DES MOINES, Iowa — Despite promising to shun money from corporate farming giants, Elizabeth Warren has pocketed donations from those in the “Big Ag” sector, according to financial disclosure filings.
The Massachusetts senator and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate last month signed Friends of the Earth’s “No ‘Big Ag’ Money Pledge,” agreeing not to accept campaign contributions from Securities and Exchange Commission-named executives, lobbyists, and political action committees tied to large food and agribusiness companies, from those selling agrichemicals to international food retailer chains.
Yet, Warren’s campaign has received about $35,000 worth of donations from executives working for companies blacklisted by Friends of the Earth, an environmental advocacy group that this week endorsed Warren and her populist ally Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders for the 2020 Democratic nomination ahead of Monday’s first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses — even if they aren’t named in the “executive compensation” section of their entity’s proxy statement, breaking the pledge.
Amazon was one of Warren’s most lucrative cash cows, with employees giving $14,849.47. Target staff also coughed up $5,063.20.
Examples of individual contributions include $1,200 from Jane Stutsman, Dollar General Corporation’s vice president of risk management, and $1,235 from Sharon Walbert, Cargill’s assistant vice president for strategy and innovation.
Other executives — from businesses such as AB InBev, Coca-Cola, Danone, DowDupont, Keurig Dr. Pepper, Kraft Heinz Company, Starbucks, and Sodexo, the food service provider whose labor dispute with unionized workers at Loyola Marymount University almost derailed the sixth Democratic primary debate last December in Los Angeles — have given one-off amounts of more than $200.
A spokeswoman for Warren’s White House bid didn’t immediately respond to the Washington Examiner‘s request for comment. But on the campaign trail, the senator has pitched guaranteeing farmers “a fair price,” incentivizing the reduction of overproduction, and compensating stakeholders to encourage environmental conversation.
The donations don’t violate the pledge or any campaign finances laws, but they do infringe another self-imposed purity test, which have been the hallmark of this Democratic race for the right to challenge President Trump in the fall.
Most of the candidates this cycle have eschewed corporate PAC or federal lobbyist funding. Beto O’Rourke tripped over his own promise last spring when he was confronted by an angry voter in New Hampshire over a contribution he accepted from a fossil fuel lobbyist. The former Texas congressman eventually returned the $250 from the Chevron Corporation employee.
Joe Biden was also pressed over a fundraiser hosted by the co-founder of Houston-based natural gas producer Western LNG last September during a CNN town hall, provoking a vociferous defense from his team.
Warren has, in the past, taken money from private citizens connected to organizations and causes she’s blasted on the campaign trail. The Washington Examiner last year reported that she collected $900 from staff of Palantir Technologies, a Silicon Valley data analytics firm that has been linked to software used in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s crackdown on illegal immigration.
