Farm subsidies become issue in Ky. Senate race

We've previously reported on Kentucky Republican Senate nominee Rand Paul's position on farm subsidies, here and here, and now the issue is continuing to get attention in his race with Democratic Attorney General Jack Conway. "The votes of those who till the rich soil of Western Kentucky have long been important to politicians who hope to carry the conservative region, where most people register as Democrats but tend to vote Republican in federal elections," Bill Estep and Halimah Abdullah of the Lexington Herald-Leader report. "Paul's position that subsidies are not a good idea — a stance he took in May that meshes with his overall Libertarian-leaning philosophy — isn't popular with many of those voters."

Paul most recently said he was "not sure" what level of farm-subsidy spending spending would be appropriate, "but suggested that cutting subsidy payments to the richest farmers would be a good starting point," the newspaper reports. Chris Clark, agriculture extension agent in Hart County, told the reporters that Paul's position had "raised a lot of eyebrows in the farm community." His county, in south-central Kentucky, is one of those getting more than $3 million annually in subsidies. (H-L graphic by Chris Ware)

"For a lot of farmers, subsidies have become a sort of birthright, and there's talk about 'Why us. Why go after farmers and not someone else,'" Donald Gross, a University of Kentucky political science professor, told the Herald-Leader. "If you say cut spending and that means eliminate these subsidies that you've had for the past 50 years, then people will kind of go, 'Oh, well now, wait a minute.'" Conway "accused Paul of favoring elimination of programs to help farmers," the reporters write. "Conway did not say whether he would favor any cuts in subsidies." (Read more)

Paul's previous statements against farm subsidies are "remarkable for anyone seeking to represent Kentucky in Washington, even six years after the federal tobacco program was repealed," Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues Director Al Cross writes in a column for The Courier-Journal. He notes that in 2008, the last year for which complete data are available, 69,284 people and businesses in Kentucky got money from federal farm programs. Paul "talks little about Kentucky in his campaign, which is almost completely focused on national issues and is clearly playing to a national audience," Cross writes. "He may be at the cutting edge of a national movement that will in fact change Washington, but before he can do that, he must be elected in a relatively poor state that has depended on Washington. It remains to be seen whether Kentucky voters will change the description of the job for which he is applying." (Read more)

UPDATE, July 23: At the Kentucky Farm Bureau candidate forum July 22, Paul said, “It is really galling to people that three companies in the U.S. got a billion dollars” in farm subsidies. But the “companies,” Joe Gerth of The Courier-Journal reports, “are all cooperatives that are owned by thousands of farmers” who grow rice ijn Arkansas and California and get an average of $4,000 a year in subsidies. Asked about that, Paul's campaign manager said “I don’t know what a co-op is. But it certainly doesn’t change the point that farm subsidies are often full of waste, fraud and abuse by corporations at the expense of the farmer.” (His initial comment drew a sharp rejoinder from a Republican-leaning rural blogger.)

Gerth also notes Conway "twice claimed erroneously that Paul had called for doing away with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. ... In fact, Paul has said it’s not feasible to abolish the department. Instead, he has advocated getting rid of individual programs in the department that aren’t effective or cost-efficient." Paul told Farm Bureau directors, “We are drowning in a sea of debt, and it's not about if you’re for or against farmers. If you want to be for farmers, open up markets. … Don’t say 'I'll give you more money,' when the money is gone.” (Read more) C-SPAN airs the forum at 8 p.m. Saturday.

Following up on his earlier story, which contradicted Paul's claims about payments to dead farmers, Ronnie Ellis of Community Newspaper Holdings reports that Paul's father-in law "received relatively small farm subsidy payments for 12 years — including a portion of a USDA payment due his deceased father’s estate in 1995." (Read more)

UPDATE, July 24: New York Times columnist Gail Collins, a Cincinnati native, attended the forum in Louisville. In a column she pokes fun at Conway for overemphasis of his "Kentucky first" mantra and Paul for his even more heavy use of the name of Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid. She concludes with this from the post-forum press conference:

A local reporter noted that the state sends less money to Washington than it gets back and asked Paul if he wanted to “sacrifice our take.”
“I don’t think anything coming from the federal government is a net-plus,” he replied.
You have to give this to Rand Paul. It’s generally clear where his heart lies, even if he was a little weaselly on his well-established opposition to farm subsidies when addressing a roomful of farmers.
On that point, I would like to say: Go for it, Rand Paul! Not sure we urbanites share your antipathy toward the minimum-wage laws, but when it comes to crop supports, we’re there for you. (Read more)