More on Gil and petitions, this one having to do with pork

Gosh, it's just one problem after another for Gil Gutknecht. After sitting on the following story for a long time, the blog Blanked-Out has finally published info it has uncovered questioning the congressman's support for family pork producers:

Gil Gutknecht's pork policy: working against family farmers

No, I'm not referring to all the legislative pork Gil's been rubber stamping in Congress — I'm referring to the Other White Meat.

All hog producers have to pay a fee (or checkoff) every time they sell a hog — the vast majority of the funds go to the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC). In 2000 family farmers realized that the NPPC had moved away from supporting independent producers and was instead lobbying for the concerns of large factory farms. [Emphasis mine.] They decided to call a referendum to end the checkoff.

According to Blanked-Out, the NPPC tried to stop the referendum, soliciting Congress to question the validity of the petition calling for it. Apparently, "U.S. Representative Gil Gutknecht was the only member of the Minnesota Congressional delegation to sign a letter requesting the investigation" of how petition signatures were collected and whether the Secretary of Agriculture had the authority to grant the referendum, thus siding with the NPPC and the large producers favoring the checkoff over the small producers who wanted to get rid of it.

Blanked-Out explains the issue in greater detail here.

LP