Land O 'Lakes Ends Support for US Representative After Uproar

(Reuters) – Land O'Lakes dairy co-operative announced Tuesday its support for US Rep. Steve King, an Iowa Republican whose inflammatory comments about immigration and race have been re-examined after the massacre perpetrated in the Pittsburgh synagogue.

King, 69, has been widely criticized for his comments and support for candidates with white supremacist affiliations, including members of his own party. On Monday, King tweeted a photo of several dog breeds, highlighting "all the diversity" during his annual pheasant hunt.

King, seeking his ninth term in the House of Representatives, received $ 2,500 from the Land O'Lakes Political Action Committee this year, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which follows campaign donations.

"We take our civic responsibility seriously, want our contributions to be a positive force for the good, and also ensure that the recipients of our contributions respect the values ​​of our society," said Land O Lakes, Minnesota. , whose products include her eponymous butter, said in a report. "On this basis, we have determined that our PPC will no longer support Steve King's representative in the future."

King was also criticized on Tuesday by a powerful member of his party, while the US representative Steve Stivers, a Republican from Ohio, spoke to Twitter to condemn his remarks.

"Recent comments, actions and retweets by Congressman Steve King are totally inappropriate," said Stivers, chairman of the National Republican Congress Committee, which supports party campaigns in Congress. "We must stand up against white supremacy and hatred in all its forms, and I strongly condemn this behavior."

King was provocative in a Twitter post titled "King Response." "These attacks are orchestrated by unpleasant, desperate and dishonest false news," he wrote, while accusing the Republicans of the establishment.

King did not address the problem of Land O'Lakes funding, but sought to clarify his point of view on race and ethnicity. "Americans, all created equal by God, with all our races, our ethnicities and our national origins – legal immigrants and natural born citizens – together form the Brilliant City on the Hill," he also wrote in his Twitter post.

His campaign told Reuters that Twitter's statement was the Congressman's response.

King is looking to be reelected in a race that seems to be tightening, even if he is still favored to win. The handicappers of the campaign at Cook Political Report Tuesday pushed the contest to "lighten the Republican" from a "probably Republican" victory.

On Saturday morning, an armed man who shouted "All Jews must die" stormed the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, killing 11 people while he opened fire at the church's prayer services. Sabbath.

The man accused of the massacre, Robert Bowers, appeared in court on Monday.

The Pittsburgh attack took place a few days after at least 14 homemade bombs were sent to some of President Donald Trump's biggest critics, including wealthy donor George Soros. King frequently invokes the name of Soros as a liberal villain, a reference interpreted by many Jews and others as an anti-Semitic whistle. A man from Florida was arrested on Friday and charged in this case.

During a recent trip to Europe funded by a Holocaust memorial group, King met an Austrian far-right party linked to neo-Nazi groups after visiting Holocaust sites , according to the Washington Post and other media.

After the shooting in Pittsburgh, King told the Washington Post that he was not anti-Semitic. He re-tweeted an article on Twitter citing the late Pope John Paul II claiming that Jews are "beloved brothers".

This does not stop social media calls from boycotting Land O'Lakes for his support of King. The company did not respond to questions regarding its decision to terminate its financial support to King nor to indicate whether the threat of boycott was a factor.

Trump won the King Congress district by 27 percentage points in the 2016 presidential race.

But by mid-October, King had raised $ 740,000, less than half of the $ 1.7 million reported by his Democratic opponent, J.D. Scholten, according to the website of the Federal Election Commission.

At the time, King had $ 176,000 worth of money to spend in the last weeks of the campaign, compared to $ 317,000 for Scholten.