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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDEVIN NUNES'S FAMILY FARM IS HIDING A POLITICALLY EXPLOSIVE SECRET
Nunes grew up in a family of dairy farmers in Tulare, California, and as long as he has been in politics, his family dairy has been central to his identity and a feature of every major political profile written about him. A March story in National Review is emblematic. It describes how Nuness family emigrated from the Azores in Portugal to Californias Central Valley, a fertile, sunny Eden, and how the family worked and saved enough money to buy a 640-acre farm outside Tulare. The soil of the Central Valley is depicted as almost sacred in these articles. National Review quotes a 1912 Portuguese immigrant farmer who wrote that when he grabs a clump of dirt, I feel as if I had just shaken hands with all my ancestors. As recently as July 27, the lead of a Wall Street Journal editorial-page piece about Nunes, which featured a Tulare dateline, emphasized the dairy: Its 105 degrees as I stand with Rep. Devin Nunes on his familys dairy farm. Last year, Nunes noted in an interview with the Daily Beastheadline: The Dairy Farmer Overseeing U.?S. Spies and the Russia Hack InvestigationIm pretty simple. I like agriculture. The Daily Beast noted, The cows are not far from his mind. He keeps in regular contact with his brother and father about their dairy farm.
So heres the secret: The Nunes family dairy of political lorethe one where his brother and parents workisnt in California. Its in Iowa. Devin; his brother, Anthony III; and his parents, Anthony Jr. and Toni Dian, sold their California farmland in 2006. Anthony Jr. and Toni Dian, who has also been the treasurer of every one of Devins campaigns since 2001, used their cash from the sale to buy a dairy eighteen hundred miles away in Sibley, a small town in northwest Iowa where theyas well as Anthony III, Devins only sibling, and his wife, Lorihave lived since 2007. Devins uncle Gerald still owns a dairy back in Tulare, which is presumably where The Wall Street Journals reporter talked to Devin, and Devin is an investor in a Napa Valley winery, Alpha Omega, but his immediate familys farmas well as his familyis long gone.
Theres nothing particularly strange about a congressmans family moving. But what is strange is that the family has apparently tried to conceal the move from the publicfor more than a decade. As far as I could tell, as of late August, neither Nunes nor the local California press that covers him had ever publicly mentioned that his family dairy is no longer in Tulare.
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a23471864/devin-nunes-family-farm-iowa-california/
diva77
(7,643 posts)dalton99a
(81,497 posts)Fred Sanders
(23,946 posts)It is a long article, some spoiling allowed, I would argue.
Grasswire2
(13,570 posts)I thought he had Russian investors in his vineyards in California.
Brother Buzz
(36,434 posts)They winery has exported wines to Russia.
He's also invested in a Central Coast grape processing operation outside San Luis Obispo called in Phase 2 Cellars It's a little murky what he's actually invested in. I hear it's a custom crushing contract business that make wine for other small outfits.
seems to be a whole lot of secrets...
NCjack
(10,279 posts)undocumented workers on their farms. Instead, ICE hits the neighbors who have no political power. Sweet deal for Nunes.
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)There have been news articles of politicians using only a "voting" address but living in a different state.
UTUSN
(70,695 posts)**********QUOTE*******
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a23471864/devin-nunes-family-farm-iowa-california/
DEVIN NUNESS FAMILY FARM IS HIDING A POLITICALLY EXPLOSIVE SECRET
.... ...In the heart of Steve Kings district, a place that is more pro-Trump than almost any other patch of America, the economy is powered by workers that King and Trump have threatened to arrest and deport. ....
...Ater my encounter with Anthony Jr. (NUNES), I met Jerry Nelson, the Dairy Star reporter, down at the Lantern. He wasnt surprised by the hostility. Think about the story from the familys perspective, he told me: They are immigrants and Devin is a very strong supporter of Mr. Trump, and Mr. Trump wants to shut down all of the immigration, and here is his family benefiting from immigrant labor, documented or not. ....
... Devin Nunes was the public figure at the heart of this, and he had no financial interest in his parents Iowa dairy operation. On the other hand, he and his parents seemed to have concealed basic facts about the familys move to Iowa. It was suspicious. And his mom, who co-owns the Sibley dairy, is also the treasurer of his campaign. In 2007, Devin and his wife, Elizabeth, used the NuStar dairys Iowa post-office-box address on a filing with the SEC regarding a financial holding company the family co-owns, even though Devin and Elizabeth live in California. ....
I hope ICE stays the hell away from Sibley. The immigration system that powers Iowas dairies is undoubtedly broken. The dairy owners live with the ever-present fear of becoming the next Mike Millenkamp. The undocumented workers live in the shadows and, especially in the era of Trump and zero tolerance, constantly fear arrest and deportation. Meanwhile, Republicans in Congress, including Devin Nunes (per his CaRepublican website), have decided that unwavering support for ICE is crucial to their efforts to attack Democrats and help the GOP keep control of the House of Representatives after the midterm elections. Naturally, the prospect of passing legislation that would create a guest-worker program for dairy workers who are undocumentedan idea overwhelmingly supported by the industryis a fantasy in the current environment; Trump, King, and their allies describe such policies as amnesty. The Washington debate is completely detached from what is actually going on in places like Sibley. ....
As bad as this paternalistic and exploitative system can be, Nelson and the dairy farmers insisted that most dairies are family-owned and -operated and that the workers, documented or not, often become part of the family. This somewhat clichéd view can be overblown and sometimes used to defend an unfair system, but the sentiment helped me understand Brenda Hoyers chilling warning to me at the Lantern. During her sons wake, four Hispanic employees from their former dairy came to express their condolences. They had worked there so long that their children refer to her husband, Gene, as Grandpa. ....
*********UNQUOTE********
Fred Sanders
(23,946 posts)I am sure they have documents to prove they know nothing of such thing!
It would be very hypocritical of Republicans, none of that around here!
Ccarmona
(1,180 posts)Including two years on a 20 acre farm. That soil is only sacred due to the chemicals, amendments, & Irrigation, (which was brought to the farms by Socialistic Government funded dams and canals). That part of the Valley they moved to was nothing but desert.
hunter
(38,313 posts)Tulare Lake was the largest lake west of the Mississippi.
It was drained to create farms.
My grandma and her sister were from a California Coastal dairy family. They didn't want anything to do with the dairy industry as young women and ran wild in Hollywood starting in their teens, which is why I'm not a dairyman.
My grandma's family had no respect for Central Valley dairy farmers who were more recent immigrants to California, from places like Portugal, and then later as Dust Bowl refugees settling "out in the Tules."
I try not to continue her prejudices, but Republican California isn't easy to love.
catbyte
(34,390 posts)It's not too late to donate!
https://www.andrewjanzforcongress.com/