Attorney General sues grocery association for illegally collecting millions to oppose GM labeling

Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed a lawsuit today against the Grocery Manufacturers Association, alleging the group illegally collected and spent more than $7 million to oppose Initiative 522, the measure requiring labeling of genetically modified foods.

Ferguson’s lawsuit, filed in Thurston County Superior Court, said the Washington D.C.-based trade association solicited big money from its members specifically for the anti-GMO-labeling campaign, yet illegally concealed the identity of those donors from the public by failing to register and file reports as a political committee.

“In our view it’s a clear violation. It’s an important violation,” Ferguson said at a news conference in Seattle.

Ferguson said unless the GMA immediately discloses its donors, his office will ask a judge for a temporary restraining order to force the grocery association to register as a political committee and reveal its donors so that voters will have the information as they cast their ballots for or against I-522. He added the state will seek civil penalties and attorney’s fees from the group.

The state’s lawsuit cites internal GMA communications in which the group’s leaders planned their big-money effort to fight GMO labeling measures while protecting its corporate members from criticism. Read more >>