The First Lady, Food Fix Campaign, SNAP-Ed, and West Virginia’s Soda Waiver.

**I found the information below about a month ago, and I have decided it is time to bring it into the sunlight.** **I am putting these records and connections out publicly because West Virginians deserve to know who is involved in shaping policy that affects them—especially when it involves public benefits, public money, and the people closest to power.** **If you are a journalist, researcher, or fellow Substack publisher, please feel free to use this information, follow the trail, and build on the reporting.** In the first quarter of 2025, First Lady Denise Henry Morrisey was listed as a lobbyist for Food Fix Campaign Action, Inc., a national advocacy organization working on nutrition policy, chronic disease, “Food as Medicine,” and improvements to SNAP-Ed. Less than two months after that lobbying report was filed, the Morrisey administration submitted a request to the Trump administration seeking permission to bar West Virginia SNAP recipients from using their benefits to buy soda. And the state’s waiver did not simply mention SNAP-Ed in passing. It made SNAP-Ed part of the plan. The waiver says West Virginia would use SNAP-Ed to encourage alternative drink choices, produce educational materials, collect information about soda consumption, and evaluate whether taking soda off the SNAP-eligible list changes the behavior of low-income families. That does not prove that Denise Morrisey wrote the waiver. It does not prove Food Fix Campaign Action drafted the state’s proposal. And it does not prove that the First Lady personally lobbied USDA for West Virginia’s soda ban. But it does raise a straightforward question: **What was the relationship between the First Lady’s lobbying work for Food Fix Campaign Action and the Morrisey administration’s decision to build a statewide SNAP policy around the same nutrition, chronic-disease, Food as Medicine, and SNAP-Ed framework?** **The public deserves an answer.** A Federal Disclosure Names Denise Morrisey A lobbying report filed April 21, 2025, lists Capitol Counsel LLC as the lobbying firm and Food Fix Campaign Action, Inc. as the client. The report covers the first quarter of 2025. It lists $100,000 in lobbying-related income for the quarter and identifies the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives as the targets of the lobbying activity. Among the individuals listed as lobbyists is Denise Henry Morrisey. That is Denise Morrisey, the wife of Governor Patrick Morrisey and West Virginia’s First Lady. The lobbying disclosure lists her with a group of lobbyists working on several issue areas for Food Fix Campaign Action. The most relevant one is agriculture and nutrition policy. The report says Food Fix Campaign Action was lobbying on: **“Support regenerative organic agriculture, improvements in nutrition, and food as medicine, including nutrition and chronic disease-related improvements to SNAP-Ed, and advocacy related to Farm Bill reauthorization.”** That is not vague language. **The disclosure specifically refers to SNAP-Ed, the federally supported nutrition-education program connected to SNAP.** It also names chronic disease, nutrition, and Food as Medicine—**three themes** that later appear throughout West Virginia’s soda waiver request. The Waiver Followed On June 10, 2025, West Virginia’s Department of Human Services submitted a request to USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service asking for authority to prohibit SNAP recipients from buying soda with their benefits. The state proposed excluding regular soda, diet soda, and zero-sugar soda from SNAP eligibility statewide. The request would affect every SNAP household in West Virginia. At the time the state submitted the waiver, it reported 146,488 SNAP households and 273,981 individual recipients. It also said all 2,118 SNAP-authorized retailers in the state would be required to comply. West Virginia’s justification was built around the same set of ideas that appeared in the Food Fix disclosure: \* Nutrition. \* Chronic disease. \* Health outcomes. \* Food choices. \* Obesity. \* Diabetes. \* Medicaid spending. \* Nutrition education. \* Behavior change. The waiver argues that soda has no nutritional value, connects sugary drinks to weight gain and chronic disease, and says restricting soda purchases could push SNAP households toward healthier drink options. West Virginia also tied the proposal to the state’s obesity statistics, youth soda consumption, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and Medicaid spending on diabetes and weight-management medications. Again, none of that proves Food Fix supplied the research, the language, or the policy idea. **But it is hard to ignore the overlap when the governor’s wife was listed as a Food Fix lobbyist on a disclosure that specifically mentioned SNAP-Ed and chronic-disease-related nutrition policy.** SNAP-Ed is Not a Side Note This is where the connection becomes more specific. The waiver does not merely say that the state will encourage healthier choices. It gives SNAP-Ed a defined role in making the waiver work. West Virginia wrote that it would use its SNAP-Ed implementing agency to offer SNAP households alternative drink options. The state also said SNAP-Ed would create targeted graphs and one-page documents explaining healthy drink options to households affected by the restriction. The waiver identifies the WVU Extension Family Nutrition Program as West Virginia’s SNAP-Ed implementing agency. That program would be asked to gather state-specific data on soda consumption before and after the restriction. **The proposal also says SNAP-Ed would:** \* Collect information about recipients’ beverage behavior and consumption. \* Use adult nutrition-education outreach. \* Conduct surveys and interviews. \* Use 24-hour dietary recalls. \* Track beverage purchasing and consumption patterns. \* Include the soda restriction in evaluation criteria for the state’s “Rethink Your Drink” program. The waiver describes Rethink Your Drink as an effort to encourage water consumption and reduce sugary-drink intake, especially among children. That means SNAP-Ed is not simply being used to hand out informational flyers after the fact. It is part of the state’s communications plan, behavior-change strategy, and evaluation plan. The program is being asked to help tell SNAP households what to buy instead, measure whether their behavior changes, and help produce evidence that the policy worked. **That is the same federal program Food Fix Campaign Action listed in its lobbying disclosure when it named Denise Morrisey as a lobbyist.** The Timeline Matters Here is the sequence: \* **January 13, 2025:** Patrick Morrisey becomes governor of West Virginia. Denise Henry Morrisey becomes First Lady. \* **January - March 2025:** Denise Morrisey is listed as a lobbyist for Food Fix Campaign Action. \* **April 21, 2025:** Capitol Counsel files the Food Fix lobbying report. \* **June 1, 2025:** Governor Morrisey and First Lady Denise Morrisey appear at a healthy-eating event involving a mobile teaching kitchen. The Governor’s Office described it as part of the administration’s effort to promote healthy eating. \* **June 10, 2025:** West Virginia submits its waiver request to ban soda purchases with SNAP benefits. \* **August 4, 2025:** USDA approves the waiver. \* **January 1, 2026:** The approved project was scheduled to begin. The timeline does not prove coordination. But it raises a legitimate question about how a national lobbying agenda involving SNAP-Ed, Food as Medicine, nutrition, and chronic disease came to overlap so closely with a major policy initiative of the Morrisey administration. That question becomes more important because Denise Morrisey was not merely a supporter of healthy eating in a ceremonial role. The lobbying disclosure lists her as someone who “acted as a lobbyist” for Food Fix Campaign Action. USDA Approved the Soda Restriction USDA approved West Virginia’s request on August 4, 2025. The approval allows West Virginia to exclude soda from the definition of SNAP-eligible food. The restriction applies statewide and initially runs from January 1, 2026, through December 31, 2027. The state can seek annual extensions, potentially allowing the project to run for up to five years. The approval says no West Virginia SNAP household may opt out of the purchase restriction. However, participation in surveys, interviews, dietary recalls, and other evaluation tools is voluntary. USDA required the state to submit final communications, retailer-compliance, budget, and evaluation plans before implementation. The agency also required quarterly reports during the first year of the project. **Those reports must address issues including:** \* SNAP household and retailer complaints. \* SNAP-related hearings. \* Administrative costs. \* Out-of-state SNAP transactions. \* Retailer transaction data, where available. \* Behavioral and health-related measures. \* Changes in food purchasing and shopping routines. The state’s own request says part of the evaluation expense would be paid with prior-year SNAP-Ed carryover funds. That matters because SNAP-Ed is not just a rhetorical link between the Food Fix disclosure and the waiver. It is part of the state’s planned spending and evaluation structure. Food Fix Campaign and Food Fix Campaign Action There is another issue that should be sorted out before anyone treats all of these records as if they involve the same legal entity. The lobbying report identifies the client as **Food Fix Campaign Action, Inc.** The tax returns attached to the public records are for **Food Fix Campaign, Inc.**, a 501(c)(3) organization. Its stated mission is to educate and engage national policymakers about what it calls America’s broken food system, chronic disease, Food as Medicine, and regenerative organic agriculture. The 2024 Form 990 shows Food Fix Campaign, Inc. reported $1.93 million in contributions and grants, $1.63 million in total expenses, and $1.23 million in program-service expenses. Its principal program was described as raising administration and congressional awareness about food-system policy, health, the environment, and the economy. Its 2024 filing also answered “yes” to the question asking whether it engaged in lobbying activities or had a section 501(h) election in effect. The current public documents do not explain the relationship between Food Fix Campaign, Inc. and Food Fix Campaign Action, Inc. They may be affiliated. They may share leadership, consultants, donors, offices, or policy priorities. Or they may be legally separate organizations that simply use similar names. **That should not be assumed.** **It should be investigated.** What is Known The available records show the following: \* Denise Henry Morrisey, West Virginia’s First Lady, was listed as a lobbyist for Food Fix Campaign Action in the first quarter of 2025. \* Food Fix Campaign Action’s lobbying disclosure specifically mentions nutrition, chronic disease, Food as Medicine, and “improvements to SNAP-Ed.” \* West Virginia submitted a statewide soda-restriction SNAP waiver less than two months after the lobbying report was filed. \* West Virginia’s waiver uses nutrition, chronic disease, health outcomes, obesity, diabetes, and behavior change as its policy rationale. \* The waiver makes SNAP-Ed part of the communications, education, data collection, and evaluation plan. \* The waiver identifies WVU Extension’s Family Nutrition Program as the SNAP-Ed implementing agency involved in the project. \* The state proposed using prior-year SNAP-Ed carryover funds for part of the waiver’s evaluation expenses. \* USDA approved the waiver and required extensive reporting on implementation, complaints, purchasing behavior, and health-related outcomes. What is Not Known **The public documents do not yet show:** \* Whether Denise Morrisey participated in developing West Virginia’s waiver. \* Whether Food Fix Campaign Action provided research, policy language, strategy, or outside assistance to the state. \* Whether Food Fix Campaign Action or Capitol Counsel communicated with the Governor’s Office, West Virginia DHS, WVU Extension, or USDA about the waiver. \* Whether Denise Morrisey discussed the waiver with her husband, administration officials, or state agency staff. \* Whether Food Fix Campaign Action received any West Virginia public funds, contracts, grants, reimbursements, or other payments related to the waiver. \* Whether Food Fix Campaign, Inc. and Food Fix Campaign Action, Inc. share board members, officers, vendors, donors, staff, or other resources. **Those are not minor questions.** They go to whether West Virginians were being asked to accept a statewide SNAP restriction that emerged from a public process, a private lobbying network, or some combination of the two. The Records West Virginians Should See The appropriate next step is not speculation. It is records. The Governor’s Office, West Virginia Department of Human Services, and WVU Extension should release records showing who discussed the waiver, who drafted it, and what outside groups were involved. **That should include:** \* Emails, text messages, calendars, meeting notes, and call logs involving Denise Morrisey, Governor Morrisey, and senior staff. \* Communications involving Food Fix Campaign, Food Fix Campaign Action, Capitol Counsel, and the lobbyists listed on the federal disclosure. \* Documents containing the terms “SNAP-Ed,” “Food as Medicine,” “Food Fix,” “Rethink Your Drink,” “soda,” “sugar-sweetened beverages,” and “Healthy Food Choice.” \* Drafts of the waiver request and comments showing who contributed language or research. \* Contracts, grants, invoices, reimbursements, and vendor payments connected to SNAP-Ed implementation or waiver evaluation. \* Correspondence between West Virginia officials and USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service. \* Records documenting whether the First Lady disclosed her lobbying role to state officials or recused herself from any state policy discussions involving Food Fix’s interests. West Virginia residents deserve to know whether the state’s soda ban was designed entirely within the Department of Human Services or whether it was shaped by people and organizations operating in a connected national food-policy network. **The paperwork already raises the question.** **Now the state should provide the records that answer it.** \* West Virginia SNAP Waiver \* Food Fix Campaign's 990s \* Capitol Counsel's Food Fix Lobbying Activity Substack Articles of Interest: There is a Deeper Connection to Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) and West Virginia than the public is aware of. Sunlight is the best disinfectant. Thanks for reading West Virginia Policy and Campaign Finance Research! Subscribe for free to receive new posts. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit carrieclendening.substack.com