Little Rock billionaire donates $250,000 to group opposing marijuana amendment August 16, 2022 By Griffin Coop Little Rock billionaire Ron Cameron, the low-profile but politically active CEO of chicken company Mountaire, donated $250,000 to a committee opposing the legalization of recreational marijuana in Arkansas, according to financial reports filed with the state. Cameron made the donation last month to Safe and Secure Communities, a committee formed on July 13 to oppose the legalization of marijuana. In documents filed with the Arkansas Ethics Commission, the committee stated it will “educate the public about the consequence of legalizing marijuana for personal use and advocate for the defeat of an amendment to the Arkansas Constitution allowing the regulated sale of adult use cannabis in the state.” Responsible Growth Arkansas is pushing the Arkansas Adult Use Cannabis Amendment to legalize recreational marijuana use in Arkansas. Last week, the state Supreme Court placed the amendment on the ballot provisionally. The Supreme Court could rule next month as to whether the votes on the matter will be counted, according to Responsible Growth counsel Steve Lancaster. Safe and Secure Communities, the group opposing legalized marijuana, was formed by Michael McCauley, who listed an address in Downers Grove, Illinois, on the documents. The phone number McCauley listed is the phone number associated with McCauley and Associates P.C., an accounting firm located in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Washington, D.C. The documents filed with the Arkansas Ethics Commission also list Salt Lake County in Utah. McCauley and Associates’ website says the company does political accounting and says Mike McCauley has worked on a presidential committee and numerous senatorial and congressional committees, including former Republican Utah Senator Orrin Hatch and current Republican Utah Senator Mike Lee. From the website: Established in 2005, McCauley & Associates, P.C., is a certified public accounting firm that provides full caging, accounting, treasury and reporting services for a large variety of political reporting entities, including Congressional and Senate campaigns, PACS, State and Local parties or candidate committees as well as other political entities including 527 and 501 (c)(4) organizations. McCauley told Hunter Field of the new state news organization Arkansas Advocate that he was not able to provide information beyond what was in the filing. Cameron and his company have a history of donating to conservative candidates and causes, according to a report from the New Yorker and reports on Open Secrets. In 2018, Mountaire donated $1 million to a conservative super PAC called Freedom Partners Action Fund, according to Open Secrets. The next year, Cameron donated $500,000 to the Senate Leadership Fund and $500,000 to the Congressional Leadership Fund. The Senate Leadership Fund’s website said it has one goal: “to build a Republican Senate majority that will defend America from Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats’ destructive far-left agenda.”
