By John McCormick and Mike Dorning
Former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, who aggressively campaigned for Sen. Hillary Clinton during his home state's caucuses, will be named agriculture secretary by President-elect Barack Obama, three Democratic officials confirmed.
Reached by phone, Vilsack declined to comment on the report. "Those questions should be answered by the transition office and the president-elect," Vilsack said, answering his cell phone from what he said was Des Moines, Iowa.
Vilsack had campaigned for president himself, but dropped out of the race in February 2007 after just 86 days of campaigning.
In 1998, Vilsack was elected Iowa's first Democratic governor in 32 years, and he served two terms. He was one of three finalists considered to be Sen. John Kerry's running mate in 2004.
Comments
If the Obama Administration abandons the disaster known as corn based ethanol, it will gain a lot of respect from environmentalists and others. But I'm skeptical with an Iowan as SOA.
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We can't wean ourselves off petroleum by using food crops for fuel, because food crops require huge amounts of petroleum to produce. But besides the inefficiency, corn based ethanol is filthy. Every step of the production -- from planting the seeds to distilling the final product -- dumps tons of polutants into the air and ground water. And then it burns dirty!
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Food is for eating. Ethanol, yes, but from switchgrass and agriwaste, not corn.
Posted by: MJ | December 16, 2008 7:50 PM
I hate to say it, but Obama just lost my support with this choice. Vilsack at USDA is the fox in charge of the chickens. He is the ultimate agribusiness promoter, opposed to small, organic, local farms and in favor of huge multinational corporations like ADM and Monsanto that pollute the land while degrading our food supply. What a terrible, awful, choice. A sad day.
Posted by: Peter | December 16, 2008 9:51 PM
March 21st. March 21st. Bigger than the inauguration if you want it.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az
=view_all&address=389x4663974
Posted by: Where's my muddy shoe? | December 17, 2008 6:45 AM
From today's politico.com, a note on Vilsack and yet another Obama-fraud:
"President-elect Obama has pledged to cut farm subsidies and embrace renewable fuels – two initiatives that hit close to the wallet of his newly unveiled pick for agriculture secretary, Tom Vilsack.
From 2000 to 2006, Vilsack, the former governor of Iowa, and his wife collected $42,782 in subsidies from the department he was tapped Wednesday to oversee.
Also, Vilsack is a partner at a lobbying law firm that trumpeted his advice to clients on agribusiness development and renewable energy – a job that appears to bump up against Obama’s promise to bar appointees from working on issues related to their employment for two years. "
I guess Obama's stand on lobbyists working in his administration was just hot air.
Posted by: Progressive | December 18, 2008 9:38 AM