Agricultural News
R-CALF USA Requests National Cattlemen's Beef Association to Clarify Coding of Checkoff Funds
Fri, 19 Aug 2011 09:13:01 CDT
Following the July 2010 Independent Accountant's Report that identified over $216,000 in misappropriated Beef Checkoff Program (Checkoff) funds and revealed that the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) had improperly charged the Beef Checkoff Program for costs and expenses related to NCBA's policy activities, R-CALF USA urged the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), U.S. Department of Justice, USDA Office of Inspector General, and the Cattlemen's Beef Board (collectively, "the agencies") to investigate further to determine the full scope of NCBA's misspending of Checkoff funds.
In a letter to the agencies dated February 3, 2011, R-CALF USA stated that NCBA's practice of charging the Checkoff for an unbelievable one-half of NCBA's officer travel was preposterous as NCBA officers had led the opposition against some of the most critical and pivotal policy initiatives ever to face U .S. cattle producers. The letter informed the agencies that NCBA officers fought against country-of-origin labeling (COOL) and against efforts to redress captive supplies, postpone the resumption of imports from disease-affected countries, prevent the implementation of the National Animal Identification System (NAIS), establish a livestock title in the 2008 Farm Bill, and it fought against the proposed rule that would enable USDA to properly enforce the Packers and Stockyards Act.
R-CALF USA's letter also provided the agencies with dates, locations and descriptions of 21 separate policy-related events that occurred between 2002 and 2010, during which NCBA fought against the policy goals of R-CALF USA members. R-CALF USA suspected NCBA was being unlawfully subsidized by Checkoff funds during those 21 policy-related events and it asked the agencies to initiate an investigation to determine if its suspicions were correct.
On August 10, 2011, the Cattlemen's Beef Board (CBB) responded to R-CALF USA's request and indicated by letter that it had found evidence of impropriety that led to an agreement by NCBA to "reclassify" certain expenses to the NCBA Policy Division.
"The CBB's letter is an affront to honest, hard-working and law-abiding cattle producers who are required to pay into the Checkoff," R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard said adding, "The CBB described the improprieties it found as 'items improperly coded' and the CBB's remedy was to 'reclassify' expenses to the NCBA Policy Division. For folks who expect a mule to be called a mule, this is bureaucratic double-speak at its worst."
R-CALF USA then fired a letter back to the CBB and the other agencies asking the CBB to clarify whether "items improperly coded" means that CBB found that NCBA had used Checkoff funds to pay expenses prohibited under the Checkoff.
The letter states in part, "In fact, your finding of "items improperly coded" suggests there was no actual misuse of Checkoff funds and, therefore, the transactions require no accountability as they were merely accounting errors in which NCBA miscoded authorized Checkoff expenditures to another authorized Checkoff account, e.g., as if NCBA coded an authorized producer communications expense to an authorized beef promotion expense. This would be the customary and usual interpretation of the terminology you have applied to these two transactions.
"However, your letter stated NCBA has agreed to "reclassify" the less than $400 to the NCBA Policy Division, which indicates that the original transactions were, in fact, not instances of improper coding, but rather, instances where NCBA improperly and unlawfully used Checkoff funds to pay prohibited expenses.
"As a representative of thousands of Checkoff contributors, R-CALF USA deserves straight answers regarding whether a Checkoff contractor has violated the Act and Order. We are troubled by the incongruence and ambiguity of your Aug. 10, 2011 letter and we would very much appreciate a direct response to our foregoing requests for information and straight answers to each of our foregoing questions." R-CALF USA's letter concludes.
Click here to view a copy of the letter sent by R-CALF USA on Feb. 3, 2011
To view CBB's response letter on Aug. 10, click here.
Click here to view the latest letter sent by R-CALF to the CBB.
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