With Recent Vote, Gifts of Christmas Hams Explained

For years, all of West County—especially Chesterfield—was a patchwork of small family farms. In fact, some of them still exist in Chesterfield.

So when West County state legislators voted for a bill that restricted the ability of small farmers to sue enormous hog farm operations, I thought something was amiss.

The law limits how much people can win in nuisance lawsuits against livestock and crop producers, which often produce noxious odors and waste run off. The law also stops neighbors from filing claims against a farm for the same conditions over and over.

Governor Nixon vetoed the original bill, which passed in April. A compromise bill, which still takes away the rights of small farmers, was signed into law on May 11.

The compromise bill, HCS SB 187, passed the House by a 100-42 vote. The Senate passed it by a similar wide margin of 24-8. Most of the voting was along party lines.

It strikes me as odd that people elected to look after all the citizens of Missouri were voting against the little guys in favor of a factory farms owned by out-of-state corporations. I always hoped local Republicans would stick up for the little guy and not be part of the “Republicans are controlled by big business” stereotype.

The $25 Christmas ham Republican State Sen. Jane Cunningham received from a lobbyist back in December finally makes a bit of sense.

I first learned about the Christmas ham, which lobbyist Jewell Patek gave to Cunningham, when I pored through lobbying records trying to discover why . That bill was dropped, but the gift of ham stuck with me. My curiosity piqued, I researched Patek a little more.

Patek is the registered lobbyist for Smithfield Foods, a company that operates a huge hog operation in northwest Missouri and another in central Missouri under the name of Premium Standard.

Apparently, Smithfield doesn’t want its neighbors to keep suing over hog waste run off and odors. Just last year, 15 neighbors of a Premium Standard farm won an $11 million judgment from a jury trial. I have to believe that the neighbors don’t want to sue either and would simply like to stop the devaluing of their land and the decline of their quality of life.

According to Missouri Ethics Commission filings, Patek gave 41 hams to state representatives at Christmas time on behalf of Smithfield: 37 to Republicans and four to Democrats. All but one of the Republicans who received a ham voted for the bill or were absent. None of the Democrats voted for the bill.

Senators were given 32 Christmas hams: 25 to Republicans and seven to Democrats. All but three of the 25 Republicans voted for the bill; two were absent. Only one of the Democrats supported the bill.

How many of Chesterfield’s state legislators received Christmas hams from Smithfield? And how many of those voted against the small farmers and for the Smithfield hog operation?

Cunningham got a ham and voted for the bill. In fact, all the Republican senators from the St. Louis area voted for the bill.

Chesterfield Republican Cole McNary also got a ham; he was absent for the vote on the compromise bill, though. Rep. Don Gosen, R-Chesterfield, didn’t get a ham, but he voted for the bill.

I think it’s wrong for elected officials to enjoy a Christmas dinner on a company that needs their votes. I imagine the farmers of family-owned Missouri farms agree with me.