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Sarah Palin's Dairy Industry Bailout?

Tuesday, September 2, 2008, 10:58 am, by Ron Shimshock

Recommended -- Listen to the audio clip of Gov. Palin below to hear in her own words ...

In 2007 and into early 2008, there had been a heated battle within Alaska about a dairy which was scheduled for closure.  However this wasn't any ordinary dairy, but rather a state-owned business which has been unprofitable for quite some time. 

Sarah Palin, as governor, had a significant role in keeping the dairy alive even though the Alaska Creamery Board voted to recommend closure.  Despite the efforts to keep the dairy running, the end result was to sell the facility at a much lower price than was originally expected.  The dairy is now scheduled to be converted into heated storage units.

Below are the Wikipedia entries for Sarah Palin regarding the Mantanuska Maid Dairy, from prior to August 29 (when she was announced as McCain's VP) and after it (emphasis mine to note key changes):

Wikipedia, before August 29 wrote:
When on June 6, 2007, the Alaska Creamery Board recommended closing Matanuska Maid Dairy, an unprofitable state-owned business, Palin objected, citing concern for the impact on dairy farmers and the fact that the dairy had just received $600,000 in state money. When Palin realized that the Board of Agriculture and Conservation appoints Creamery Board members, she simply replaced the entire membership of the Board of Agriculture and Conservation. The new board, led by businesswoman Kristan Cole, reversed the decision to close the dairy. The new board approved milk price increases offered by the dairy in an attempt to control fiscal losses, even though milk from Washington was already offered in Alaskan stores at lower prices. In the end, the dairy was forced to close, and the state tried to sell the assets to pay off its debts but received no bids.

And here is the updated section as it now stands:

Wikipedia as of September 2 wrote:
In 2007, the Alaska Creamery Board recommended closing Matanuska Maid Dairy, an unprofitable state-owned business. Palin objected, citing concern for dairy farmers and a recent infusion of $600,000 in state money. Palin subsequently replaced the entire membership of the Board of Agriculture and Conservation. The new board reversed the decision to close the dairy. Later in 2007, the unprofitable business was put up for sale. No offers met the minimum bid of $3.35 million, and the dairy was closed. In August 2008, the Anchorage plant was purchased for $1.5 million, the new minimum bid. The purchaser plans to convert it into heated storage units.

Also Andrew Halcro, a former Republican Alaska Legislature and candidate for governor as an Independent, has been chronicling the story of the dairy in his blog:

"The recent actions by Governor Palin's hand picked Agriculture Board concerning the fate of the state owned Matanuska Maid Dairy have shown yet again why government has no business operating a business.

With the seventy year old dairy in troubled waters due to competition from cheaper outside brands, Mat-Maid has been losing money on every gallon of milk they've been selling for the past year. So what did the newly installed Agriculture Board do? They're forcing Mat-Maid to pay more for locally produced milk. Mandating a higher price for local milk will simply force Mat-Maid to re-coup the cost by raising retail prices which already run about $1.50 more per gallon than cheaper store brands.

This exercise appears to be no longer about protecting Mat-Maid; it's about protecting a handful of private business owners."

Listen to this on-air radio clip of Sarah Palin and Andrew Halcro arguing about the issue: Click to play

Below are links to posts on Andrew's site regarding this issue:

There are also plenty of news stories in the Anchorage Daily News regarding the topic:

Ron Shimshock is the founder of Freeople and one of its chief editors. He writes a column for Freeople called Filed Under "W"..., detailing waste in Washington. Ron is committed to empowering the pro-freedom movement by providing Freeople as a platform for prospective candidates and supporters to connect. Contact Ron by clicking here.

Comments

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