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O'Malley Background Article
thanks to DUer Riversedge, who posted it in one of the "small" forums:
http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/maryland/about-big-chicken-omalley/
Big Chicken O’Malley
For years, Food & Water Watch has been working to unravel the close ties between the chicken industry — chief among them, the corporate giant Perdue, Inc. — and Democratic Governor Martin O’Malley. In 2012, we released emails obtained from a Public Information Act request showing an ultra-cozy relationship between Gov. O’Malley and Perdue lobbyist (and old O’Malley law school buddy) Herb Frerichs.
Back in November 2011, the Governor released a letter he wrote to the University of Maryland environmental law clinic, denouncing the merits of the ongoing litigation by local environmentalists against Perdue and essentially calling on students to represent polluters instead of nonprofits trying to protect the Bay. On the day that letter went public, the governor received a pat on the back from Frerichs in a stand-alone email that simply said, “Very nice.” Earlier that month, when Frerichs complained about O’Malley’s secretary of agriculture, Buddy Hance, compared to the agency’s counterparts in Delaware and Virginia, O’Malley responded: “I’m guessing you don’t have the personal email of governors of DE or VA, so let me know when Buddy can/should be doing more to help you push stuff. I’m serious. I’ll have him call you monday [sic].”
It was no surprise, then, that as soon as the Poultry Fair Share Act — a bill that would require the poultry industry to pay into a fund for Chesapeake Bay cleanup, just like Maryland citizens do — was introduced into the Maryland legislature earlier this year, O’Malley promptly came out and said he’d veto it. Nor was it surprising to see that around the time Governor O’Malley became head of the Democratic Governor’s Association (DGA), Perdue began shifting its political giving from the Republican Governor’s Association to the DGA, according to the Baltimore Sun.
The Eastern Shore of Maryland produces over a billion pounds of chicken manure a year. This excess manure, and the massive amounts of pollution that pour off of it, is one of the primary reasons why the Chesapeake Bay has been on a downward spiral for the past three decades. The influence that Perdue has over Governor O’Malley is helping to ensure that the company will continue to operate business as usual — and that the Bay will continue to deteriorate, thanks to factory farms.
For years, Food & Water Watch has been working to unravel the close ties between the chicken industry — chief among them, the corporate giant Perdue, Inc. — and Democratic Governor Martin O’Malley. In 2012, we released emails obtained from a Public Information Act request showing an ultra-cozy relationship between Gov. O’Malley and Perdue lobbyist (and old O’Malley law school buddy) Herb Frerichs.
Back in November 2011, the Governor released a letter he wrote to the University of Maryland environmental law clinic, denouncing the merits of the ongoing litigation by local environmentalists against Perdue and essentially calling on students to represent polluters instead of nonprofits trying to protect the Bay. On the day that letter went public, the governor received a pat on the back from Frerichs in a stand-alone email that simply said, “Very nice.” Earlier that month, when Frerichs complained about O’Malley’s secretary of agriculture, Buddy Hance, compared to the agency’s counterparts in Delaware and Virginia, O’Malley responded: “I’m guessing you don’t have the personal email of governors of DE or VA, so let me know when Buddy can/should be doing more to help you push stuff. I’m serious. I’ll have him call you monday [sic].”
It was no surprise, then, that as soon as the Poultry Fair Share Act — a bill that would require the poultry industry to pay into a fund for Chesapeake Bay cleanup, just like Maryland citizens do — was introduced into the Maryland legislature earlier this year, O’Malley promptly came out and said he’d veto it. Nor was it surprising to see that around the time Governor O’Malley became head of the Democratic Governor’s Association (DGA), Perdue began shifting its political giving from the Republican Governor’s Association to the DGA, according to the Baltimore Sun.
The Eastern Shore of Maryland produces over a billion pounds of chicken manure a year. This excess manure, and the massive amounts of pollution that pour off of it, is one of the primary reasons why the Chesapeake Bay has been on a downward spiral for the past three decades. The influence that Perdue has over Governor O’Malley is helping to ensure that the company will continue to operate business as usual — and that the Bay will continue to deteriorate, thanks to factory farms.
Much more about fracking, corporate ties, etc. at the link above.
17 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
can run for President, now. It seems not. Each potential candidate will be found to be unworthy on some grounds or other, it seems.
Maybe we should just call the whole thing off and not field a Democratic candidate in 2016. That'll show the Republicans! 
