Like a well played out stage performance, one has to wonder if the 14 day closure was already agreed to?
There seemed to be a lot of confidence yesterday between Noem and TenHaken in sending this supposed letter. The media wondered why there was no representation from Smithfield’s or the Union. They didn’t seemed to concerned about it. Is it because they already talked to them and the letter was simply icing on the cake of this nice little package?
I think the real media, not just some loud mouth blogger, needs to do some digging.
Here are some things that may further back up my theory;
• A letter? When there is a public health crisis, most people pick up the phone and have discussions in real time. I found this letter (that no one knows how it was sent) to be an afterthought. I think there was very serious conversations behind the scenes and I think Noem and TenHaken (mostly Paul) threatened serious repercussions if this wasn’t done, and in the face of both parties looking very bad an agreement was probably made. Smithfield’s looks good for complying without messy legal problems, and Noem and PTH look good because they got them to comply by sending a ‘letter’ with no legal teeth. Both parties win.
• No public discussion was had before the announcement of the letter. The city council was notified only 1 1/2 hours before the Governor’s press conference in an email about this letter.
• Timed press conferences. How odd that they were just a half hour apart and almost timed to the minute with a coordinated well planned out statements.
• What if they would not have complied? Remember how both Noem and TenHaken were very smug about the idea if they would not have complied. It seemed they had no further plans, because they already knew they would probably comply.
• Another suspicious timing is how Smithfield magically complied in 24 hours, on Easter Sunday no less. Just in time for your Easter Ham.
• No representation from the Union or Smithfield’s was present at these press conferences. They didn’t need to be there, the script was probably already written.
Don’t be fooled by this display of supposed leadership, this seemed to be a well played out act. Don’t get me wrong, closing for 14 days (or more) should be done, it should have been done on March 26 when the first case appeared. We should be thankful a deal was cut, even if it is a little late. What we should not be thankful for is all the games being played behind the scenes. Why can’t our elected leaders just do these things in the open? How simple it would have been for Noem and PTH to just say, “We had a conversation with Smithfield’s that if they didn’t close for 14 days there would be legal intervention.” Seems pretty simple to me. But as an elected official said to me today, Noem and TenHaken would not have wanted to piss off their big money donors.