Mr Buck Plays Games
With Water for Agriculture
On October 4, 2016 Republican Congressman Ken Buck was the beneficiary of a glowing headline and fluff newspaper article in the Greeley Tribune, meant to show what a great representative he is for rural farmers who have serious concerns about their ability to water their crops. He was there to talk about his Water Bill, H.R. 4220, which purports to help farmers and ranchers by making it easier and cheaper to deliver water where it’s needed.
There are just a couple of things wrong with the picture the Tribune paints, because Ken’s bill is a funny kind of straw-man, never intended to pass at all. This bill is not about legislation, it is marketing material, designed to paint a picture for constituents of who Ken Buck wants us to think he is.
So fine, let’s take the bait. What does this bill tell us about Ken Buck?
This legislation was originally submitted almost two years ago, on December 10, 2015, yet even in a GOP-controlled House it hasn’t gone anywhere but to the Ways and Means Committee.
Buck isn’t the first, and surely won’t be the last, politician to propose a bill like this. How many times have you seen a headline about some congressman or senator proposing a bill that would prohibit members from leaving Congress to become a lobbyist? In case you don’t remember I’ll tell you. You’ve seen this headline five of the last six years.
These bills are purely PR. They are pure misdirection. No one fights for them.
In the case of H.R. 4220, Buck got what he desired: public relations gold. The Greeley Tribune article portrays him as a champion of the rural family farmer. When the next campaign rolls around you can count on this article being circulated by his campaign as evidence of how hard he works for rural America. He’ll have glowing testimonials from attendees about how he listened to their concerns and fought for their water rights.
Buck struck gold for a reason: The farmers’ and ranchers’ concerns about water are real. Small farmers and ranchers are constantly threatened by corporate-controlled water and ditch companies selling off their water. Buck purports to fix this by encouraging investment in delivery, allowing these corporate-controlled water supply companies to spend to upgrade critical rural infrastructure without jeopardizing their status as a non-profit. He wants to use the tax code to encourage private investment in rural America, a position which some might find stunningly moderate.
If only it stopped there. Buck’s bill also allows these corporate-controlled entities to spend, as not-for-profits, on “expenses for the construction of conveyances designed to deliver water outside of the system of the mutual ditch or irrigation company or of the like organization.”
THAT trick is called “buy and dry.” Companies can build a pipeline to take water AWAY from farmlands to the city, all while getting a big fat tax break for doing it. They are pretending they are helping farmers and ranchers by building water transport infrastructure; they are just not saying where they will transport it.
Oops.
Ken Buck has proposed legislation that will make it easier for water brokers to dry up farmland. But he got a free pass on it from the Greeley Tribune, who was happy to report on what he said without checking the facts, and without asking uncomfortable questions. Buck will no doubt frame the picture and caption for later use.
Here’s how you can tell Buck’s bill is fake: Buck is trying to sell to two opposing groups at once. He has a vested interest in seeing his own legislation stall; as long as the legislation is just an idea, and no one takes it seriously enough to read the details, he can claim to help both sides. The worst outcome in the world for Buck would be for his legislation to pass. Then he’d have to take responsibility.
We all must keep in mind what this bill actually is: A photo op, with no substance behind it. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.
Ken Buck has time to go to country clubs. Ken Buck has time to write a book and to go on book signing tours. Ken Buck has time to submit legislation that he has no intention of putting an effort into getting passed. He has time to think up dirty tricks.
But he doesn’t have time to meet with family farmers and ranchers who can’t just drive over to the country club for single-malt and politicking. He doesn’t have time to read the details of a health care bill that will devastate rural hospitals and impoverish most of the people in his district, including many of the people who fight to keep their water flowing. He doesn’t have time to understand and sympathize with his real constituents.
If the rural voters in Colorado’s 4th Congressional District ever catch on to Ken Buck’s calculated misdirection then he’ll have plenty of time to practice his Three-Card Monty on a street corner in Denver. That’s a better place for him than playing politics with an issue that means life and death on Colorado’s Eastern Plains.
Enough show. Enough Tricks. It’s time to elect someone who will fight for us, not pose for a photo and disappear.
Originally published in The Weathervane No 6 on June 29, 2017. [Subscribe]
