Land O'Lakes Pulls Financial Support for Iowa Congressman Steve King

[left-of-center2012]

Source: Bloomberg

Dairy giant Land O’Lakes is set to announce Tuesday that it will no longer make financial contributions to Representative Steve King of Iowa after a gun-fueled massacre at a Pittsburgh synagogue brought new attention to the Republican’s incendiary comments about race and association with white nationalism.

King recently tweeted his endorsement of Faith Goldy to be the next mayor of Toronto. Goldy has been tied to white supremacists and was interviewed by the neo-Nazi website Daily Stormer. She also attended the white supremacist Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, last year, during which a counter-protester was run down and killed.

“The Land O’Lakes Inc. PAC has traditionally contributed to lawmakers of both parties that represent the communities where our members and employees live and work and are also on committees that oversee policies that directly impact our farmer owners,” the company said in a statement. “We take our civic responsibility seriously, want our contributions to be a positive force for good and also seek to ensure that recipients of our contributions uphold our company’s values. On that basis, we have determined that our PAC will no longer support Rep. King moving forward.”

On Monday, Judd Legum, author of the newsletter Popular Information, asked why the company had given $2,500 to King. It was retweeted 11,000 times and liked 22,000 times. Many responses included consumers saying they would stop buying the brand. A call to King’s campaign seeking comment wasn’t immediately returned.

Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-30/land-o-lakes-pulls-financial-support-for-iowa-congressman-steve-king?srnd=premium

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[sinkingfeeling]

1. Excellent.

[madaboutharry]

2. This shows the power of the people.

Land O'Lakes has a comment link and phone number prominently displayed on their website. No doubt they got the message loud and clear.

I just called their customer service number and the representative emphatically told me that they are pulling all financial support to Steve King.

Sometimes good things happen.

[Freddie]

3. Boycotts (or threats to boycott)

Often work. Yay us!

[jberryhill]

4. Translation: "We reached the limit"

[pandr32]

32. Yep--already gave money

[underpants]

5. Money talks

Good.

[bucolic_frolic]

6. They looked the other way until the flame was red hot

as if it weren't widely known years ago

[stopdiggin]

50. Exactly Right

Exactly right. King, and his very ugly views/positions, is NOT a new development. He is, and has been, a known quantity in the midwest and on the national stage for a LONG time. Anybody that has been giving this guy money last week, last month or ten years ago was knowingly supporting a very public extremist and racist. End of story.

[hlthe2b]

7. Gee, I wonder how many they heard from--including all their subsidiaries...

They may have staunched the bleeding, but I think they need to continue to be watched.

[Little Star]

13. I will still make the choice to buy a...

different brand of butter, cream, etc. whenever it is convenient. They showed their true colors and that is hard for me to stomach. Dumb asses.

[hlthe2b]

15. I will too but mainly because they so rudely responded to me when I inquired why they were not

requiring their milk providers to avoid using growth hormone (rbGH). They used to be a iconic and trusted company--now, only their logo remains so.

[Achilleaze]

8. Buttering Up Bigots (R) was a super sucky idea

[CatMor]

9. The sleazebag has a confederate flag on his desk ...

what more can you say

[a kennedy]

16. Yah, saw that,

[Bradshaw3]

17. Perhaps someone should tell the POS Iowans fought and died for the Union

Hey, Steve, here's a Civil War fact for you:
"More than 11,000 Iowans were wounded, 3,000 of them died. And 28 Iowans received the Medal of Honor."

I didn't know about the flag but not surprising. Tells you where his true loyalties lie.

[Augiedog]

10. They have already given the money, fuck'm, keep the boycott on. If they like nazis they can sell

their butter to fucking nazis. Good luck with that business plan.

[Ccarmona]

48. Agree

Too little, too late. Why were they supporting this Nazi to begin with. It’s not like he just exposed himself. He’s been a hate monger for years. We’ll never buy their shitstained products ever again.

[llmart]

11. When you hit them in the wallet...

they suddenly become people with a conscience.

But they aren't really.......

I'll not buy their products any more.

[PSPS]

12. LOL. "(We) want our contributions to be a positive force for good"

Any company who "wants our contributions to be a positive force for good" would have never donated a dime to a republican.

They go on to say that they want to "ensure that recipients of our contributions uphold our company’s values." Apparently, they felt King did just that even with his years-long openly nazi "values." I guess their "company's values" aren't so "valuable" to decent people.

[progressoid]

25. Yep. King has never been a positive force for good.

[lark]

14. Yay, I use their butter for my everyday butter needs, Kerrygold when it really counts.

I was willing to spend more money to have Kerrygold as my only butter because I was not going to buy products from any company supporting King, but am glad I now don't have to. I retired last year and expected a very comfortable retirement, then my husbands' feet got really bad and he had to quit his good paying job, so now am faced with having to pinch pennies for the first time in 15 years.

Edit - fixed some confusing verbiage

[a kennedy]

18. Mmmmmmmm, we love Kerrygold as well....

[luvtheGWN]

29. In case you purchase your butter at Costco (where it's half the price usually)

you should ask for the source of their butter. It may well be Land 'o Lakes repackaged. Can't always tell a book by its cover.....or in this case a pound of butter.

[meow2u3]

34. We have Keller's in Pennsylvania

Keller's is shaped differently; the butter comes thicker with a shorter stick.
If you can't afford Keller's, go with the store brands. They're less expensive and taste just as good as the name brands.

[druidity33]

38. Cabot here in Western Mass... mmm. nt.

[BumRushDaShow]

46. I buy Keller's here in Philly whenever it is on sale

They do sell the "regular" length sticks too (have a couple boxes of that in my freezer).

The rest of the time, I do buy the store brand!

[Paladin]

19. It's way past time for this Nazi piece of shit to be driven from office.

Land O' Lakes, I'm your customer for life.

[Croney]

20. Good for them, but I hope this lesson hurts

and causes other companies to take a good look at where their money goes and what the consequences may be.

[pretzel4gore]

21. what's the use!

we take out one goofy nazipooh, and there's million more it seems! what's the use of power if we don't use it! DU should be a place where ALL the treasonous sukkholes who finance the limbo's and desanti and palins and bush mconnel etc ad nazism- are NAMED publicly so their effectiveness is stopped, or reduced...the year is 2018 and no one has thought about listing the companies who sponser the fascist traitors who are destroying the world? WTF! What if the 'poohs declare martial law? what if they outlaw any talking back/standing up to, them? maybe we should do something now

[muntrv]

22. I can boycott Land O Lakes easily.

I don't buy butter much anyways and when I do, it is other than Land O Lakes.

[Submariner]

23. Too late. Already switched to local Cabot of Vermont butter for my toast

Land O'Lakes reputation is mud to me.

[Mendocino]

24. Land O' Lard

More fat cats.

[genxlib]

26. Hats off to one of our own

Someone just posted yesterday about writing then a strongly worded email

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100211341189

[Floyd R. Turbo]

27. Good! I sent them an email yesterday saying that after more than sixty years as a loyal customer I

would no longer purchase any of their products!

[geardaddy]

28. I already don't buy their stuff

Now, I'm even more glad I don't buy their stuff.

[BobTheSubgenius]

30. Maybe his campaign workers can canvass door-to-door to make up the shortfall.

Ancillary benefit - they'll have calves like cantaloupes.

[OliverQ]

31. Too late. Still not buying from them.

They knew he was a racist piece of trash, but only backed down when faced with a boycott.

[BlueStater]

33. Nice photo.

Why are the pictures of his family facing AWAY from him? Who does that? Is it because he's trying to transparently humanize himself for the media? It's not working, you sack of shit.

[Amimnoch]

36. Especially with that flag right there next to the photos. -nt

[Amimnoch]

35. Bottom left hand corner of that photo...

That flag is enough to kill off any good will his message may have bought him.. from me at least.

[catbyte]

37. A Confederate battle flag on his desk? He's from IOWA, for chrissakes.

From Wikipedia:

Iowa in the American Civil War

The state of Iowa played a role during the American Civil War in providing food, supplies, and troops for the Union army, though its contributions were overshadowed by larger and more populated eastern states.

That's just as moronic as Kid rock & Ted Nugent flying them. Michigan was in the Union and Iowa supported the Union.

Which just proves they're all un-American racist assholes.

I checked out Land O' Lakes Twitter accounts and it was one boycott tweet after another. People power!

[Vinca]

39. Good. Now I don't have to give up LOL American cheese.

[watoos]

40. Land of Lakes products

are the worst health wise. Since my daughter put me on to them years ago, I have been doing organic, tastes a lot better.

[George II]

41. Faith Goldy got 3.4% of the vote last week.

[ailsagirl]

42. GOOD

[irisblue]

43. Too late. There are other companies that make butter & dairy products

Hand of the market and all that ya fools

[pazzyanne]

44. Yea! I can still buy their Silk products

…and their butter!

[cstanleytech]

45. I received this in an email reply after politely informing them that I

was considering changing to some other brand.

[lkinwi]

47. I'm still going to try the store brand cottage cheese. If it's as good or almost as good,

I’m switching. Looking at the Steve King picture with the confederate flag made my stomach churn. They supported that creep.

[dalton99a]

49. Good.

[GulfCoast66]

51. And the racist SOB has a confederate battle flag on his desk

Iowans paid a huge price in the civil war. It could be argued that at Shiloh they preserved the Union.

It was all Iowans holding the line in what became know as the Hornets Nest that allowed Grant to hold out the first day of the battle allowing Him to re-enforce his army. They paid a terrible price. Nearly were killed or captured. Overall 25% of Union dead in the battle were Iowans.

Had the Union lost that first of the super bloody battles the will to continue the fight may have been lost.

This SOB might as well be pissing on their graves.

[martalcd]

52. I just called and gave them heck...

I also told them that any corporation that gives money to candidates promoting hate of any kind, will no longer get my money.

[Zambero]

53. Glad they did this. However....

Their email reply to one I'd sent indicate they would no longer support King "going forward". If he somehow wins after being exposed as a white supremacist, that would indicate that their $2,500 donation helped to put him over. Normalization of bigots is not an incentive for me to buy their brand. If he (hopefully) loses, I will reconsider.