Obesity in the Headlines

February 9, 2004 - Capital Times (Madison)

Editorial: Assembly in a food fight
An editorial

Assembly Speaker John Gard, R-Peshtigo, called the legislative chamber he leads into session last week because he knew there was some "important" legislating that needed to be done.

Did the Assembly pass important legislation to renew Wisconsin's battered manufacturing sector? Nope. Gard and his crew just could not find the time to make serious moves to protect high-wage jobs in Wisconsin, let alone create new jobs.

Did the Assembly act to help Wisconsin's hard-pressed family farmers, who continue to struggle to stay on the land in an era when the economic playing field is tipped to favor corporate agribusiness and factory farm interests? Nope. Gard and his legislative allies could not muster the energy to care for families and rural communities.

Did the Assembly move to protect the interests of Main Street small businesses, which are facing unfair competition from Wal-Mart and other out-of-state businesses? Nope. Gard and his crew just did not have the wherewithal to lift a finger to help family-owned shops that care for their workers and their communities.

So what exactly was the important legislation that was passed by John Gard's Assembly last week?

Gard's Assembly gave preliminary approval on Thursday to a bill that would prohibit people who are obese from suing companies that promote the sale and consumption of food products for contributing to their weight-related health problems. Members of the Assembly put their noses to the grindstone and worked the legislation into a form in which it no longer can be amended and prepared it for a final vote when the chamber reconvenes the week of Feb. 23.

The determination of Gard and his fellow legislators to neglect manufacturing, farm and small-business concerns in order to work on this "food fight" legislation - and the haste with which the chamber has moved on it - would seem to indicate that it is confronting a major problem.

There must be a serious threat, right?

Well, not actually.

No one can point to a flood of lawsuits being filed by rotund Wisconsinites against Haagen-Dazs or Pepsi.

Besides, Wisconsin already has a state law that allows frivolous lawsuits to be dismissed. So, even if people did sue a corporation for steering them away from the salad bar and toward the doughnut plate, the legal action would need to have merit to pose any kind of threat. And if the lawsuit did have merit - as, arguably, have suits against deceptive tobacco companies - why would any honest legislator want to prevent it from going forward? As state Rep. John Richards, D-Milwaukee, who is still working to block this unnecessary legislation, explained, "It always makes me nervous when we close the courtroom doors."

Wisconsin's legislators should be nervous. They should also be clear about why John Gard, bill sponsor Dan Vrakas, R-Hartland, and their allies are rushing legislation of this sort through the Assembly.

It's an election year, and politicians are preparing to collect campaign contributions. Heavily funded, special interest lobbying groups want Wisconsin to give blanket legal immunity to some of the largest food processing corporations in America. If the Assembly passes this bill quickly, it will be much easier for those politicians to hustle campaign contributions from givers associated with those corporations.

When it comes to serving workers, farmers or Wisconsin communities, John Gard and his legislative allies just don't have time to do any serious legislating. But when out-of-state corporations call, Gard and his allies in the Assembly leadership jump.

That's because they do not serve the people of Wisconsin, they serve the out-of-state corporations.