During the 2012 Maryland legislative session, the burning of pollutant-laden chicken poop was embraced as a Tier I renewable energy resource, while readily available, clean wind power was dead. In Maryland, chicken is truly king. Or, as a series of emails obtained from Martin O’Malley’s office to a Perdue official indicate, it’s at least Governor.
Food & Water Watch obtained the emails through a Public Information Act request for all correspondence between the Governor’s office and the giant Eastern Shore poultry company.
In one back-and-forth between O’Malley and the Perdue representative from March 2011, the Governor acknowledges that wind energy may cost the poultry industry “18 cents to $2 additional per month at the outset,” but suggests that the cost is well worth it because “kids keep dying in the middle east.”
Eighteen cents a month to keep kids from dying in the Middle East was, apparently, a price too high to pay for the industry; Perdue responded by complaining of the additional costs to the integrators and stating that wind “is not high on [its] list of concerns.” Perdue, however, did buy into the chicken manure-to-energy scheme as a way to offload some of its mountains of waste in the state. And thanks to companies like Perdue, today in Maryland chicken crap is renewable, and wind is not.
The 70 pages of emails we obtained were almost exclusively between O’Malley and Perdue’s General Counsel, Herb Frerichs. Mr. Frerichs is also a partner at the law firm that represents Perdue in the Clean Water Act suit bought by environmentalists for pollution coming from one of the company’s contract growers’ facilities. The emails depict a very close and personal relationship between the Governor and Frerichs, who were classmates at the Maryland School of Law in the mid-to-late 1980s.
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To see those e-mails: http://documents.foodandwaterwatch.org/doc/OMalleyEmailsFromPIA.pdf
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
22 comments:
YIKES!
Perdue now controls the entire State of MD, not just the Eastern Shore.
Incoming!
Does Frerichs have ties to Obama too?
What did he do before he became a "fixer" for Perdue?
Here's his on-line promo piece:
Herb Frerichs offers businesses perspectives from the inside and outside.
As General Counsel to a major Maryland company, he blends the inside knowledge of an industry professional with the broad perspective of a legal and business analyst.
Mr. Frerichs regularly consults with clients on their day-to-day legal issues, as well as complex corporate transactions such as on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and private equity and debt financing.
Mr. Frerichs is General Counsel for the family holding company that owns and operates a number of international food and agricultural companies, including Perdue Food Products, Perdue AgriBusiness and Coleman Natural Foods. He was Associate General Counsel at UNC Incorporated, a publicly-traded aviation services company from 1991-1995.
His in-depth understanding of corporate legal and business strategies provides clients the ability to make the optimum decision for the issue at hand. Mr. Frerichs communicates as a partner with in-house legal counsel while providing fresh ideas and perspectives unique to outside counsel. With that combination of skills, he takes a holistic approach to the issues faced by his clients.
Mr. Frerichs was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Maryland Economic Development Corporation by Governor Martin O'Malley in March 2011.
Let's hope this stuff stops O'Malley's political career for good.
How much money did the Perdue companies, trusts and family give to O'Malley as political donations -- and what about Conway and Mathias?
7:58 ---
Like his dad, Jimmy knows that you get what you pay for!
SBY news investagative journalism strikes again! How do you find all this information Joe? You are AWESOME!
How much does Perdue pay this guy for immediate "access" to O'Malley?
Did he work there before O'Malley became governor?
perdue is a privately held company, I don't understand how they can put their profits ahead of the well being of all marylanders. All while polluting our land air and water. They whould be sued and made to clean up their act!
This just burns me up. The integrator/grower style of producing food needs to go or renamed master/indentured servant. It's no secret that growers are in debt a half a million or more only to be lucky to make $20,000/year raising chickens.
And how many of the employees that work in the processing facilities are paid such low wages that we the tax payers are supplementing them with welfare entitlements? I heard at one point approximately 70% of them receive some type of welfare.
8:52 asks who they can put their profits ahead of the well being of all marylanders? It's quite simple-as you can see by these emails. They think they are entitled to do whatever they please since their deep pockets finance political campaigns.
I find it ironic that everyone fawns over them saying how great they are for what they have done at Salisbury U but the fact stands that the majority of their employees can't afford to even send their children to SU. Heck, most can't even afford cars and are bused in dilapidated buses to work.
All Perdue is is a middleman sucking profits off the growers.
What should happen here is like happened in Virginia. Look up the Virginia Poultry Growers Cooperative.
Didn't Jim Perdue make a big donation to Rick Perry?
Can somebody show me where all the chicken manure energy plants are?
What's up with Omalley having to beg permission to fire off Perdue an email?
Goes to show you that politicians represent the most perfect example of brown nosers. That's why no one respects them anymore. They give themselves up willingly, openly and completely to whoever has the deepest pockets.
That's why no decent honest people hardly ever run for office because they would never lower themselves to be in that cesspool.
The State Board of Elections website says that in 2010 Jim Perdue made big contributions to both O'Malley ($4000) and Ehrlich ($3000) -- that's called working both sides of the street.
2:24 -- Wrong -- it says that JP gave each of them $4000.
He does not discriminate.
And, this is how Perdue was able to pollute this environment so freely and then leave. Cheak out the C-Bay
This from the Baltimore Sun-
"Perdue wrote annual checks to the Republican Governors Association until 2010, she reports, when the company suddenly also started donating to the Democratic Governors Association, which is headed by Gov. Martin O’Malley. The firm gave the DGA $10,000 in 2010 and $15,000 in January 2012"
Frank taught him well about how to prime the money pump. First lesson, get a good "fixer".
So? Politicians are accepting these monies and using them towards theit multi milllion dollar campaigns. It is a shame that the contributiond exceed the the salary compensation by over 5000 percent. What this means is that tha salary and benefits we pay out elected officials is basicallly "diddly squat" compared to who actuallly "bought" our politician. Andy Harris is trying, but here and there, he is stilll being bought. Our CISPA is on his "yes" agenda, and should not be. Quality of life decreases an inch at a time. Bought and paid for, and we don'y have the money to change it.
Are you arned and is your ammo enough?
You have to pay to play in this state.You cant get nowhere unless you give to who runs the state!
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