R-CALF battle lands in Rapid City
By Dan Daly, Journal staff
RAPID CITY — Leo McDonnell is credited with creating R-CALF USA, the nationwide group that has been lobbying and litigating on behalf of American cattle producers for nearly a decade. He’s also the cattle producer group’s most visible and ardent advocate.
At a meeting Friday in Rapid City, as R-CALF seemed poised to disintegrate into squabbles and infighting, McDonnell took on a new role — peacemaker.
“We hear about the ‘two sides,’ and we’ve been hearing about it since we put this board together last spring,” McDonnell told a roomful of ranchers gathered at the Ramkota Hotel & Conference Center. “We never had two sides in R-CALF (before). We could argue like hell on that board, and it would get nasty, but when we were all done, we went forward united.”
He said R-CALF, or Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, United Stockgrowers of American, created to give U.S. ranchers a voice in Washington, is in a position to make real progress — or lose serious ground — on several political issues.
“Somewhere along the line, you folks have got to put this behind you. You’ve become your worst enemy,” he said. “I’ve seen actions on both sides of the issue … in the last couple of weeks that made me wonder why we ever started
R-CALF.”
R-CALF’s board and members seem united in their goals. Key issues include country-of-origin labeling for beef products, protection of U.S. borders from imported cattle that could be infected with diseases such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, transparent and competitive cattle markets — and no nationwide mandatory electronic identification tags for U.S. livestock.
But disputes over tactics and strategies — whether to litigate, lobby or some combination of both — have torn the board apart in the past year.
The dispute came to a head at the Feb. 8 meeting of the
R-CALF board of directors, according to the meeting’s minutes.
During discussion of letters sent to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, board president Chuck Kiker called Bill Bullard, chief executive, a liar. Bullard threatened to quit.
The board voted 5-4 to
remove Kiker as R-CALF president. The same five members then voted Max Thornsberry in as president.
Several R-CALF officials resigned their positions after the boardroom standoff. McDonnell left his board post but said he remains a member of R-CALF.
In his plea for unity, McDonnell was by no means endorsing the current board. He outlined a series of complaints he has with R-CALF’s new direction.
He said board members should be more active. They should step up, not back off, their Washington lobbying, he said, adding that they must stop complaining about
R-CALF’s lawyers and lobbyists.
Last week, Thornsberry and other R-CALF officials decided to hold a series of regional meetings with members and affiliates to discuss the board changes and set the policy direction for coming months.
Friday’s Rapid City meeting was the first in the series. Others will be in Reno, Nev., Kansas City, Mo., and Nashville, Tenn.
During the question-and-answer session, some members spoke in favor of the board and its recent actions. Others, however, were sharply critical.
Shana Baisch, R-CALF USA Montana membership co-chairwoman, pointedly questioned the motives and abilities of Thornsberry, Bullard and other R-CALF officials.
Baisch said the board violated its own bylaws when it removed Kiker as president. “If you don’t follow the bylaws, then R-CALF becomes just another good-old-boy club,” she said.
Baisch said the fallout from the board action will likely harm the entire group as ranchers and affiliate groups drop their membership.
To resolve the dispute, she asked the remaining board members to resign their positions. That would allow new elections and a new board that will effectively represent the majority of its membership.
“The future and the hopes of thousands of American cattle producers are resting on this board. Please, do the right thing,” she said.
Thornsberry countered that board members were elected by ranchers from their districts and that they have a responsibility to stay on the job. He also insisted that the board acted within its bylaws when it voted to remove Kiker. “The officers of R-CALF serve at the pleasure of the board. It’s as simple as that. You do not elect officers, … you elect the board,” he said.
Montana rancher Matt Lane got into a heated exchange Friday with Thornsberry. He charged that affiliates are extremely disappointed with the R-CALF board and are not comfortable with the current leadership.
He also questioned whether R-CALF has put too much focus on litigation to keep U.S. borders closed to Canadian cattle when issues such as country-of-origin labeling and mandatory livestock IDs are looming.
He also questioned the way the meeting was handled, the way the minutes were recorded and whether the dismissal was justified.
Other people at the meeting echoed McDonnell’s comments and pleaded with the board and the other members to put their differences behind them.
With meetings in Reno, Kansas City and Nashville still ahead, only time will tell whether they can do that.
Contact Dan Daly at 394-8421 or [email protected]
By Dan Daly, Journal staff
RAPID CITY — Leo McDonnell is credited with creating R-CALF USA, the nationwide group that has been lobbying and litigating on behalf of American cattle producers for nearly a decade. He’s also the cattle producer group’s most visible and ardent advocate.
At a meeting Friday in Rapid City, as R-CALF seemed poised to disintegrate into squabbles and infighting, McDonnell took on a new role — peacemaker.
“We hear about the ‘two sides,’ and we’ve been hearing about it since we put this board together last spring,” McDonnell told a roomful of ranchers gathered at the Ramkota Hotel & Conference Center. “We never had two sides in R-CALF (before). We could argue like hell on that board, and it would get nasty, but when we were all done, we went forward united.”
He said R-CALF, or Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, United Stockgrowers of American, created to give U.S. ranchers a voice in Washington, is in a position to make real progress — or lose serious ground — on several political issues.
“Somewhere along the line, you folks have got to put this behind you. You’ve become your worst enemy,” he said. “I’ve seen actions on both sides of the issue … in the last couple of weeks that made me wonder why we ever started
R-CALF.”
R-CALF’s board and members seem united in their goals. Key issues include country-of-origin labeling for beef products, protection of U.S. borders from imported cattle that could be infected with diseases such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, transparent and competitive cattle markets — and no nationwide mandatory electronic identification tags for U.S. livestock.
But disputes over tactics and strategies — whether to litigate, lobby or some combination of both — have torn the board apart in the past year.
The dispute came to a head at the Feb. 8 meeting of the
R-CALF board of directors, according to the meeting’s minutes.
During discussion of letters sent to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, board president Chuck Kiker called Bill Bullard, chief executive, a liar. Bullard threatened to quit.
The board voted 5-4 to
remove Kiker as R-CALF president. The same five members then voted Max Thornsberry in as president.
Several R-CALF officials resigned their positions after the boardroom standoff. McDonnell left his board post but said he remains a member of R-CALF.
In his plea for unity, McDonnell was by no means endorsing the current board. He outlined a series of complaints he has with R-CALF’s new direction.
He said board members should be more active. They should step up, not back off, their Washington lobbying, he said, adding that they must stop complaining about
R-CALF’s lawyers and lobbyists.
Last week, Thornsberry and other R-CALF officials decided to hold a series of regional meetings with members and affiliates to discuss the board changes and set the policy direction for coming months.
Friday’s Rapid City meeting was the first in the series. Others will be in Reno, Nev., Kansas City, Mo., and Nashville, Tenn.
During the question-and-answer session, some members spoke in favor of the board and its recent actions. Others, however, were sharply critical.
Shana Baisch, R-CALF USA Montana membership co-chairwoman, pointedly questioned the motives and abilities of Thornsberry, Bullard and other R-CALF officials.
Baisch said the board violated its own bylaws when it removed Kiker as president. “If you don’t follow the bylaws, then R-CALF becomes just another good-old-boy club,” she said.
Baisch said the fallout from the board action will likely harm the entire group as ranchers and affiliate groups drop their membership.
To resolve the dispute, she asked the remaining board members to resign their positions. That would allow new elections and a new board that will effectively represent the majority of its membership.
“The future and the hopes of thousands of American cattle producers are resting on this board. Please, do the right thing,” she said.
Thornsberry countered that board members were elected by ranchers from their districts and that they have a responsibility to stay on the job. He also insisted that the board acted within its bylaws when it voted to remove Kiker. “The officers of R-CALF serve at the pleasure of the board. It’s as simple as that. You do not elect officers, … you elect the board,” he said.
Montana rancher Matt Lane got into a heated exchange Friday with Thornsberry. He charged that affiliates are extremely disappointed with the R-CALF board and are not comfortable with the current leadership.
He also questioned whether R-CALF has put too much focus on litigation to keep U.S. borders closed to Canadian cattle when issues such as country-of-origin labeling and mandatory livestock IDs are looming.
He also questioned the way the meeting was handled, the way the minutes were recorded and whether the dismissal was justified.
Other people at the meeting echoed McDonnell’s comments and pleaded with the board and the other members to put their differences behind them.
With meetings in Reno, Kansas City and Nashville still ahead, only time will tell whether they can do that.
Contact Dan Daly at 394-8421 or [email protected]