On March 11, the court ruled12 the GMA "violated Washington campaign finance disclosure laws by shielding the identities of major corporate donors funding efforts to defeat a food labeling initiative in Washington." The case will continue to trial to determine the size of the penalty.
Ferguson has requested maximum penalties to be applied. As noted in his motion, "While proof of intentional concealment is not required, state law permits treble penalties if the fact-finder determines a person intentionally concealed the source of a political contribution or expenditure."
In this case, Ferguson insists such proof does exist. He also claims he has proof showing the GMA engaged in five separate acts of intentional concealment, so the penalty should therefore be tripled for each count.
====
"Documents ... show that Chassy and the university directed Monsanto to deposit the payments through the University of Illinois Foundation, a body whose records are shielded from public scrutiny. The foundation also has the ability to take in private money and disburse it to an individual as a 'university payment' — exempt from disclosure," WBEZ writes.
"To some who study transparency in science, Chassy's failure to publicly disclose his ties with a company while he was speaking and writing about GMOs crosses a line. 'That, to me, it's a disgrace,' said Sheldon Krimsky, Ph.D., a bioethicist who studies academic conflict of interest at Tufts University.
=====
GOP's new shield provision is designed to abolish Monsanto's liability as a favor to the company, which has donated $39 million to politicians over 30 years. Documents uncovered during our litigation have confirmed Monsanto's sickeningly corrupt corporate culture. Instead of being a good corporate citizen, Monsanto's decision-making matrix puts greed before public health and welfare."
'via Blog this'