QUID PORK QUO

Iowa Pork Exec Donated to Governor Before Company Got the Most COVID Aid

Mary Ann Christensen donated $25,000. Christensen Farms got $1.86 million.

A board member of an Iowa pork processing company donated $25,000 to the state’s governor in December and then received six times more money than any other company from the state’s first round of pandemic aid for pork farmers. Mary Ann Christensen, a member of the board of Christensen Farms and of the company’s founding family, made the gift to Republican Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds on Dec. 29, according to newly released disclosure forms. The company received $1.86 million, six times more than any other company that applied to the reimbursement program, in payment for hogs euthanized due to COVID-19 supply chain disruptions from the Iowa Disposal Assistance Program. The payout made up 72 percent of the first round of funds from the initiative. Christensen received $40 a head for 46,599 euthanized hogs.