News brief
Obama Picks Daschle, Chu; Next Up: Ag, Interior
By Courtney Lowery, 12-11-08
 |
|
 | |
| Courtesy photo. | |
|
President-elect Barack Obama today announced former South Dakota Sen. Tom Daschle as his pick for secretary of health and human services and Nobel prize-winning Steven Chu as his energy secretary.
Chu, who heads the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, has done extensive work with alternative energy and is a champion of reducing energy use. He has limited experience in both the private and political arenas, which some experts say is a great thing for the administration.
Lisa P. Jackson, chief of staff for New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine will be the head of the EPA and Carol M. Browner (EPA head under Bill Clinton) is apparently poised to take on a new environment/climate change/energy White House job.
Up next are the two biggies for the West: Secretary of the Interior and Secretary of Agriculture (or as NYT columnist Nicholas Kristof would have it, the ”Secretary of Food”)
According to the Associated Press, the short list for Interior includes: Rep. Raul M. Grijalva, D-Ariz.; Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Calif. and John Berry, National Zoo director, former executive director of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.
And, for Agriculture: Dennis Wolff, Pennsylvania agriculture secretary; Tom Buis, president of National Farmers Union; Former Rep. Charles Stenholm, D-Texas; Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo.; Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, D-S.D. and Former Rep. Jill Long Thompson, D-Ind. And no, Michael Pollan doesn’t want the gig.
Like this story? Get more! Sign up for our free newsletters.
Comments
Don't forget that the Dept of Agriculture also includes management of the 192 million acre national forest and national grassland system. The folks who view trees on our national forests as nothing more than a crop really like this fact. Wild Bill has looked into this issue at NW before.
And this week's Flash in the Pan has a good look at some of the possible Ag Secretary choices:
http://www.missoulanews.com/index.cfm?do=article.details&id=226F6D28-14D1-13A2-9FAEDB98C7D10411
SNIPS: "Of Buis, a former staffer wrote, 'If you want someone to throw sustainable agriculture under the tractor, he’s your guy.'"
"on forestry issues [Sandlin] has more of a GOP-style perspective, viewing national forests like big tree farms. That’s right, forestry—the U.S. Forest Service falls under the USDA, which doesn’t make much sense, but that’s how it is."
Can you give an example of what Tom and the Farmer's Union done to keep small farmers in business?
COOL or Country of Origin Labeling for starters, opposing mergers in the beef packing industry, supporting legislation for crop insurance for new crops like camelina. How much do you want? The names on that alternate list are good but won't be able to get anything done because they don't have any clout in DC. The last two farm bills have lots of Farmer's Union fingerprints all over them. NO they aren't perfect but better then Freedom to Fail.