In a session filled with stupid, the Doug Magnus and Rod Hamilton anti-whistleblowers bill to protect ag producers, animal breeders and kennels of all sorts may be the epitome of bad intentions paved by dumb.
As one might expect, Steve Drazkowski added himself as sponsor when he heard about this one.
Dailies in Winona and Rochester have joined papers in New Ulm and Fairmont in opposing the bill. That's a fair swath of Southern Minnesota farm country.
Today's Winona Daily News nails it in Bill just a coverup of bad behavior:
A new bill introduced in St. Paul last week seems to be little more than a poorly disguised attempt at covering bad corporate behavior.
The law, introduced by Sen. Doug Magnus, R-Slayton, would make it illegal to take undercover video of farms, food production facilities or kennels.
But it wouldn’t stop there. Even possessing the undercover video would be a crime, regardless of who the footage belongs to.
Magnus must be very proud to stand up for inhumane treatment of animals and corporations which, even after getting caught, bristle at the notion of taking responsibility. . . .
The paper rightly points out that it's not just animal facilities that will be shielded from muck-rakers:
. . .This isn’t just some anti-PETA bill.
This same legislation wouldn’t just block video of animals being led to slaughter, it might also make it a crime to show workers mishandling food, endangering the safety and health of humans.
Furthermore, telling the public what can and can’t be recorded comes perilously close to regulating free speech and putting unnecessary restrictions on a free press, which might also come armed with cameras.
Let’s call this law what it is: A shield for acting irresponsibly and a bully tool to punish anyone who might even dare to expose deplorable behavior. . . .
Read the whole thing at the Winona Daily News.
And while the editors of the Post Bulletin confuse the bill with an anti-PETA measure, they too oppose it in Banning video cameras is a misguided bill, correctly noting that it would dampen other whistleblower protections in Minnesota.
Even the agribiz lobbyist in charge of promoting this claptrap admits that the bill may be about a "conversation" rather than legislative relief :
At the end of the interview, McBeth suggested that even though he supports a bill that could make photographing farms a felony, the bill shouldn't necessarily be taken as something that anyone wants to be a law.
"Neither we nor the authors expect to pass these bills," McBeth said. "It was intended to start a conversation."
If McBeth wants "conversation," Bluestem recommends Craigslist --and on his own time, not that of the legislature.
Related post: Not getting behind it: ag country daily newspapers reject anti-whistleblowing bill
Image: Magnus and Hamilton bill probably not something to stand behind.
Comments