Editing Sam Donaldson (section)

===Federal aid scandals===
====Mohair subsidies====
In 1995, the struggle in DC over whether to cut the growing deficit touched Donaldson directly. [[Bruce Ingersoll]], award-winning journalist for the ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'' and ''[[The Wall Street Journal]],'' published a column entitled "As Congress Considers Slashing Crop Subsidies, Affluent Urban Farmers Come Under Scrutiny," where he named Donaldson as one of the wealthy, absentee beneficiaries of Federal subsidies, the "third largest recipient" of federal funds in his area.

During the debate in Congress over whether to cut "[[pork (politics)|pork]]," this article was read into the ''Congressional Record'',<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.congress.gov/|title=Congress.gov - Library of Congress|website=www.congress.gov}}</ref> and Donaldson was chastised by Senator [[Al D'Amato]] to "Give the money back," a phrase repeated multiple times in his floor speech and elsewhere.

There were claims that Donaldson received as much as $1 million in subsidies.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.policytoday.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=66&Itemid=149 |title=U.S. Farm Subsidies: Billions and Billions Served	|first=James |last=Pethokoukis |date=2006-09-14 |website=Policy Today |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120224133020/https://www.policytoday.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=66&Itemid=149 |archive-date=2012-02-24}}</ref> The real number turned out to be around $188,000,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.mulchblog.com/2007/01/what-will-sam-donaldson-tell-the-farm-bureau-about-farm-subsidies.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130129123201/http://www.mulchblog.com/2007/01/what-will-sam-donaldson-tell-the-farm-bureau-about-farm-subsidies.html|url-status=dead|title=Our Most Recent Stories|archive-date=January 29, 2013|website=EWG}}</ref> but the scandal of a millionaire receiving money for a farm on which he was "absentee" still got significant public coverage.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19950318/2110804/sam-donaldson-gets-farm-subsidies|title=Sam Donaldson Gets Farm Subsidies |website=[[The Seattle Times]]|agency=[[Associated Press]]| date=March 18, 1995}}</ref>

The subsidy was held up as a sign of how meaningless much of the pork was, as the Federal government had stopped using [[mohair]] for uniforms in 1960, after only seven years of subsidies, but was still subsidizing its production over three decades later, and apparently giving out money to people other than "poor family farmers." Even the Department of Agriculture was on record as wanting the program ended.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/npr/library/reports/ag01.html|title=USDA01: End the Wool and Mohair Subsidy|website=Department of Agriculture}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url = https://clintonwhitehouse6.archives.gov/1994/07/1994-07-21-npr-accompanying-report-department-of-agriculture.html | title = 1994-07-21 NPR Accompanying Report: Department of Agriculture | date = September 1993 | website = Clinton Presidential Materials Project White House Virtual Library}}</ref>

Donaldson initially refused to comment, but eventually defended himself by describing the mohair subsidy as "built into the price of sheep," and claimed he had "argued against subsidies for years" and was glad when the program was finally "killed," but in fact mohair subsidies continued all the way to 2012.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.creators.com/opinion/john-stossel/will-the-republicans-really-cut-this-time.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130602083747/http://www.creators.com/opinion/john-stossel/will-the-republicans-really-cut-this-time.html|url-status=dead|title=Will the Republicans Really Cut This Time?|archive-date=June 2, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.politico.com/news/stories/0610/38379.html|title=Mohair subsidies get reps' goats|first=Marin|last=Cogan|website=[[Politico]]|date=June 10, 2010}}</ref>

====Pest control====
Only a year later, Donaldson was embroiled in another Federal aid scandal. While still receiving Federal mohair subsidies, it was revealed that he was also using Federal resources to kill [[prairie dog]]s, [[bobcat]]s, [[fox]]es, and [[coyote]]s on his ranch.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.jimhightower.com/node/2748|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150427223222/http://www.jimhightower.com/node/2748|url-status=dead|title=Sam Donaldson: Welfare for the Rich|last=Hightower|first=Jim|date=September 6, 1996|archive-date=April 27, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1320&dat=19970829&id=-UdWAAAAIBAJ&pg=3175,6766666|title=Sam Donaldson, government should shape up (letter to the editor)|last=Peterson|first=Anna|website= [[The Gainesville Sun]] |via=news.google.com}}</ref> His farm was reported to have used the [[USDA]]'s Animal Damage Control agents 412 times in only 5 years.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.deseretnews.com/article/624477/Aerial-wildlife-killers-should-be-grounded.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180524123917/https://www.deseretnews.com/article/624477/Aerial-wildlife-killers-should-be-grounded.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 24, 2018|title=Aerial wildlife killers should be grounded|date=April 15, 1998|newspaper=[[Deseret News]]}}</ref> This sparked outrage among both [[deficit hawk]]s and [[animal rights activist]]s.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://azdailysun.com/ranchers-aren-t-the-only-ones-using-federal-program-to/article_d6b8c11c-659d-53d5-9661-fdfd267adaa7.html|title=Ranchers aren't the only ones using federal program to kill predators|first=Barry |last=Massey|newspaper=[[Arizona Daily Sun]]|agency=[[Associated Press]]}}</ref>

This was actually brought to light by Donaldson's own demands for more Federal money. He claimed to have lost a number of sheep to predators despite the heavy use of Federal resources, and therefore wanted Federal money to pay for his losses: "The government helps ranchers and farmers and businesses of all kinds. If it's in existence and I am eligible to use it, I'll use it."<ref>{{Cite news | url = http://articles.philly.com/1996-08-13/living/25644019_1_predators-suha-yasir-arafat | title = Predators Preyed; Donaldson Wants To Be Paid | last = Speers | first = W. | newspaper = [[The Philadelphia Inquirer]] | date = August 13, 1996 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151226203148/http://articles.philly.com/1996-08-13/living/25644019_1_predators-suha-yasir-arafat | archive-date = December 26, 2015 | url-status = dead}}</ref>

In an interview, Donaldson said of the animal rights complaints:

<blockquote>What are we going to do about the coyotes, that are eating the lambs like there's no tomorrow? They're eating so many lambs, I thought the other day I'd put out some mint jelly, in case they want it with their mutton. Every time I say this, the conservationists and the people who love animals just jump all over me. "What? A coyote is a predator and has a right to live." Yeah, they have a right to live, I'm all for that, but they're eating my lambs, folks. I just put it to you, doesn't the lamb have a right to live? "Yeah, but you're going to sell the lamb and they're going to kill the lamb for the money." That's right. If you're going to be in the sheep ranching business, you have to try to get rid of the coyotes. Otherwise, you're not going to stay in the ranching business.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/don0int-9|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517034314/http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/don0int-9|url-status=dead|title=Sam Donaldson interview|publisher=[[Academy of Achievement]]|page=9 |archive-date=May 17, 2008}}</ref></blockquote>