According to The Hill in an article about top corporate lobbyists:
Abigail Blunt, Kraft Foods. The Obama administration and Congress have signaled a renewed interest in food safety after a string of scares, so Blunt, wife of Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), should have a busy year.
Until 2005, she was a tobacco lobbyist and he was under fire for accepting donations from the tobacco industry and acting favorably to them in Congress. Her affiliation at that time was with Altria, the parent company of Philip Morris and former owner of Kraft Foods. Apparently, Abigail shifted from tobacco to food in 2005, while still working for Altria. Altria sold off Kraft in 2007 and Abigail went with Kraft.
So how might Abigail's lobbying career affect Blunt's positions on issues? In the 109th Congress, Blunt was a co-sponsor of the National Uniformity of Food Act, a bill designed to pre-empt state labeling laws that are stricter than those required by the federal government. He signed onto a bill by Ric Keller (the fast food companies' favorite member of Congress) that would shield food companies from lawsuits alleging that their food made consumers fat. And yes, his wife lobbied for it. (To his credit, he has not yet signed on as a co-sponsor of the bill's equivalent in this Congress, H.R.812.)
|
