Hog operations continue to stir up you-know-what in southwest Wisconsin.
While around 200 people showed up in Crawford County for a meeting on a 2,900 hog operation last week, Citizens for Responsible Government (CRG) announced it has filed a number of Freedom of Information Act requests with Vernon County as part of an investigation into how that county board handled votes on a 2,500 hog operation last August.
CRG is looking for the possibility of “collusion” on the part of supervisors in their handling of the confinement animal operation (CAFO) moratorium and siting ordinances that were considered because of the hog operation.
Vernon County officials should cooperate fully with the CRG requests. Crawford County officials also should look one county to the north and make sure they handle their application for a CAFO in a transparent and open manner.
Officials in both counties — as well as many other rural counties around the state and country —- have done business in the “old-fashioned” way for years. It often was more personal and worked in many cases.
However, things have changed in rural areas, and supervisors and officials have to keep up, or risk problems. Vernon County, for example, has no zoning. Supervisors formed a committee to start exploring zoning regulations as part of the discussion over the CAFO. It should have been addressed years ago.
The demographics in southwest Wisconsin have changed, and citizens now are demanding more accountability and transparency. Big business also has become involved in area farming — whether it be Hormel and other meat packers contracting with those running the CAFOs or large organic cooperatives such as Organic Valley. Government regulations and relations with large business entities require more sophistication and expertise.
CRG has its roots in recall elections in Milwaukee. The group was formed originally in 2002 during the Milwaukee county retirement fund scandal.
The group, led by Milwaukee businessman Chris Kliesmet and former iron worker Orville Seymer, has focused on expanding across the state in the last couple of years and added a La Crosse chapter in September of 2006.
CRG’s involvement in Vernon County started when they were contacted by local citizens concerned that some county board members were working behind the scenes on the hog moratorium issue.
The Vernon County Broadcaster reported that one of the first FOIA requests was sent on Oct.1 to supervisor Maynard Cox. Cox has a son who worked for the owners of the proposed the CAFO, Jeff and Bonnie Parr. Requests then were sent to all 29 supervisors asking for any correspondence including emails (including deleted) that pertain to the hog facility.
An initial response from Vernon County Corporation Counsel Greg Lunde on Oct. 3 said that Cox does not have access to a county email address and any such records that would exist would be on a personal email account and therefore would not be subject to open records law. CRG maintains state statutes and the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council state county supervisor emails are subject to open records even if stored on a personal computer.
Lunde said later the county is coordinating the response for the 29 supervisors and will comply with the request, including personal emails. Lunde said it could cost up to $3500 to access the emails and the county would ask to be paid before it releases any records.
CRG agrees it is legal for units of government to require payment for such information if it can be shown it is a legitimate expense and not done to intentionally limit access to such records.
One county supervisor reportedly told CRG that he burns his records in a barrel behind his house every week. CRG questioned the handling of records by individual supervisors and the county as a whole.
This issue, and others involving environmental concerns, are not about to go away. Southwest Wisconsin has been designated as a good place for CAFOs by meat processors because it is relatively close to several processing plants. Yet, organic farmers and others concerned about the environment worry about the effects of manure and other pollutants from these large CAFOs.
The opponents to the large operations are organized, have some media savvy and contacts with state and national organizations that have expertise and resources.
All this means that county officials in the rural areas are no longer working outside the spotlight. That light will indeed be shown on them, and their actions, just like it has been for years in more urbanized areas.
So, those officials have to do their business in a professional, contemporary, manner. That means being transparent and open with the public. If they have done nothing wrong in how they handled their business, they should have nothing to hide.
