Osborn for Senate
Yesterday, the Department of Justice revealed they have opened a criminal antitrust investigation into the nation’s largest beef processors for alleged collusion and price manipulation in the cattle industry. This announcement comes six months after Tyson announced they would eliminate 3,200 jobs with their decision to close their meatpacking plant in Lexington, Nebraska instead of selling the plant to a competitor. In December, Independent U.S. Senate Candidate Dan Osborn pointed to the closure decision as an example of price manipulation and stifling competition by Tyson in violation of antitrust law. Accordingly, Osborn called upon the DOJ and USDA to file a lawsuit against Tyson to enforce the Packers & Stockyards Act of 1921. Exactly one day after U.S. Senator Pete Ricketts claimed his office would “look into” any potential violations of antitrust law by the company following Osborn’s press conference, Ricketts accepted a donation from Tyson and two months later indicated his office found no wrongdoing.
Today, Dan Osborn released the following statement regarding the U.S. Department of Justice’s criminal antitrust investigation into the Big Four meatpackers:
“I am glad to see the Trump Administration and Department of Justice share my long-held concern that the Big Four Meatpackers are intentionally driving up the cost of beef in violation of antitrust laws.
“As I spoke about in Lexington five months ago, it’s crucial that the Department of Justice enforce the rule of law against these companies abusing their power to eliminate competition in our markets and drive up costs for consumers.
“The DOJ’s move to investigate antitrust violations by these meatpackers is an indictment on my opponent, Pete Ricketts, who continues to take money from companies like Tyson who clearly need to be regulated as thousands of Nebraska workers get screwed out of their jobs.
“How can we expect Ricketts to stand up for Nebraska workers and consumers when he has turned a blind eye to antitrust violations by his donors at Tyson?”
Timeline and background information:
- On December 9, Dan Osborn was joined by an antitrust attorney in Lexington, Nebraska to call upon the Department of Justice and Department of Agriculture to file a lawsuit against Tyson for a potential violation of the Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921.
- On December 10, Senator Ricketts stated that his team was “looking into” whether Tyson may be in violation of the Packers and Stockyards Act.
- On December 11, Pete Ricketts received a $1,000 donation from Tyson, according to campaign finance reporting. To date, Ricketts’ political campaigns have received $72,500 from Tyson.
- On February 4, after nearly two months of no updates on his staff’s findings, a video was published where Ricketts was asked by a reporter what he had done to try and save the Tyson plant in Lexington prior to its closure. Despite the clear evidence of market manipulation, Ricketts denied that Tyson was in violation of the Packers and Stockyards Act without clarifying why that was the conclusion his team reached, and failed to directly answer the question posed by the reporter of what he did to try and prevent the closure.
