Competitive Markets Action Hires Cassidy Alumni, Pennsylvania Native, Vinnie Trometter to Head Government Affairs
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Competitive Markets Action (CMA) is pleased to announce the hiring of Vinnie Trometter, as Director of Government Affairs. Trometter most recently worked at Cassidy and Associates, one of Washington, D.C.’s top lobbying firms, and is a native of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, located in the 15th Congressional District of Pennsylvania, a seat held by U.S. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “G.T.” Thompson, R-State College.
Trometter will be working at CMA to prevent the inclusion of the so-called Ending Agriculture Trade Suppression (EATS) Act, H.R. 4417/S. 2019 led by Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, and Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, alongside lobbying firms Capitol South, LLC and Conaway-Graves, who also represent the organization on the issue.
Vinnie Trometter | Photo Credit: CineSalon
Trometter will also be working to ramp up CMA’s work to advance the Opportunities for Fairness in Farming (OFF) Act, H.R. 1249/S. 557, led by Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, Rand Paul, R-Ky., Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., in the Senate and Reps. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., and Dina Titus, D-Nev., in the House, as CMA and its sister organization, the Organization for Competitive Markets (OCM) prepares for their September fly-in to our Nation’s Capital.
“I’m honored to join the team at Competitive Markets Action and will work tirelessly to defeat the terrible Hinson-Marshall EATS Act, and advance the OFF Act that will reform USDA’s scandal-ridden Commodity Checkoff Programs,” said Vinnie Trometter, Director of Government Affairs at Competitive Markets Action. “My experience both domestically and internationally, proximity to Capitol Hill, and passion for these issues, will help independent family farmers amplify their voice and achieve the results we’re seeking in the upcoming Farm Bill.”
“We’re elated to have Trometter join our team and have seen from his previous work that he’s the right man for the job and will go above and beyond the call of duty to help American family farmers currently under attack by multinational conglomerates like the Chinese-owned Smith field and their whipping boys at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association,” said Marty Irby, President at Competitive Markets Action and Board Secretary at the Organization for Competitive Markets. “We’re pulling out all the stops and leaving no stone unturned in our work to prevent the Chinese from stamping out independent producers across the nation.”
Trometter is a graduate of Penn State and Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, and brings eight years of political campaigning, economic development, international trade, and transparency experience from around the world. His vast network of relationships in Pennsylvania come in part through his work with Penn Strategies, a Harrisburg-based economic development and political consulting firm, where he assisted with the National Mining Association’s “Count on Coal” initiative, state-wide political races, and local economic development projects. Internationally, he was a whistleblower coordinator for Transparency International, handled embassy relations with World Trade Center Dublin, and worked at Ireland’s export promotion agency, Enterprise Ireland. He is also familiar with complex financial transactions through his time assisting international investment transparency with The Carlyle Group. These diverse experiences have honed his ability to wholistically assess, analyze, and communicate complex competition, transparency, and economic development issues to constituent groups.
Earlier this week, 171 Members of Congress sent a letter joined in sending a letter to House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “G.T.” Thompson, R-Pa., and Ranking Member David Scott, R-Ga., citing their opposition to the EATS assault on states’ rights. Two of the leading groups that lobbied the Members to join the letter include OCM and CMA as well as members of the Alabama Contract Poultry Growers Association, Kansas Cattlemen’s Association, National Dairy Producers Organization, and Contract Poultry Growers Association of the Virginias. In June, OCM and CMA launched a public campaign against EATS, a measure the groups deem an assault on states’ rights and a gift to Chinese pork conglomerates like Smithfield. In July, the groups rallied in Washington, D.C., to join in nearly 100 meetings on Capitol Hill , and spoke out against EATS at their annual conference in Kansas City, Missouri.
The groups are determined to prevent the measure from marginalizing American family farmers and opening the floodgates to China’s takeover of American agriculture alongside conservative groups like FreedomWorks, and expect more letters against EATS from Members of the House and Senate to be sent in the coming weeks.
The OFF Act, first introduced prior to the 2018 Farm Bill would create a system of checks and balances within USDA’s Commodity Checkoff Programs, prohibit checkoffs from utilizing tax-payer dollars to lobby against farmers’ best interests, and prohibit disparagement of one product of another – a practice that’s long-allowed the federal government to pick winners and losers in the marketplace.
Competitive Markets Action (CMA) is a 501(c)(4) non-profit based in Washington, D.C. that was formed with the mission of advancing policy to promote more regenerative and sustainable agriculture, and competitive markets in the U.S., and to defend against attacks on states’ rights by the federal government. CMA works to raise awareness of the harm caused to the farmer, the consumer and our U.S. economy as a whole in an effort to bring about legislative and regulatory reforms.