Big Tobacco Shills Trying to Stop GMO Labeling in California

The food industry really hates it when you compare them to Big Tobacco. They try to deny the negative association by claiming that food is different from tobacco. Of course that's true, but why are the same consultants who have worked for the tobacco industry now shilling for Big Food, opposing the ballot initiative that would require labeling of all foods containing GMO ingredients?

Hiring Secret Consultants for the Dirty Work

The latest financial filings in California for the "No on 37: Coalition Against the Deceptive Food Labeling Scheme" reveal a $7,500 payment to the Sacramento-based political consulting firm MB Public Affairs. Here is how The Los Angeles Times described the firm last year: "MB Public Affairs is headed by Mark Bogetich, a garrulous operative known to his friends as 'Bogey,' who has helped a number of Republican candidates neutralize their opponents. In recent years, MB Public Affairs has worked for Altria, once known as the Phillip Morris Cos."

Bogetich has also been called "the go-to guy for [the Republican Party]" and "the only game in town." The Los Angeles Times article explains how last year MB Public Affairs filed more than 50 Public Records Act requests to dig up dirt on a small but effective group called the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy. No wonder, given that the organization has scored such important victories as a living wage for workers, which would threaten plenty of businesses.

But which ones? Who knows, because by hiring MB Public Affairs to do its dirty work, the food industry gets to keep its nose clean -- a classic Big Tobacco tactic. Well-known brands such as PepsiCo (which I wrote about last week) and Kraft don't want to be associated with negative campaigning, so they farm out the job to consulting firms. In this case, they went right to the top (or the bottom). Things are likely to get ugly.