Political attacks stiffen opposition to Missouri bill protecting pesticide makers
A direct-mail campaign targeting opponents of a bill intended to shelter Bayer from lawsuits alleging its herbicide Roundup causes cancer appears to be backfiring.
Nine state senators targeted by flyers sent to their constituents held a news conference Tuesday to denounce the effort and say their opposition is growing stronger because of the attacks.
'What is at play right here, right now, is whether or not our farmers should have rights to due process and their Seventh Amendment right to go up against a giant when their health is being compromised without truth in labeling,' said state Sen. Jill Carter, a Republican from Granby.
Missouri House debate shows GOP split over bill to protect pesticide makers
Last week, the Missouri House voted 85-72 to pass a bill filed by state Rep. Dane Diehl, a Republican from Butler, that would make the label required by federal pesticide regulators 'sufficient to satisfy any requirement for a warning label regarding cancer under any other provision of current law.'
The narrow vote — only three more than the minimum needed for passage — and the 24 Republicans who voted against it shows the depth of the split over the legislation within the GOP supermajority.
The direct mail pieces aren't helping heal those divisions, Diehl said in an interview with The Independent.
'The timing of these pieces, or these mailers, have surely made this process even more convoluted,' Diehl said.
The sponsor of identical legislation in the upper chamber, state Sen. Justin Brown, a Republican from Rolla, agreed.
'They're not helping us,' he said. 'They're hurting us. I knew they would, and I'm sure that's why they were sent. I think the motivation behind those flyers was to try to kill this bill.'
The direct mail pieces have been arriving in mailboxes for about a week, senators said at the news conference. The nine participating senators suspect Bayer is paying for the flyers but have no solid evidence.
'We are going to talk to the Missouri Ethics Commission and see what we can do legally right now about this failure to disclose,' said state Sen. Nick Schroer, a Republican from Defiance. 'It's dark money, through and through.'
Along with Schroer and Carter, the members targeted for the direct mail who took part in the news conference are state Sens. Rick Brattin of Harrisonville, Ben Brown of Washington, David Gregory of Chesterfield, Brad Hudson of Cape Fair, Mike Moon of Granby, Joe Nicola of Independence and Adam Schnelting of St. Charles.
The flyers, essentially identical except for substituting each lawmaker's name, office telephone number and photo, declare that 'President Trump is cracking down on China and needs your help.' They accuse the targeted lawmakers of sitting 'on the fence in the fight to protect American agricultural manufacturers and prevent outsourcing of our food supply.'
The back side of the flyer calls for urgent action because 'We need to keep Chinese Communist Party chemicals out of our food supply.'
The mailers state they are paid for by the Protecting America Initiative and give a return address in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The Federal Election Commission lists it as an 'electioneering communication' organization. It does not disclose its donors.
The treasurer listed is the same person who was treasurer of The Stand for US PAC, which last year spent more than $2 million in an unsuccessful effort to boost then-Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft in the Republican primary for governor.
The Protecting America Initiative has also spent about $121,000 on television ads in the central Missouri market since the start of the legislative session, FCC records show.
The legislation filed by Brown and Diehl is intended to protect Bayer from more than 25,000 lawsuits pending in Cole County that allege the manufacturer did not put a label on Roundup warning that it had the potential to cause cancer.
Bayer, a German company, purchased Monsanto, a St. Louis-based company, in 2018. Bayer kept its U.S. headquarters in St. Louis.
The stakes are enormous for Bayer. In 2023 Cole County, three plaintiffs were awarded $1.56 billion, though a judge later reduced that to $622 million.
There are tens of thousands of additional lawsuits pending across the country and Bayer has paid out at least $10 billion for jury awards and settlements.
Bayer did not respond to an email seeking comment on the flyers and whether it helped finance them.
Brown said he doesn't believe Bayer is funding the flyers.
'Members that are quick to want to kill this bill because they're getting attacked should follow that money and see who's actually funding this,' Brown said.
In a news release sent Monday, members of the Missouri Freedom Caucus said they have little doubt that Bayer is behind the messages.
'In a bombastic attempt to silence these principled conservatives, the company has flooded hundreds of thousands of households across their nine Senate districts, with misleading attack mailers, distorting their records and undermining their commitment to protecting Missourians,' the release stated.
In response to the allegation that the nine lawmakers want China to dominate agricultural markets, Hudson filed a bill to ban the sale in Missouri of herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers made in China.
'If we've got a situation where we are depending on products from those who would be our enemies in order to be caretakers of our food supply, we've got a problem that we need to address,' Hudson said.
While the flyers are sparking opposition now, Brown said he's committed to passing the bill. He will give tempers time to cool before bringing it up for Senate debate, he said.
Bayer 'employs 5,000 people just in one town in Missouri,' Brown said, 'and I could see them going somewhere else or just closing that altogether, if we don't try to do something.'
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Chicago Tribune
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- Chicago Tribune
Editorial: Gerrymandering now truly is a dangerous threat to American democracy
'If the United States is to deter a nuclear attack,' then-U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara said in a 1967 speech in San Francisco, 'it must possess an actual and a credible assured-destruction capability.' McNamara was elucidating a long-established defense concept known as 'mutually assured destruction,' meaning that if one side has the ability to destroy its enemy but knows that it cannot do so without being destroyed itself, and that its enemy can and will act to do precisely that, stability is the result. Something like that argument is being applied to gerrymandering, which is applying nuclear-level destruction to American democracy at both state and federal levels. And it is proliferating. California Gov. Gavin Newsom used the phrase 'fight fire with fire' when he said he planned to work with the California legislature and congressional representatives on a plan that would temporarily set aside California's independent redistricting commission. The aim is to draw a map that would offset any gains the GOP makes in Texas, where President Donald Trump and Gov. Greg Abbott are trying to force a gerrymandered, mid-decade congressional map through the Texas legislature with the aim of maintaining Republican control of the U.S. House. That action in Texas, of course, explains why Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker was holding a news conference this week with Texas Democrats who had fled the Lone Star State to try to prevent, well, their own mutually assured destruction. After other Texans in exile made their way to New York City for a separate news conference, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said that 'if Republicans are willing to rewrite these rules to give themselves an advantage, then they're leaving us no choice, we must do the same.' 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But this year serious Republican candidates in districts now held by Democrats are outnumbered not just by cows but maybe even the one made of butter. Party representatives tell us that donors can read maps with impossible odds like anyone else and thus no longer see much point in supporting Republican efforts in Illinois. They feel their money is better spent on races outside the state, the competitiveness of which are now being undermined by Trump and his cronies in Texas and elsewhere. Indiana appears to be next. Vice President JD Vance already has met with the Indiana governor and Republican legislative leaders, reportedly to 'discuss ways to strengthen the GOP's House majority ahead of the 2026 midterms.' The vice president would have been better advised to stand for fair and impartial maps in the Hoosier State and beyond. He should be shouting out for democracy, loud and clear. We've railed against gerrymandering on both state and federal levels before, of course, and not just to lament the cowardice on gerrymandering displayed by the Illinois Supreme Court, as well the U.S. Supreme Court's lamentable 2019 decision in Rucho v. Common Cause that removed federal courts as a crucial check on partisan gerrymandering. At the time, Chief Justice John Roberts clearly recognized the threat gerrymandering posed to democracy, but the 5-4 court majority he led ruled that the only lawful remedies were political, as distinct from federal judicial intervention. Already that decision has not aged well. We're with Justice Elena Kagan, who wrote in her dissent: 'The practices challenged in these cases imperil our system of government. Part of the Court's role in that system is to defend its foundations.' If not that, then what else is the court for? 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Even if that means acting against their own short-term interests. This isn't about one side laying down its arms, or refusing to do so. It's about building a structure with bipartisan buy-in so both are able to do so at once. We like to believe that could still be done in America.
Chicago Tribune
a minute ago
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Clarence Page: Time for Democrats to get serious about their political future
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The Hill
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Nancy Mace's governor bid tees up volatile primary
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A South Carolina Policy Council poll released late last month showed Mace leading the crowded field with 16 percent of voters who said they identified as Republicans while Wilson closely trailed at 15 percent. Evette came in with eight percent support, followed by Norman at six percent. State Sen. Josh Kimbrell (R) received three percent support. The same poll showed 52 percent of voters were undecided, suggesting there is ample opportunity for the candidates to bolster their support. The nature of the crowded primary could make it difficult for any candidate to win a majority of voters outright. If no candidates win a majority, the two candidates with the most votes will proceed to a runoff. Additionally, strategists note that most polling at this point of the cycle is about name ID. Mace, who is a Trump critic-turned-vocal-supporter, arguably has the highest name ID in the race. 'I don't sleep. I went to bed at 1 a.m., and I was up at 4 a.m. OK, I am Trump in high heels. I love what I am doing. I mean, he doesn't sleep,' Mace said at her campaign's first town hall in Myrtle Beach this week. The congresswoman is an outspoken opponent of transgender rights, making headlines late last year for introducing legislation that would ban transgender women from using women's restrooms in the U.S. Capitol following the election of the first openly transgender Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.). Mace also made waves during a contentious interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos when she accused him of shaming her for being a rape victim. Stephanopoulos had asked Mace how she could endorse Trump, who has been found liable for sexual battery in his defamation lawsuit with E. Jean Carroll. One national GOP operative working on South Carolina races noted that Mace's status as an outspoken, firebrand figure will not be enough to ensure a victory. 'Crazy wins the attention in the primary, but that's not going to translate into votes,' the operative noted. Mace and Wilson's feud is likely to be a defining part of the race, with both candidates escalating their attacks on the campaign trail. During an appearance on Fox News' Brian Kilmeade Show, Mace accused Wilson of being too lenient on violent offenders, including child sex abusers. Wilson has defended his record on the issue as attorney general while hitting back at Mace. 'It's obvious to me that Congresswoman Mace thinks a lot more about me than I think about her,' Wilson said in an interview with The Hill on Friday. 'You can always tell how you're doing in a crowded race when one of the candidates only talks about you and spends all of their time obsessing and lying about their record.' 'People do not get attacked when they are irrelevant and apparently I am incredibly relevant to some of my opponents in this race,' he continued. Wilson's father, Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), also has bad blood with Mace. The congressman notably endorsed Mace's previous primary challengers in 2022 and 2024. The elder Wilson issued a scathing statement against Mace earlier this week, calling her 'a party of one' in the Republican Conference. Mace hit back in her own statement, saying 'South Carolina deserves a fighter, not a dynasty.' Some Republicans note that while early polling shows Mace and Wilson as the early frontrunners, their ongoing feud comes with the risk of their campaigns cannibalizing each other. 'They're going to kill each other because they can't help it,' said the national GOP operative working on South Carolina races. 'They're going to create an opening for either Pam or Ralph, or maybe both of them.' Unlike Mace, Norman and Kimbrell, Wilson and Evette can more easily run on South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster's (R) record given their roles in the executive branch. McMaster, who has been governor since 2015, holds a 43 percent approval rating. '[Evette] is the one who run on the McMaster record,' said the national GOP operative working on South Carolina races. 'They're all attacking Columbia and the government and they don't realize how popular McMaster is.' Wilson argued that the attorney's general office, which he has held since 2011, is 'the most consequential elected position in state government.' 'I have gone and been involved in hundreds of legal actions both during the Biden and Obama administrations, so when I say something and I back it up in court, it has a real impact on people's lives,' he said, adding that the office of lieutenant governor is 'a ceremonial position.' 'That is not the fault of the current occupant,' he said, referring to Evette. Additionally, it's been over a decade since there was an open South Carolina governor's primary, meaning the party's candidates find themselves in somewhat unchartered territory. 'We haven't had a true open governor's race in 16 years,' Stroman said. 'I think everyone is trying to figure out what do South Carolina voters actually care about.' One thing that is known is how valuable Trump's endorsement will be in the race. 'He is a consequential voice in South Carolina party politics,' Wilson said. 'Of course everybody running for governor of South Carolina wants the president's endorsement. I'm no different but at the end of the day, I think that people have to earn the president's endorsement.' Many members of Evette's staff are former Trump staffers and have had ties to the president's political operation. 'All of the candidates in the race think they're the Trump candidate,' Stroman said. 'But I think Evette actually lands the endorsement.'
