Take back control

Dear Editor,

When was the last time you saw such interest in a Nebraska Beef Council (the beef checkoff board) election? Let me tell you what it is all about.

First a little history: Half of the beef checkoff funds collected in any state go to the Cattlemen's Beef Board (CBB). The CBB determines the groups that will do the actual work and forwards the money to them. A large percentage of the money goes to the Federation which is the arm of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) that is "non-lobbying" and, thus, eligible to receive checkoff funds. In addition, Nebraska sends additional funds directly to the Federation. It is estimated that only one out of every 33 checkoff-paying cattlemen belong to the NCBA yet both the Federation Board of Directors and the CBB are dominated by NCBA members.

Earlier this year an independent auditing company did a compliance review to see if checkoff funds sent to the Federation were being disbursed according to CBB policy. That review found $37,000 worth of "discrepancies" while auditing only 1 percent of the disbursements. If the same rate of discrepancies existed through the other 99 percent of expenditures, the "discrepancy" amount would be $3,700,000! That's right, 3.7 million dollars might have been slid over for NCBA expenses!

The candidates with ties to the NCBA think it is appropriate for the NCBA to merely repay the $37,000 and it can be business as usual. (This is the way discrepancies have been handled in the past.) The other candidates think a complete audit should occur and the NCBA should pay back ALL the money used inappropriately. They also think the firewall between the NCBA and the Federation needs to be widened so it never happens again.

As a checkoff-paying cattleman, this is YOUR money. At least some of it has been used to lobby for policies supported by the NCBA which may not be favorable to YOUR operation. You don't get a choice whether or not to pay the beef checkoff. You do get a choice of who is in charge of the money after it is collected. You do that through your vote. If you or someone in your operation did not get a ballot, please call the Nebraska Beef Council at 1-800-421-5326 and request a ballot.

It's time we took back control of our beef checkoff funds.

Shirley Packard,

Arthur, Nebraska