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5/4/2007 8:32:00 AM
Jolley: Five Minutes With Jon Wooster, United States Cattlemen’s Association
Jon Wooster, a San Lucas, California cattleman, heads up the newly-formed U.S. Cattlemen’s Association, a group assembled from the people who bolted from Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund earlier this year over differences in operating “philosophy.”
Those differences split the R-CALF board almost down the middle and resulted in a 5-4 vote to oust president Chuck Kiker of Beaumont, Texas. Kiker, a proponent of a more conciliatory approach to Washington politics, was replaced with Missouri veterinarian Max Thornsberry. R-CALF co-founder Leo McDonnell and directors Dennis McDonald and Jon Wooster decided to exit with Kiker and resigned from the board. Thirteen committee chairmen and co-chairmen cast their lot with the three gentlemen and tendered their own resignations the next day.
In an interview published by the Capital Press in late April, Wooster explained the philosophical split. "In the last year, we made huge gains in D.C., we felt. But it came to the point that R-CALF didn't want to go that way anymore." Some of the more militant members of the R-CALF board wanted to keep the focus on litigation but others were anxious to start working within the system.
"It's pretty hard to throw stones at someone, then expect him to work with you," Wooster said.
The new group will be clearly focused on the same issues that R-CALF has highlighted from its beginnings: the Farm Bill, country-of-origin labeling, NAIS, international trade, private property and market competition. The difference is the more conciliatory approach that USCA is expected to take.
http://www.cattlenetwork.com/content.asp?ContentId=127202
Jolley: Five Minutes With Jon Wooster, United States Cattlemen’s Association
Jon Wooster, a San Lucas, California cattleman, heads up the newly-formed U.S. Cattlemen’s Association, a group assembled from the people who bolted from Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund earlier this year over differences in operating “philosophy.”
Those differences split the R-CALF board almost down the middle and resulted in a 5-4 vote to oust president Chuck Kiker of Beaumont, Texas. Kiker, a proponent of a more conciliatory approach to Washington politics, was replaced with Missouri veterinarian Max Thornsberry. R-CALF co-founder Leo McDonnell and directors Dennis McDonald and Jon Wooster decided to exit with Kiker and resigned from the board. Thirteen committee chairmen and co-chairmen cast their lot with the three gentlemen and tendered their own resignations the next day.
In an interview published by the Capital Press in late April, Wooster explained the philosophical split. "In the last year, we made huge gains in D.C., we felt. But it came to the point that R-CALF didn't want to go that way anymore." Some of the more militant members of the R-CALF board wanted to keep the focus on litigation but others were anxious to start working within the system.
"It's pretty hard to throw stones at someone, then expect him to work with you," Wooster said.
The new group will be clearly focused on the same issues that R-CALF has highlighted from its beginnings: the Farm Bill, country-of-origin labeling, NAIS, international trade, private property and market competition. The difference is the more conciliatory approach that USCA is expected to take.
http://www.cattlenetwork.com/content.asp?ContentId=127202