![]()
Four organic-food industry executives held a fundraiser on Friday for Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow — the Senate’s leading Democrat on agriculture issues — just days before the chamber was set to take up a controversial bill with hundreds of millions of dollars on the line for U.S. food companies.
The event for Stabenow — the top Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee — in Anaheim, California, was co-hosted by Whole Foods co-CEO Walter Robb, Stonyfield Farms Chairman Gary Hirshberg, Organic Valley CEO George Siemon and Laura Batcha, head of the Organic Trade Association. It was held as hundreds of officials from the organic food industry were in Anaheim to attend the Natural Products Expo West, a trade show for food producers and sellers.
Story Continued Below
“Senator Stabenow has been an extraordinary champion for our industry,” Hirshberg, a longtime Democratic donor, wrote in a Jan. 10 invitation to the event. “The 3-term Michigan Senator is the ranking member on the Senate Agriculture Committee where she plays a pivotal role in crafting federal agricultural policy.”
“And with many millions being spent to weaken organic and to block mandatory GMO labeling,” he added, “we need Senator Stabenow now more than ever.”
A Stabenow aide said the fundraiser had been in the works for months and was not timed to coincide with action on the Republican-authored bill. The legislation, however, has been a topic of heated debate in Washington and the agricultural industry for months, and Stabenow played a key role in negotiations on the issue.
On Tuesday, Stabenow sided with organic food companies and came out against the bill, authored by Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts (R-Kan.). Opponents argue the legislation fails consumers by preventing states from requiring labels on food products that contain genetically modified organisms, or GMOs. Stabenow’s opposition is a serious blow to the bill’s chances of clearing a Democratic filibuster.
Stabenow’s office said there was nothing untoward about her participating in the fundraiser even as the Senate was set to begin debate on the GMO bill.
“Sen. Stabenow is honored to have the support from all parts of agriculture and enjoyed meeting and talking with individuals involved in the Expo,” said a Stabenow aide. “As the dateline on the email from Gary Hirshberg indicates, this event has been set up for months and revolved around when Expo was taking place — they did not build that date around her attendance or events happening in the Senate.”
Stabenow’s office would not say how much she raised during Friday’s fundraiser.
Stonyfield and Hirshberg declined to comment. Whole Foods’ Robb, in a statement provided by his office, called Stabenow “a strong partner and advocate for the organic industry as a whole.”
Stabenow had been involved in negotiations with the committee chair over a possible compromise, though those talks now appear to have ceased. Roberts’ bill, which would preempt states from mandating GMO labeling, was backed by several Democrats on the committee, and Republicans had hoped Stabenow would be open to a compromise.
Vermont has a mandatory labeling law set to take effect on July 1. “Big Food” has warned that the Vermont law and others like it under consideration could lead to a hodgepodge of labeling requirements across the country and cost consumers hundreds of dollars annually. The House passed legislation last summer to preempt the states with a federal law.
Some of Roberts’ biggest donors are companies that produce genetically engineered crops, including DuPont and Monsanto.
“Unfortunately, the Roberts proposal is nothing more than the status quo for consumers who want information about the food they are purchasing,” Stabenow said in a statement. “I believe that if the federal government is going to take away states rights, we have the obligation to create a national system of disclosure that provides information to consumers in an easily accessible way.”
Stabenow’s opposition is a significant blow to major food companies and their powerful trade groups, such as the Grocery Manufacturers Association. Republicans will now have to overcome a Democratic filibuster without her support.
The organic food industry has given to Stabenow before. She also has received tens of thousands of dollars from GMO producers.
Federal campaign records show Stonyfield’s Hirshberg donated $2,500 to Stabenow’s reelection committee on July 1. Hirshberg has donated more than $200,000 to Democrats during the past 20 years, including the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
Whole Foods’ Robb gave $5,400 to Stabenow in October. He previously donated $4,800 to the Michigan Democrat. Whole Foods did not respond to requests for comment.
The Organic Trade Association, which represents thousands of companies involved in the $35 billion organic food industry, through its PAC gave $2,500 to Stabenow in May 2012. The trade group did not respond to several requests for comment.
Officials from Dow Chemical, a GMO manufacturer, have given Stabenow more than $12,000 this cycle, while the company’s PAC give $5,000 to Great Lakes PAC, Stabenow’s leadership fund.
And Stabenow has gotten donations from employees of Dupont, Kellogg and Monsanto or their corporate PACs, according to Federal Election Commission records. Biotechnology Industry Organization contributed $2,000 to Stabenow in December.
