Todd Tiahrt is a proud former member of the House tea party caucus. He claims to have a “100 percent pro-life voting record,” he was a vociferous opponent of the 2009 economic stimulus plan, and he carries an A-rating from the National Rifle Association. By all accounts, the former congressman from Kansas is a doctrinaire tea partier. He’s currently attempting to reclaim his old seat from Rep. Mike Pompeo, a Kansas Republican, and challenging the incumbent Republican from the right.
Yet there’s one political issue on which the tea party challenger makes common cause with liberals. Todd Tiahrt wants food to be clearly labeled if includes GMOs (genetically modified organisms). And he’s making an issue out of it in his campaign against Pompeo.
“Moms want to know what is in their kids’ foods. People want to know,” he told local press. “They are upset that someone wants to withhold information from them.”
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GMO labeling is most often associated with blue states like California, where environmental activists launched a failed 2012 campaign to institute mandatory labeling by popular referendum. But it’s a live issue in Kansas’ fourth congressional district, thanks in part to Pompeo’s efforts in Washington. In April, the congressman – who originally replaced Tiahrt in the 2010 election – introduced The Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2014, which would block states from instituting GMO labeling laws. An April statement from Pompeo’s office says the legislation is intended to “protect consumers by eliminating confusion and advancing food safety.”
Read the full, original article: Tea party finds common cause with the left on agriculture
