March 18, 2016
CapitalPress.com
7
Judge: Food industry broke campaign disclosure law
No decision yet on penalty
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
OLYMPIA — The Gro-
cery Manufacturers Associa-
tion broke Washington law by
failing to register as a political
action committee and to identi-
fy the food and beverage com-
panies that contributed $11
million to defeat a Washington
state GMO-labeling initiative
in 2013, a Thurston County
judge ruled March 11.
Judge Anne Hirsch, in a
written opinion, stated the as-
sociation, which has more than
300 members, withheld donor
identities to shield companies
from adverse public reaction.
“The undisputed evidence
… shows that the GMA’s in-
tent was to create a plan to
provide anonymity and elim-
inate state iling requirements
for contributing members,”
Hirsch wrote in granting a
motion by the Washington At-
torney General’s Ofice to ind
GMA guilty based on facts
presented in court records.
Hirsch withheld judgment
on penalties against GMA.
The attorney general has asked
for up to $42 million, alleging
the violations were intentional.
Hirsch cited evidence that
GMA consulted with lawyers
before contributing to the No
on Initiative 522 campaign.
She ruled penalties would
have to be further litigated.
I-522 would have required
food makers to label products
with genetically engineered
ingredients. The measure was
narrowly defeated after the
Capital Press ile
The Washington state voter
guide spells out the 2013 initia-
tive that would have required
labels on most foods with ge-
netically modiied ingredients.
A Thurston County judge on
March 11 ruled that the Grocery
Manufacturers Association
had violated state campaign
disclosure laws by not listing
members’ donations.
most-expensive initiative cam-
paign in state history.
The Attorney General’s
Ofice iled the lawsuit shortly
after the election.
“This landmark case has
been a long ight for account-
ability,” Attorney General Bob
Ferguson said in a written
statement. “This ruling sends
an unequivocal message: Big
money donors cannot evade
Washington law and hide from
public scrutiny.”
GMA has argued that it was
acting within its constitutional
rights to represent the political
interests of its members.
“We believe the ruling to-
day to dismiss GMA’s First
Amendment claim will hurt
the constitutionally protected
right of trade associations to
engage in political debate in
the state,” GMA said in a writ-
ten statement.
GMA set up a Defense of
Brands account in February
2013 and collected $14 million
from its members, spending
$11 million on the Washington
initiative.
The attorney general’s ofice
suggested that the court base its
penalty on tripling the entire
$14 million, a penalty that will
require a court to rule GMA’s
violations were intentional.
“The ruling today not-
ed that there is evidence that
GMA believed its conduct was
appropriate under state law,
which is an important point
in determining any penalty. In
the upcoming trial, we believe
the facts will show that GMA
always intended to comply
with the law,” the association
stated.
At a hearing earlier this
month, GMA argued that the
campaign against the Wash-
ington initiative was just one
of the activities funded by De-
fense of Brands.
Hirsch stated GMA’s com-
mingling of funds “does not
make the law unclear.”
“If there is any confusion,
it results from GMA’s actions
in creating the DOB account,”
she wrote. “The court will not
permit intentional acts of the
GMA to create a situation in
which an otherwise clear law
is unconstitutional ...”
GMA formed the Defense
of Brands account after a
bruising campaign in Califor-
nia to defeat a GMO-labeling
initiative. Hirsch noted that
individual food and beverage
companies and oficials had
suffered a backlash, and even
death threats.
In another case pending in
Thurston County court, the at-
torney general’s ofice alleges
a pro-labeling group, Food De-
mocracy Action, also violated
public disclosure laws by not
reporting contributions and
expenditures. The Attorney
General’s Ofice has moved
for summary judgment in that
case, too.
Rancher awarded $246,500 in shooting of guard dogs Bill to codify stock watering
Hunters, one
a former state
trooper, shot
protection animals
By JAN JACKSON
For the Capital Press
A jury has awarded a Cen-
tral Oregon rancher $246,500
from two hunters who shot
and killed three Great Pyre-
nees livestock protection dogs.
Brothers Paul Johnson of
Roseburg and Craig Johnson
of Bend were previously con-
victed of killing three Great
Pyrenees livestock protection
dogs owned by rancher Gor-
don Clark.
Craig Johnson is a retired
Oregon State Police oficer.
The jury awarded Clark
$7,500 for the replacement
value of the dogs, $100,000 for
emotional harm and $139,500
in punitive damages. Attor-
neys for the Johnsons could
not be reached.
Clark, who owns and op-
erates the historic Hay Creek
Ranch 11 miles east of Ma-
dras, Ore., said he was relieved
that the 3 1/2-year ordeal was
over.
The shootings, which took
place Aug. 27, 2012, happened
on a grazing allotment in the
Ochoco National Forest that
Clark has used for the past 20
years.
“It was about 9:30 in the
morning and my herder was
routinely moving about 1,060
ewes from one camp to an-
other,” Clark said. “Suddenly
someone opened ire and start-
Courtesy of Gordon Clark
Gordon Clark is seen standing with one of his guard dogs in this
undated photograph. Brothers Paul and Craig Johnson shot and
killed three of his Great Pyrenees livestock protection dogs Aug.27,
2012. A Crook County jury recently awarded him more than
$246,000 in damages to Clark as a result of the shootings.
ed killing the dogs.”
He said the area was post-
ed and the dogs all had collars
that gave his contact informa-
tion and an explanation of the
work they were doing.
“My herder had no idea
what was happening, except
that someone was shooting at
them. He was scared because
bullets were ricocheting all
around him,” Clark said. “The
sheep were leeing away from
the shooters. He called my
camp tender about 3 o’clock
and said someone is shooting
our dogs.”
The camp tender went to
the scene and called Clark,
who then called the Crook
County Sheriff’s Ofice.
Not to be confused with
herding dogs that are trained to
follow the commands of their
master, Great Pyrenees work
independently. At about seven
to eight weeks the pups are
put in a sheep pen, where they
stay without any other dogs for
two to three months. From the
sheep pen, they go out with
the herder and begin a work-
ing life. The value of a trained
guard dog is about $2,500.
The Johnson brothers,
who deputies identiied as the
shooters, were bow hunting in
an area where grazing sheep,
guard dogs and campers have
co-existed for decades, Clark
said. In addition to their bow
hunting equipment they car-
ried a .223-caliber rile and a
Glock pistol.
They irst denied they knew
anything about seeing sheep,
then said they thought the dogs
were chasing elk and inal-
ly claimed they thought their
lives were in danger, according
to Clark.
Clark had nothing but
praise for the Crook County
Sheriff’s Ofice and his attor-
ney.
“Deputy David Bottoms
and attorney Greg Lynch were
unstoppable,” Clark said. “In
the beginning, the Johnson
brothers were only given pro-
bation, a yearlong ban from
hunting, $500 ine, 80 hours
community service and a for-
feit of irearms,” Clark said.
“Had Deputy Bottoms not con-
tinued to gather hard evidence
in the face of all the false tes-
timony, we wouldn’t have the
brothers’ footprints that were
mingled with the sheep prints
and the bullets that matched
their rile.”
rights ruling on agenda
By SEAN ELLIS
side because the BLM
doesn’t own livestock and
therefore can’t put the wa-
ter to beneicial use, Justice
Dan Eismann, who wrote the
court’s decision, told ranch-
ers during an Idaho Farm Bu-
reau Federation water rights
conference in January.
Eismann said “water
rights on federal land are ap-
purtenant to the person who
is watering the stock.”
If Boyle’s bill passes,
“From this point forward, you
cannot apply for stock water-
ing rights unless you put it
to beneicial use,” said IFBF
Director of Governmental
Affairs Russ Hendricks.
Boyle’s bill would not
only prevent the federal gov-
ernment from iling for in-
stream stock watering rights
in Idaho, it would also seek
to take back the thousands of
stock watering rights decreed
to the BLM during the SRBA
and give them to the ranchers
who initially iled overlap-
ping claims.
“Under (the court) opin-
ion, they can’t put it to bene-
icial use so they can’t legiti-
mately have the water right,”
Boyle said. “And the ones
who are putting it to benei-
cial use are the ranchers with
the leases.”
Lowry applauded the ef-
fort to transfer those rights
to the ranchers “because
the BLM wound up with all
those rights essentially by
default because those ranch-
ers couldn’t afford to defend
their rights.”
Capital Press
BOISE — An effort to
codify in state statute an Ida-
ho Supreme Court ruling on
who owns in-stream stock
watering rights on federally
administered land is still on
the legislative docket for this
year.
The 2016 Idaho legislative
session is winding down —
lawmakers hope to adjourn by
the end of March — but a bill
that would codify that land-
mark ruling into Idaho law
will be introduced this year,
said Rep. Judy Boyle, a Re-
publican rancher from Mid-
vale who is leading the effort.
“We’re going to do it this
year,” she said.
The U.S. Bureau of Land
Management and thousands
of ranchers in Southern Ida-
ho iled overlapping claims
to in-stream stock watering
rights on federal land during
the state’s Snake River Basin
Adjudication.
All but two of the ranch-
ers capitulated when they
realized ighting the BLM
in court would cost a lot of
money.
But Owyhee County
ranchers Tim Lowry and Paul
Nettleton refused to back
down, and in 2007 the Idaho
Supreme Court ruled in their
favor.
But they were left with
$1.5 million in legal bills be-
cause the court didn’t allow
them to recover attorney fees.
The court ruled on their
Post Falls farmer to
sell automated tractors
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Capital Press
POCATELLO, Idaho — A
Post Falls, Idaho, seed pota-
to farmer has announced he’s
building driverless tractors and
will deliver the irst machine to
a Southern Idaho farmer with-
in 60 days.
With no cab, steering
wheel, seat or gauges, David
Farb, founder of Farb Guid-
ance Systems, said his innova-
tion will require just 75 horse-
power and will be roughly half
the size of a modern, conven-
tional tractor.
Farb expects to build about
60 units in 2016 and has al-
ready received commitments
for 100 units. He plans to step
up production in 2017. The
purchase price for one of his
tractors will be from $160,000
to $170,000. He’s working
with equipment dealers around
the state, including a large
dealership in Southern Idaho,
to provide a network to main-
tain the machines.
A second machine will be
delivered to the Southern Ida-
ho farm shortly thereafter, with
tweaks made based on perfor-
mance observations.
“We think that once these
get in the dirt that it will be an
explosive type market,” Farb
said. “It’s pretty hard to say no
to it at the cost and what it does
for you.”
The tractors will have sev-
eral sensors to alert farmers in
the event of an equipment prob-
lem. They’ll be guided by GPS
maps, and Farb said they’ll be
capable of pulling “the smaller
end” of existing implements.
Farb also has driverless equip-
ment in development, believ-
ing automated technology will
soon render tractors — even
those with no cabs — obsolete.
Farb also expects automated
planters, harvesters and other
equipment will be much small-
er than current equipment —
and far cheaper.
Farb explained machines
have evolved to be bigger,
more powerful and more ex-
pensive to enable a single op-
erator to cover more ground.
With driverless equipment, his
company calculates growers
will achieve the greatest re-
turn on investment with multi-
ple, smaller machines. Smaller
equipment will have added
beneits for precision agricul-
ture.
With big equipment, grow-
ers must utilize large zones for
their variable-rate applications.
Farb anticipates automated
sprayers of the future will use
single nozzles to treat individ-
ual plants.
“We believe we can get it
down to the plant scale,” Farb
said. “That’s not precision agri-
culture. That’s surgical agricul-
ture.”
Farb’s company is initially
ordering components and as-
sembling tractors in-house, but
eventually hopes to work with
another company on manufac-
turing.
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