What's Upstream Update
I'm Bob Larson. While the wait continues for answers from the Public Disclosure Commission and the EPA on the anti-farming What's Upstream campaign, there's a new twist to the story.Save Family Farming's Gerald Baron says after state Attorney General Bob Ferguson learned his $18 million dollar fine was approved against the Grocery Manufacturers Association, he's hopeful the same may be coming for What's Upstream organizers ...
GERALD BARON ... "Our state law says that anyone or any group is raising money specifically for a political campaign, they have to register as a political committee and disclose their donors. Well, What's Upstream did not register as a political committee, they were raising money specifically to pass a citizen's initiative. They did not disclose their donors and, of course if they had, there would have been a real problem because their donors were the tax payers of the United States. So, we see this as a more serious violation and if Attorney General Ferguson is going to enforce the laws as he has against the Grocery Manufacturers Association, we see a pretty significant fine coming out of this enforcement action."
Baron says the reason What's Upstream case is worse, is that while the grocery companies were found to have not properly disclosed the individual companies involved in the political campaign related to an initiative, at least that campaign was properly registered.
Listen tomorrow when we get an update on where things stand with the long-awaited responses from the PDC and EPA.