For three years, starting in 2003, a coalition of milk companies and dairies lobbied to crush an initiative by a maverick Arizona dairyman. Hein Hettinga chose to work outside the rigid system that has controlled U.S. milk production for almost 70 years. The milk lobby said he presented unfair competition because he chose to operate without federal price control. Hettinga fought back but was outgunned on the Hill. In March, Congress passed a bill that effectively ended his experiment.
SOURCES: PoliticalMoneyLine, federal lobby disclosure reports and federal campaign finance records | GRAPHIC: By Dan Morgan and Laura Stanton, The Washington Post - December 10, 2006
