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Smear Campaign Against Lean Beef Product Hurts Local Economy

April 5: S.D. State Sen. Dan Lederman: Press: In Native American tradition and culture, including the Plains Indians of South Dakota, it was common for tribes to use every part of the buffalo after they hunted and killed them. Doing so was borne out of respect for the animal and nature but also a result of pragmatism and necessity.

Today, thanks to the lies and deceit of the Media Elite, Hollywood and ABC News, we can no longer use every part of slaughter cattle even when it’s tested thoroughly and repeatedly by the United States Department of Agriculture and declared completely safe. The most recent victim of political food correctness is Lean Finely Textured Beef and the men and women who bring this food from the ranch to our tables.

What is LFTB? It’s 100% beef. If you’ve ever eaten a hamburger at McDonalds or Burger King you’ve had LFTB. If you ever had a beef taco at Taco Bell, you’ve had LFTB. LFTB is made up of beef that is just harder to get at during the butchering process and it’s extremely lean (95% lean) – hence the name. In short, this process allows producers to use more of the beef from the cow. In the long run, it lowers prices for consumers and increases the demand for cattle from ranchers.

Last week I had the opportunity to tour the Beef Products Incorporated headquarters and manufacturing plant that is responsible for making a substantial amount of the LFTB that is produced nationally. While at the plant I visited with Governors Terry Branstad, Rick Perry, Sam Brownback and South Dakota Lieutenant Governor Matt Michels.

The unified message from these Midwest Ag state governors was that consumers and cattle ranchers will be the hardest hit in addition to hundreds of beef production employees that are losing their jobs. What’s happening to companies Beef Products Inc. headquartered here in South Dakota and AFA Foods in Pennsylvania is a travesty for the Midwest.

Last week BPI announced that it was closing three of its four plants and AFA Foods announced that it was declaring bankruptcy and as a result laying off hundreds of employees. We can thank food elites in America for waging this unnecessary and frankly, devious campaign against LBTF.

This story is also very personal for me – as a kid growing up in Waterloo, Iowa, my brothers and I helped our father in a family clothing store. We would help customers try on boots, size them up for work jackets and run the cash register. Our family’s store catered to a lot of people and many of our customers were BPI plant workers in Waterloo. They would come in to buy Red Wing work boots and Carhartt overalls.

My family’s clothing store benefited from BPI and its employees, as did many other retail outlets in the area. Now, because of the misinformation spread by ABC News and other media outlets, BPI had to lay off hundreds of workers at the Waterloo plant. These men and women are out of a job and because of an unmerited smear campaign on the part of food elites.

Ranchers in South Dakota will also feel the effect when marketing feeder calves. Less demand and a devalued market means South Dakota farm families will earn less for their work and in the long term, lessened demand for beef will hurt beef producers and consumers. And while per-head cattle prices may rise in the short term as a result of tighter supply – that doesn’t bode well for the overall future health of South Dakota cattle producers. We need increased demand for our beef products and entry into more markets for our products. More…

WOSTER: New title invitation to speculate

KSFY: March 19: Rob Skjonsberg asked me not to laugh Friday morning when he told me his new job title.

I didn’t laugh. But I did smile.

He’s Mike Rounds’ new chief of staff. Seems fitting, since he’s also Mike Rounds’ old chief of staff.

The difference is that being chief of staff for Mike Rounds from 2002 to 2007 meant being chief of staff for the governor of South Dakota. Now being chief of staff for Mike Rounds means being chief of staff for an insurance and real estate guy living in a nice home on the Missouri River.

Except, of course, that Mike Rounds is more than that. He is also a former state Senate leader and popular Republican governor who looks increasingly like a probable, as opposed to possible, candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2014.

That’s why Skjonsberg’s recent departure from a senior vice president’s job at POET energy in Sioux Falls raises some eyebrows. It raised mine Friday, when Skjonsberg let me know of the change with a somewhat cryptic email.

It is more noteworthy when combined with Skjonsberg’s action a while back to reserve a couple of Internet domain sites with revealing names: ROUNDS FORSOUTHDAKOTA.com and ROUNDSFORSENATE.com.

Skjonsberg said at the time he was just looking out for Rounds in the event he decides on a Senate run. That’s what chiefs of staff tend to do.

Rounds also inspired speculation last fall when he established a new political action committee, the Peter Norbeck PAC. Rounds said at the time it wasn’t about his political future but rather about helping other Republicans raise funds.

Rounds said the same on Friday when I called about Skjonsberg’s move. The Norbeck PAC is for others, particularly candidates who share ideals similar to those held by Norbeck, a popular South Dakota governor and U.S. senator from the early 1900s.

But Rounds admitted there could be some fundraising needs in his future, too. And Skjonsberg could come in handy there.

“The Peter Norbeck PAC is to promote candidates with Norbeck’s kind of vision, particularly at the legislative level,” Rounds said. “Rob is going to help me with that. It doesn’t rule out the possibility in the future of doing something more about my political activities.”

First and foremost, though, Skjonsberg will dive into the business world with the same enthusiasm and skill he showed in the state Capitol.

“It’ll be a new position here. I thought, well, he did well as my chief of staff up there. We’ll set it up like that for the business,” Rounds said.

Skjonsberg said he and his wife and three kids will move from Sioux Falls to Pierre. But he expects to travel the state on  Fischer-Rounds business.

“Mike has a pretty wide footprint. He’s got business ventures across South Dakota,” Skjonsberg said. “Our plan is for me rejoining him as chief of staff, and our focus is going to be on business, both existing and future projects.

“There may be some things on the side for me to help him with, too. I’m kind of a utility player.”

And might those things involve a 2014 Senate run? Skjonsberg can’t contain his enthusiasm in answering that question.

“If my rejoining the former governor gets him more comfortable with the idea of this Senate race, then I think that’s an added benefit,” he said.

Skjonsberg seems plenty comfortable with the idea already.