August 2008: NCBA attends Livestock Industry Country-of-Origin Labeling Implementation Meeting in Kansas City, Mo.
November 2009: NCBA participates in the Cattle Industry Animal Identification Roundtable Discussion in Kansas City, Mo.
March 2010: NCBA participates in the first competition workshop jointly sponsored by Justice and USDA.
July 2010: In Washington, D.C., NCBA participates in a congressional staff briefing session to oppose proposed livestock competition reforms.
August 2010: In Fort Collins, Colo., NCBA participates in rally to generate opposition to proposed livestock competition reforms and then participates in the competition workshop hosted by USDA and Justice.
November 2010: NCBA participates in a forum wherein NCBA provided a presentation in opposition to proposed livestock competition reforms.
December 2010: NCBA participates in the final competition workshop sponsored by USDA and Justice.
In
addition to the CBB's finding that NCBA misappropriated nearly $217,000 in producer
Checkoff dollars, R-CALF USA states that evidence abounds regarding NCBA's and
its affiliated state organizations' strategic and unlawful use of their control
over the Checkoff to exclusively influence governmental action to
advance their policy positions. For example: in the July 2, 2010, issue
of the Ag Journal*, the Colorado
Cattlemen's Association (a state affiliate of NCBA) uses the Checkoff logo to
legitimize the organization's fierce opposition to the GIPSA rule.
And,
another example of flagrant disregard for the law and the incestuous conflicts
of interest within the Checkoff can be found on the CBB Web site, at http://www.beefboard.org/library/cbb-publications.asp,
which contains a
document titled "Beef Industry Long Range Plan" and is touted by the CBB as the
document that "guides program spending decisions."
"Yet, contrary to the Checkoff's clear and unambiguous prohibition
against using any Checkoff funds in any manner for the purpose of
influencing governmental action or policy, with the single exception of
recommending amendments to the Order, this "Long Range Plan' is replete with
policy initiatives," said Bullard. "The conflicts of interest and other
unlawful practices are so pervasive as to render the Checkoff as little more
than a government-funded means of advancing NCBA's policy positions, helping to
sustain NCBA and its affiliate organizations."
"Regardless
of the positions of cattle producers on eliminating estate taxes, supporting a
national animal identification system, or engaging in critical policy areas
such as trade and cattle marketing, these initiatives developed by and
distributed by the CBB are prohibited under the Checkoff," he pointed out. "It
is no comfort to Checkoff-paying cattle producers that these initiatives were
developed by representatives from McDonalds, Cargill Meat Solutions, Outback
Steakhouse and Five Rivers Ranch Cattle Feeding.
"Indeed,
these initiatives have provided NCBA the foundational arguments to aggressively
oppose the GIPSA rule (e.g., by calling for limiting government involvement in
business decisions), and the CBB is directly and inexplicably supporting this
unlawful activity," Bullard concluded. "We, again, implore USDA and its OIG, as
well as the Justice Department to take decisive action to stop the ongoing Beef
Checkoff charade by immediately suspending the NCBA's contract with the CBB
pending the completion of a thorough and probing investigation into all aspects
of the Beef Checkoff."
* NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, any copyrighted material herein is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information, go to http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml.
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