Smithfield’s political contributions bring home the bacon

The head honchos at Smithfield Foods, meat manufacturers and owners of Premium Standard Farms (PSF), weren’t too happy about the $11 million judgment against them that a jury handed down in Jackson County Circuit Court last month (as described in this week’s feature).

Some of the lawmakers in northern Missouri, where Smithfield and PSF own 11 confined animal feeding operations, were disappointed, too.

Missouri state Rep. Brad Lager, a Maryville Republican, is one of the lawmakers who has asked Gov. Jay Nixon to give PSF a break. Lager says he is worried about the jobs that PSF provides in his district. It would be too cynical to suggest that his underlying motive has anything to do with PSF’s ham-handed political contributions, right?