to discuss the issues and answer questions from Fisher and from listeners.

Latham is seeking his eighth term in the U.S. House of Representatives. Greenwald won her party’s nominiation by garnering 50.9 percent of the vote in a four-way primary.

According to David Burke of the Quad City Times, Borchers chose the Quad Cities after receiving a recommendation from Tom Wheeler, manager of the film office in the Iowa Department of Economic Development.

“My needs are quite simple. I need corn,” Borchers said. “And I understand you have that throughout the state.”

The original film, based on a Stephen King novella, was shot in the Sioux City area. Many who have come to view the film as a cult classic will want to know that Borchers plans to have the remake — especially in terms of the previously watered-down ending — remain more true to King’s writings.

The film will be shot in September and is expected to air on the Sci-Fi Channel next year and in European theaters. Since 1938, more than 100 films have been shot in Iowa.

Here’s the legislative scorecard for Tuesday night:
Senate District 16: In a Republican primary, Cascade car dealer Dave McLaughlin is favored over Gary Lee Culver of Wyoming. McLaughlin is running against what he calls the “anti-business and anti-job” agenda in Des Moines, while Culver has been mostly invisible. The winner faces Democratic incumbent Tom Hancock, a narrow winner in 2004.

Senate District 18: Blogger Iowa Defense Alliance calls this a “horse race” because Karla Sibert of Palo is a horse rescue activists whose yard signs literally say WHOA!, with pictures of horses. But if you’re at the two dollar window, banker Joe Childers of Marion is considered a safer bet for the GOP nomination to replace retiring incumbent Mary Lundby. The winner will see Democratic Rep. Swati Dandekar in the fall.

Senate District 20: Keystone farmer Tim Kapucian, as the endorsed choice of retiring GOP Sen. John Putney, is favored. He’s opposed by assistant Tama County attorney Richard Vander Mey, who won only 28% in a 2004 primary challenge to Rep. Lance Horbach. The winner will face Democrat Randy Braden, the Vinton-Shellsburg superintendent.

Senate District 42: Davenport alderman Shawn Hamerlinck is favored for the GOP nomination. Republicans have touted Hamerlinck as one of the strongest challengers. His opponent, Lowe’s manager and autism advocate Thomas Black, is running on an anti-smoking ban platform and refusing campaign donations. The winner will challenge Democratic incumbent Frank Wood in a competitive seat.

Senate District 48: Both parties have primaries for this open seat where Republican Jeff Angelo is stepping down. Clarke County treasurer Kim Reynolds of Osceola looks like the leading Republican but will have a primary with contractor Jim Parker of Villisca. Angelo has not endorsed either candidate.

On the Democratic side, 18 year Adams County supervisor Kevin Wynn will see a primary against Ruth Smith of Lamoni, a physical therapist and part-time teacher with two unsuccessful runs for county supervisor, and Matthew Brown of Thayer.

House District 10: Three Democrats want to challenge first-term Rep. Dave Deyoe of Nevada, who beat Democrat Susan Radke by about 700 votes in 2006. Radke is running again; she’ll see a primary against Josh Eaton, an IBEW member, and 20 year old Roland mayor Sam Juhl, who got national attention when he was elected mayor of Roland at age 18 in 2005.

House District 13: Mason City Republican Bill Schickel is stepping down after three terms. 2002 nominee Lionel Foster, longtime head of Mason City’s human rights commission, is trying again; builder Texas Newman and retired teacher Sharon Steckman are also running. The winner faces Republican Scott Tornquist, a Mason City council member.

House District 16: Republican Chuck Gipp is retiring and four Democrats are seeking the open seat nomination. Three Decorah Democrats see an opportunity here: 2006 candidate (41%) Tom Hansen, 2004 Senate candidate (45%) John Beard, and John Franzen. The fourth Democrat is Allamakee County Supervisor Lennie Burke, of Dorchester. The winner will face Republican Decorah City Council member Randy Schissel.

House District 19: Republicans will choose between Carlin Hageman, a UNI speech/hearing professor, and recent UNI graduate Marshall Shoemaker, a Ron Paul supporter who says he’s been treated as an “unwelcome outsider.” Democratic incumbent Bob Kressig has had two close races in this seat.

House District 22: Incumbent Democrat Deborah Berry faces a challenge from anti-coal plant activist Don Shatzer. The Waterloo Courier reports that most party leaders are sticking with Berry, who is criticizing Shatzer as a single-issue candidate. No Republicans filed.

House District 27: In Democratic stronghold Dubuque, incumbent Rep. Pam Jochum is hoping to move to the Senate. Labor leader Francis Giunta and Charles Isenhart, former executive director of the Dubuque Area Labor-Management Council, will face off in the open seat against Adam Mennig, a recent Clarke College graduate who’s already won a seat on the Dubuque School Board.

The Dubuque Telegraph-Herald reports that residence is an issue in the race. Isenhart and Mennig live blocks outside the district boundaries, while Giunta moved into the district in March. That gives him at least a one-vote advantage over his rivals, who won’t be able to vote for themselves.

Whoever wins has until early September to establish residence in the district, and will be a strong favorite over Republican Lou Oswald.

House District 41: 2006 Republican candidate (37%) Adam Vandall of Newton faces Susan Schmidt of Kellogg in the primary. The winner will challenge Democratic incumbent Paul Bell.

House District 42: Teamsters leader Matt Ballard is challenging incumbent Rep. Geri Huser in the Altoona-based district. In a left-right fight, Ballard is emphasizing health care and labor-backed “fair share” legislation, while Huser is focused on economic delevopment.

House District 55: In Ida County, Republican Clarence Hoffman is retiring. Galva-Holstein School board member Don Friedrichsen says he was recruited by Hoffman. Insurance adjustor Jason Schultz of Schleswig has endorsements from Congressman Steve King, Iowa Right to Life, and Iowans For Tax Relief.

House District 59: With one-term Republican Dan Clute leaving, both parties have contests. Chris Hagenow looks like the main-chance Republican; he ran a credible but failed county recorder race against a divided Polk County Democratic Party in 2006, and has the support of Clute, Iowa Right To Life, and Iowans for Tax Relief. Susan Murphy, a former Clive City Council member and Branstad/Grassley staffer, is emphasizing experience.

On the Democratic side, Windsor Heights mayor Jerry Sullivan is favored to beat ISU computer scientist Mark Matel.

House District 62: Either of the two Republicans — Chris Sanger and Jeremy Walters — would face an uphill battle against Democratic incumbent Bruce Hunter on the south side of Des Moines.

House District 65: Rep. Wayne Ford, of inner city Des Moines, faces primary challengers Charles Hoffman and community organizer Tyler Reedy in a race the Des Moines Register is calling as diverse as the district.

House District 69: Party loyalty is an issue in this big-spending race. Al Lorenzen of Granger, a former Hawkeye hoops player, says he was recruited to both the race and the Republican Party by former Governor Bob Ray. He’s being bashed for his past Democratic affiliation by Erik Helland of Grimes, who has the requisite Iowa Right to Life and Iowans for Tax Relief backing. Unless a Democratic candidate emerges in this district, the winner will take over from retiring GOP incumbent Walt Tomenga.

House District 70: Two Republicans will face off in the open Ankeny-based seat of retiring Republican Carmine Boal. Ankeny Community Education Director Kevin Koester is emphasizing taxes; attorney Jeff Wright is focused on abortion. The winner will oppose Democrat Matt Pfaltzgraf in the fall.

House District 71: The lone Republican incumbent with a primary challenger is Rep. Jim Van Engelenhoeven of Pella. Marc Held, also of Pella, is part of a complicated family custody case and running to draw attention to the issue. “I am running for the position; I’m not running against Jim,” he told the Pella Town Crier. The winner faces Democrat Pat Van Zante.

House District 92: Three Democrats want to replace retiring Keokuk incumbent Phil Wise. Like the Dubuque race, residence is also an issue. Ft. Madison Chamber of Commerce head, former county supervisor, and onetime congressional candidate Tracy Vance lives literally feet outside the district, but says he’s moving in win or lose. The other two candidates are both from Keokuk and both have United Auto Workers roots: Jerry Kearns and Ron Payne.

In Lee County, which has two courthouses in two cities, residence also matters in a different way. The last contested primary in this seat divided sharply and almost evenly on Ft. Madison vs. Keokuk lines. Wise was paired in redistricting with Ft. Madison Rep. Rick Larkin in the only incumbent vs. incumbent primary of the 2002 cycle, which Wise won 51 percent to 49 percent.

The Democratic winner should be a November favorite over Republican Gary Ramaker.

House District 94: In a Davis County based district, Republicans John Bridges of Centerville and Howard Hubbard of Floris face off for the right to run against Bloomfield Democratic incumbent Kurt Swaim. Bridges says he decided to run because of the gay marriage issue.

Many in the ag news biz are now speculating that there is no way that the 2007 Farm Bill can be completed in the Senate before December. Steve Kopperud at Brownfield Network has reported that as many as 75 amendments to the bill have been filed. If even a small portion of those amendments come to the floor, it could take a long, long time to resolve them all. The Des Moines Register's Philip Brasher is wondering if the bill will even be finished by the end of this year.

But Dan Looker of Successful Farming Magazine reported that Harkin has said, "Yes, we'll have a bill before Thanksgiving." Looker's article details the frustration of Democrats regarding the threatened Bush veto.

Chris Clayton over at DTN Ag News is betting that the Farm Bill won't be finished until April 5 of next year.

Dan Owens, over at the Blog For Rural America, has been providing a running commentary all week about the Senate's Farm Bill action…and inaction.

 

In other news the U.S. House Agriculture Committee has been holding hearings on food safety, specifically talking about the recent E.coli problems in the American meat industry.

Iowa Farmer Today has an interesting article about dried distiller's grains (DDGs), a co-product of the process of making ethanol from corn. Apparently, feeding DDGs to hogs reduces the amount of phosphorus in the hog manure. That can change the impact of applying the manure to fields as fertilizer.

The enormous corn crop projections from the USDA are still enormous, but they've been downgraded a bit. Corn production is still expected to be the largest on record. The crop is now expected to yield about 13.2 billion bushels, and Iowa is still expected to remain the top corn-producing state.