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Protecting Clients’ Rights in the
Marketplace
What does a premium beef company do
when the US Department of Agriculture refuses to allow it
to voluntarily test its cattle for “mad cow” disease?
They turn to the Podesta Group for a solution. To launch a
combined public relations and government relations effort
and announce the company’s lawsuit against the USDA
for not allowing voluntary testing for Bovine Spongiform
Encephalopathy (BSE), we organized a highly successful press
conference at the National Press Club. The press conference
and media follow-up generated national and international print
and broadcast stories, including in the agriculture trade
press. Favorable editorials and columns also appeared in the
New York Times, Los Angeles Times, USA Today,
Washington Times, and Chicago Tribune.
On the government relations front, we conducted strategic
outreach to targeted lawmakers in the House and Senate, including
to members of the agriculture committees and the related appropriations
subcommittees as well as the House Government Reform Committee.
Our efforts resulted in key policymakers weighing in on behalf
of our client with the USDA. We also recruited third party
supporters among consumer and food safety groups who made
their voices known at the USDA and broadened our client’s
base of public support. We helped this client reinforce
the company’s position – on Capitol Hill and in
the media – that it has every right in a free competitive
marketplace to voluntarily test for BSE.
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