A U.S. Court of Appeals has allowed a lawsuit to go forward over payments between two pork organizations for the use of the iconic tagline, “Pork: the Other White Meat,” Politico reports.
A coalition of small hog farmers and the Humane Society accused the pork industry of skirting federal law by using a checkoff program to fund lobbying activities. Federally monitored agriculture checkoffs charge farmers for promotional efforts. In this case, critics say the National Pork Board grossly overpaid for the “white meat” slogan, which is owned by a lobbying arm of the pork industry, the National Pork Producers Council.
In the Politico piece, former Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman likened the situation to collusion between super PACs and campaigns. “That wasn’t what Congress intended,” he said of the connection between checkoff funds and lobbying.