Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Sierra Club Says Walsh Is Too Close to the Food Industry
Sierra Club says Walsh is in too close with food industry
Updated: 10/23/2006 2:41:37 PM
By: Staff
An environmental group is accusing Syracuse Republican Congressman James Walsh of doing the bidding of the food industry in return for thousands of dollars in contributions in recent years. The Sierra Club says Walsh has helped to stymie efforts to make the nation’s food supply safer.
Martha Holly Loew, Iroquois Group of the Sierra Club, said “He collects more money than anybody else in the assembly at this point. And $500,000 can get you a long way to beating legislation which would help protect our safety. He has taken money ahead of our health and we believe it is time for him to go.
“Agriculture is the largest industry in New York State. We have a lot of food production, food processing and I have supported the agriculture industry primarily by supporting farmers by doing watershed protection, by helping them to stay in business, stay on the farm. Most of our farms are small family farms,” Walsh said.
Walsh says he has worked to tighten standards for food quality nationwide and has never attempted to weaken the quality of that food supply.