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Dan Bacher: Big ag’s power couple banking on Brown, Feinstein

Posted by: Maven on February 16, 2010 at 8:07 am

From Dan Bacher at IndyBay.org:

“Stewart Resnick, the Beverly Hills agribusiness giant who owns 115,000 acres of farmland in Kern County, appears to be putting his bets on Jerry Brown as the winner of the gubernatorial race in the November election – even though Brown hasn’t officially declared himself as a candidate.

On November 11, 2009, Resnick and his wife, Lynda, the co-owner of the giant Paramount Farms and Roll Corporation, wrote four checks totalling $50,000 for the Brown campaign.

The donations that the Resnicks made to Brown to date exemplify the enormous political influence of Resnick and other water barons exert over California water politics. The Resnicks are the largest tree fruit growers in the world.

Delta advocates fear that campaign contributions from the Resnicks and other big water interests could heavily influence Brown’s positions on the peripheral canal, the construction of more dams and the November $11.1 billion water bond. They also fear the Resnicks could pressure Brown to support legislative and administrative attacks on federal plans protecting Delta smelt and Central Valley salmon.

The Resnicks and executives of their companies have donated $3.97 million to candidates and political committees since 1993, mostly in the Golden State, a California Watch review of public records shows, according to the Center for Investigative Reporting, December 6, 2009. … “

Continue reading this commentary by Dan Bacher at IndyBay.org by clicking here.

February 16, 2010 · Filed Under Delta Issues

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