In an October 3 online article, the Rocky Mountain News reported that the watchdog group Physicians Committee For Responsible Medicine (PCRM) has produced a television commercial “aimed at exposing what the producers call a disturbing relationship between Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar and fatty meat producers.” However, while the News reported PCRM's statement that Salazar (D) ranked 17th on the group's list for contributions from agribusiness interests during the 2000-2006 period, the newspaper omitted that the list included only the 21 current members of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, and that other PCRM figures showed Salazar ranking 71st among all U.S. senators who received such contributions. The News also failed to note that, based on PCRM's figures, Salazar's “nearly $32,000” in contributions from agribusiness interests compared with $255,949 Colorado Republican U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard received during the same period.
According to the News article, by April M. Washington, “Titled 'Dirty Little Secrets,' the commercial is a spoof of Idaho Republican Sen. Larry Craig's restroom scandal. The ad features a senator in a bathroom stall tapping his foot to signal that he's ready to receive political contributions from the pork industry.” The article continued:
The political ad targets senators drafting the Farm Bill, including Salazar, a Democrat. The Farm Bill is up for reauthorization in the Senate.
The TV commercial was created by the Physician Committee For Responsible Medicine and seeks to spotlight contributions from the agricultural industry's political action committees.
“Senators take millions from corporations that produce bacon, burgers, and other fatty foods,” said Neal Bernard, president of the physicians group. “Then Congress buys up these unhealthy products and dumps them on our school lunch programs.”
Noting PCRM's charge “that 'agribusiness' political action committees have given more than $5 million over the past four election cycles to members of the Senate Agriculture Committee,” the News added, “Campaign finance reports show that Salazar has received nearly $32,000 in contributions from farm PACs -- ranking 17th on a list of 21 senators led by Georgia's Saxy [sic] Chambliss at $805,359.” According to the News, the group also noted that "[b]etween 1995 and 2004, more than $51 billion in federal agricultural subsidies went to producers of sugar, oil, meat, dairy, alcohol and feed crops to be used to fatten cows and other farm animals."
However, in citing only PCRM's list of 21 senators and Salazar's place on that list, the newspaper failed to note that the list includes only members of the Senate Agriculture Committee, on which Salazar has served since 2005. Moreover, the News failed to cite PCRM's comprehensive list of agribusiness PAC contributions to every member of Congress, which reveals that Allard -- who is not on the Agriculture Committee -- has received $255,949 from agribusiness PACs since 2000. Based on PCRM's figures, only 17 senators have received more campaign contributions from agribusiness PACs than has Allard, and 12 of those are on the Agriculture Committee.
In its October 4 edition, The Gazette of Colorado Springs published the News' online article under the headline “Ad blasts Salazar's ties to meat firms” (accessed through the electronic edition). However, the article made no mention of any specific affiliations between Salazar and “meat firms.” Moreover, while PCRM's breakdown of agribusiness PAC contributions by sector does list "[l]ivestock" as a sector, it does not specify “meat firms.” According to PCRM, Salazar has received $1,273 from the livestock sector since 2000, and Allard has received $15,350.
