The
AGRIBUSINESS
EXAMINER Issue # 17 January 16, 1999

Monitoring Corporate Agribusiness From a Public Interest Perspective

A.V. Krebs
Editor\Publisher

ALL IN THE CORPORATE "FAMILY"

Two of the most prominent corporate scandals in the past seven years
while Bill Clinton has been our nation's leader have involved the
Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) Corp. and Tyson Foods.

In the former case, ADM Supermarkup to the World, in what was called
the "best documented corporate crime in American history" was fined $100
million for fixing the prices of food-ingredients lysine and citric acid
while three of its former executives were found guilty of similar
charges (and are currently awaiting sentencing) in addition to the
company having to pay another $100 million or so in related civil
settlements.

At the same time Tyson Foods, the nation's number one poultry producer,
pled guilty in December, 1997 to giving former USDA Secretary Mike Espy
more than $12,000 in illegal gratuities. The Arkansas-based poultry
giant and long-time personal and financial FOB (Friend of Bill) agreed
to pay a $4 million fine, contribute $2 million to Independent Counsel
Donald Smaltz's investigation and cooperate in his probe.

Neither story got the attention from the nation's press that it so
richly deserved, least of all from the Public Broadcasting Service and
National Public Radio, but one only need delve a little behind the
scenes to understand the reasons for this head-in-the-sand approach to
the two stories.

A major underwriter for PBS programming, primarily the nightly Jim
Lehrer Report, is ADM headed by Dwayne O. Andreas, a major financial
contributor to both the Republican and Democratic party's powerful. And
now thanks to help from colleague Sam Smith for this little "corporate
incest" gem we get a much clearer picture as to why all the "news of the
day" is becoming such a rare commodity in our corporatist ruled "public
broadcasting" culture.

Chairperson of the Corporation for Pubic Broadcasting which funds NPR
and PBS is one Diane Blair.

The name of the long-time and recently-retired lawyer for Tyson Food is
James Blair.

The name of the Arkansas lawyer who arranged the notorious cattle
options scheme in which novice trader Hillary Rodham Clinton made $100,000
on a $1,000 investment was James Blair (See Oprah to People's
Court: What's Paul Engler's $6.7 Million Beef," The AgBiz Tiller Online,
http://www.ea1.com/tiller/

The name of James Blair's girl friend at the time was Diane Divers
Kincaid.

The name of the "official" who married Kincaid and Blair in 1979 was
William Jefferson Clinton (truly a mind-boggling concept; Clinton
"performing" a marriage ceremony!)

The name of James Blairs' "best person" at his and Diane Divers Kincaid
wedding was Hillary Rodham Clinton.