NORTHWEST ARKANSAS — Oklahoma Lt. Gov. Jari Askins’ candid talk of being business-friendly and disinterested in legal disputes impressed Arkansas poultry company bosses who donated money to her gubernatorial campaign, a poultry company executive said Wednesday.
Mark Simmons, chairman of Simmons Foods in Siloam Springs, said about 15 poultry company executives met with Askins for about 45 minutes in Siloam Springs on July 22.
“Her philosophy is to come to an agreement without legal action,” Simmons said. “That’s as close as she got to talking about the poultry lawsuit.”
Askins won the Democratic gubernatorial primary Tuesday by a slim margin over Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson. She faces U.S. Rep. Mary Fallin, a Republican, in November’s general election.
Edmondson has suedSimmons Foods, Springdale’s Tyson Foods and other poultry companies, accusing them of polluting the Illinois River watershed.
During a 50-day trial that ended in February, Edmondson claimed the companies violated federal and state laws because the chicken and turkey manure used by farmers as fertilizer was leaching into streams and degrading water quality. The federal judge who heard the case hasn’t ruled.
Edmondson on Wednesday declined to answer questions about what he’ll do regarding the lawsuit before his term expires at year’s end.
Spokesmen for Askins and Fallin suggested both candidates dislike litigation.
Fallin thinks “over-litigation and unnecessary lawsuits destroy jobs and hurt the economy,” said her spokesman Alex Weintz. Litigation “runs contrary” to her goals of job creation, government efficiency and a balanced state budget, he said.
Askins wouldn’t discuss the specifics of the lawsuit.She “wants to work well with everyone on our border,” said Sid Hudson, her campaign manager.
Hudson attended Thursday’s meeting in Siloam Springs.
“They told us they thought meeting with her at all might hurt her campaign, and they didn’t want to hurt her,” Hudson said. “They were pretty up front about it.”
A contributions report filed Monday with the Oklahoma Ethics Commission by Askins’ campaign showed she received money from Simmons, $5,000; Don Tyson, Tyson FoodsCEO, $5,000; John Tyson, Tyson Foods chairman, $5,000; Gene George, board chairman of Springdale’s George’s Inc., $3,000; Gary George, George’s CEO, $3,000; and Randall Goins, vice chairman of the board for Fort Smith’s O.K. Industries Inc., $2,000.
Other donors included Todd Simmons, Simmons Foods vice chairman, $1,000; Gene Woods, Simmons Foods president, $1,000; and Steve Butler, owner of a Westville, Okla., company called Green Country Farms that raises chickens for Tyson Foods, $1,000.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 07/29/2010