At the last PRB meeting, the CDFA staff asked why people weren’t coming onto the Board when vacancies have been coming up?  Funny question, because we know of two people who were kicked off for being on the non -quota side and we know of 6 nominations that were done on time, an were not given the spots that became available, and the nominations were all non- quota Producers, and they weren’t chosen. so CDFA needs to answer that questions first, but we added another 21 reasons why people do not want to serve on Karen Ross’s Producer Review Board. 

If you want to know why people do not want to be on the PRB, you can start with not  changing the rules to favor the quota holders.

1. Requiring financial statements to be made public  is not anyone’s business, and yet,  you tell us  an address list are  proprietary but not someone’s financial’s.
2. What does a financial statement  have anything to do with a hardship.  If I am paying $30,000 a month and getting nothing in return for it, does it really matter if I am losing money or making money?  Paying $30,000 a month to thin air is  a program that  is causing a hardship.
3. Is this program good for our industry.  Absolutely not, lets  discuss the merits. Does pulling a billion dollars out of the industry to hand over  to 1/3 of the industry and it does not go for any program to better our industry?  Do you think any economist would  suggest that the QIP is good for our industry.?   This is  Economics 101.  Taxation without the tax money going for something of value to the industry, Research and Development,  Marketing, Infrastructure, but the sole purpose of the QIP is to enrich the rich on a scam that was supposed to have been gone back in the 1980″s..
4. Look at the facts, or how about  looking at the Findings that were never done in regards to the QIP.  Did the Findings predict that we would lose over 550 dairies when we implemented the QIP? Oh I forgot we did not do the required Findings. Maybe if we would have done the required findings we could have prevented losing all of those dairies. CDFA and the PRB are  responsible for keeping this dairy destroyer program  in business.
5. Chapter 3, the Equalization Chapter was supposed to equalize everyone with quota so the program would  go away.  How do you come up with a  fiduciary responsibility  to keep a program that was supposed to go away..  CDFA and the Secretary has ignored  their fiduciary responsibility to the Food and Ag code, Chapter 3 to get rid  of quota.
6. How do you allow a referendum that will end the QIP, and then tell the PRB that they have a fiduciary responsibility to  keep the program going.
7. Granting  hardships in no way effects the quota stability.  That is a fallacy or another myth or just a plain lie.  If you granted 25 hardships  and the relief was to grant  all 25 exemptions to the QIP.  That would mean that 25   producers of  milk  would not be assessed and the the assessment rate would go up probably a  penny to $.39..  That is how  the QIP is designed, less milk coming into the pool more money must be charged, so the QIP exists forever as long as their are dairies in  California. But if  25 dairies go broke because of this assessment  they have to pay to the QIP,  Does the program go away, NO, whether the 25 were granted an exemption or  they go out of business, the same amount of money that  needs to be raised to pay the quota holders would be raised by increasing the quota payment.. The QIP continues on.  There is no difference.  15 years down the road we will lose another 400 dairies and only the quota dairies will still be here. 
8. The math does not lie, as CDFA continues to oversee the destruction of all of the non-quota holders, the dairy industry will be reduced down to  the last 350 quota holders and they will have to be assessed $1.70 to pay  themselves the $1.70, and their quota will be worthless..   But in the mean time CDFA and the PRB will be  responsible for the extermination of the  non-quota  producers in favor of the rich elite quota holders who were  given their quota originally  for free.
9. Not accepting transparency for the referendums, is another problem.  Fair referendums  are very important  to our industry, It makes zero sense that CDFA and the PRB keep turning down our proposals for honest  referendums..
10. Showing favoritism to quota holders  when transferring  quota to quota holders. (AJ Slenders).
11. CDFA and the Secretary not honoring their  promise to  have a reapproval referendum every 5 years.
12. The PRB and CDFA turning down our Petitions for ridiculous reasons and the making of Jim Crow rules to circumvent the non quota holders from having  a fair referendum . to terminate the QIP.
13. The turning down our hardships that are based on the language of the new QIP.
14. Stealing money from those dairymen who were overcharged on their deductions for a 2 year time period.   The PRB voted to take the money that was overcharged  to dairymen who had gone out of business and pass it on to the active dairymen and had the audacity to tell those dairymen  that they could not come to a PRB meeting and ask for their money back, and they were told they were not dairymen anymore. They were dairymen when you took their money..
15. Threats of being sued like the current board has alleged as a reason to not want to be on the PRB, has no meaning.  A  honest person would not have any problem serving on the board, only a crook would say that is a reason not to serve. 
16. Not changing the minutes to the PRB meetings when they were proven to be false.
17. The new Jim Crow rule that the PRB has a  fiduciary responsibility  for the financial stability of the QIP,  does not understand the history of quota or cannot read the English in the QIP.  There is not any mention of that Jim Crow rule in the QIP or the California Food and Ag code. 
18. The firing of the two non -quota  board members without giving them a official  reason why that was done.
19. Keeping a quota holder  on the PRB when it was found out that he did not take the courses necessary to be on the PRB.
20. Keeping quota holders past  their term limits for the PRB. 
21. You solicited nominations for the PRB at the last meeting, when you still l have more then enough nominations that were given to CDFA last December..  And these nominations were on time.  

For these  reasons , people with ethics have a hard time dealing with the chicanery that takes place on the PRB.  I personally have tried to talk the ones who are leaving to stay, but I understand their frustrations and the hopelessness of CDFA and the PRB quota boys ever doing the right  thing…  The broken promises that continually happen with the PRB and CDFA makes the environment hostile and unproductive, and will stay that way as long as the PRB and CDFA refuse to follow the law.. 

Regretfully,

Craig Gordon