A Peek Inside Wayne Pacelle's Brain
Brace yourselves. It’s a little odd in there.
Today Brownfield Ag News published an opinion piece from a Washington, DC lobbyist named Steve Kopperud. Now, before you sound the “LOBBYIST!” alarm, bear with us. This particular guy knows whereof he speaks.
Long before Kopperud went into private practice, he was a reporter with the Minneapolis Star-Tribune and the San Diego Union-Tribune. He also ran the Washington bureau of ABC’s magazine & newspaper publishing division. Later on, Kopperud ran the American Feed Industry Association and founded the Animal Agriculture Alliance.
Suffice it to say the Humane Society of the United States has been on his radar screen for many, many years.
The greatest sin of HSUS is its arrogance. The organization and its leaders honestly believe because they deem a practice to be “wrong” or “unacceptable,” the world must stop and embrace that definition.
Inherent in that arrogance is blindness. I’ve never heard HSUS or any of leaders acknowledge the consequences – intended or unintended – of the group’s actions. While Pacelle proudly points to his victories in Florida, Arizona and California, he does not acknowledge the two producers in Florida who no longer operate, or the single producer in Arizona who spent I-don’t-know-how-much to stay in business. The vagueness of Prop 2 in California has led to even greater spending and uncertainty as the state government and industry struggle with how to comply with a program no one seems to be able to define …
HSUS chooses not to talk about the consequences – intended or unintended – of its actions. To force the changes [Pacelle] champions works against not only the best interests of animal agriculture, but against the best interests of consumers. That’s anti-animal agriculture.
Read the whole piece here.
