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In article <t2ukp3$3sg1g$165@news.freedyn.de>
<governor.swill@gmail.com> wrote:

Minnesota Democrat Jeff Ettinger says he "know[s] how to fight
inflation" because his former company made food "affordable."
That company is facing an array of lawsuits that say it
conspired to inflate the price of pork.

Ettinger served as CEO of Hormel Foods from 2005 to 2016. During
that time, Hormel conspired with other pork processors to run a
"classic … price fixing scheme" to drive up the price of ham and
bacon, active lawsuits facing the company argue. While Hormel
has said the allegations are "completely without merit," one of
the companies involved in the purported scheme agreed to a $42
million settlement in early July.

Now, Ettinger is running in an August special election to
replace the late Jim Hagedorn after the Republican congressman
died in February. Ettinger has attempted to fight concerns of
record-high inflation under President Joe Biden by touting his
time at Hormel—in a July 10 ad, the Democrat said he "know[s]
how to fight inflation" as his "business was making food
affordable." He went on to repeat the claim twice in the
following week.

The price-fixing lawsuits that loom over Hormel, however, could
undermine Ettinger's ability to navigate a perilous political
climate that is driven by voters' concerns over the economy.
According to a June MinnPost poll, 94 percent of Minnesotans say
rising gas and grocery prices have made their lives more
"difficult" or "inconvenient." On a national level, meanwhile,
Americans view inflation as the top problem facing the country
and believe that problem is Biden's fault—64 percent of likely
U.S. voters say the Biden administration's policies have
increased inflation, according to a March Rasmussen poll.

Ettinger declined to comment.

According to the series of lawsuits against Hormel, the food
processing company in 2009 began sharing sensitive information
with its competitors about its "profits, prices, costs, and
production" in an attempt to drive up pork prices. A who's who
of grocery and restaurant chains have joined the lawsuits, the
first of which was filed in 2018—prominent plaintiffs include
Kroger, Hy-Vee, Buffalo Wild Wings, Jimmy John's, and Sonic
Drive-In.

Ettinger, who grew up in Los Angeles, made big money from his
time at Hormel—his total compensation in 2016 alone was $36
million, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune. The
Democrat's financial disclosure also shows tens of millions of
dollars in investments, and half of the roughly $800,000
Ettinger has raised came from his own pocket.

Ettinger's wealth sparked one of his primary opponents, small
business owner Rick DeVoe, to accuse Ettinger of being out of
touch with everyday voters in Minnesota's First Congressional
District, who DeVoe said are sick of "corporate malfeasance."
Still, Ettinger said in his July ad that he understands why
Minnesotans "feel squeezed."

Ettinger used his financial advantage to emerge from the special
election's May 24 primary and will face Republican Brad Finstad
in November. Finstad, a former state legislator, served in
former president Donald Trump's Department of Agriculture and
has raised $614,000 to Ettinger's $805,000.

Published under: Feature, Inflation, Jeff Ettinger, Minnesota

https://freebeacon.com/democrats/swine-and-sleaze-democrat- conspired-to-hike-pork-prices-lawsuits-say/

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