Since it is basically fait accompli that Hillary Rodham Clinton will become the 45th President of the United States on January 20, 2017, it’s no surprise that we are already seeing a sneak peek at one of the Cabinet posts that President Clinton will have to fill(note: please vote to make sure this actually happens. I will be early voting this Monday in Massachusetts for the most qualified candidate in at least half a century).
Politico has a list of people being considered for Secretary of Agriculture.
A former Arkansas senator, a leading local food champion and a beermaker turned governor are among the top contenders to be the next U.S. Secretary of Agriculture should Hillary Clinton win on Nov. 8, POLITICO has learned.
There are five names at the top of an evolving list that the transition is mulling for agriculture secretary — one of the lower-profile Cabinet posts despite its crucial role in the food supply. The list includes Blanche Lincoln, a former Arkansas senator; Kathleen Merrigan, the former deputy secretary of agriculture; John Hickenlooper, the current governor of Colorado; Karen Ross, the current agriculture secretary of California; and Steve Beshear, the former governor of Kentucky.
I think the Blue Dog former Arkansas senator will probably be the one that gets this, but the article does make a case for any of those top 5 contenders. I’ll discuss my impressions of them(and paraphrase what Politico says about them below the story break.
Politico quotes a few agriculture experts on background that believe that Karen Ross would be the most qualified and most ready to do the job from Day 1. Politico also mentions the sentiment that some would want a non-Midwesterner to head the Department of Agriculture, since the last time that occurred was in the first term of George W. Bush’s administration when he appointed Ann Venemen.
Politico notes that
There is some question about whether Ross would leave her position in California to return to Washington. In an interview with POLITICO in late September, she didn’t reject the possibility, noting that it would be good to have “a West Coast, irrigated agriculture voice at USDA...Now that I’ve left the private sector and gone into public service, I’m very open to where it takes me.”
However, Ross also noted that she still has two more years to serve in the Brown administration and added that she knows just how much work leading USDA is. She said her retired husband wants her to spend more time traveling with him and would probably prefer any trips to Washington to be for pleasure, not official USDA business.
That may be enough to prevent a highly qualified person like Ross from becoming the next Agriculture Secretary. Ross does seem like a great fit for the job as she seems to be respected by both the big agriculture groups, and by organic farmers.
Many on the GOS are very familiar with Blanche Lincoln, who was notably a “Health Care Villain” according to Democracy for America, and who was nicknamed “Senator Wal-Mart” by many before her ignoble defeat by John Boozman in 2010. Politico does note this of her relevant experience for the position:
She served as senator of Arkansas for more than a decade and made history as the first female chair of the Senate Agriculture committee before losing her seat in 2010 to Republican John Boozman
Politico also notes that Lincoln’s post-senate career has been lobbying for the likes of Monsanto, which is very influential in the area of agricultural policy, and thus would certainly be a good fit for Clinton’s rollout of the Trans-Pacific Partnership(sorry, I don’t believe Clinton is really against it. Honestly, I doubt a majority of either party is really against the TPP.) It is also noted that Lincoln has also lobbied for a group that has fought against expanding eligibility for Women Infants and Children(WIC)
Despite this, Lincoln is still seen as a politically viable option, one who would not be terribly hard to confirm since she has respect in the Senate. And the idea of Lincoln at the department is even palatable to Republicans, who see her as a more centrist choice than others on the list.
“I don’t think that she would drink a lot of the Bernie Sanders Kool-Aid,” said one congressional GOP source.
An easy confirmation through the Senate(looking likely to be Democratically controlled, but obviously we must vote to make it so.) would certainly be a bonus to the Clinton administration. It also helps Lincoln that the Clintons are very close friends of hers. I somehow think Lincoln’s work on the behalf of corporate interests make her almost a shoo-in.
Another name on that list is Kathleen Merrigan, who would be a great progressive & highly-qualified candidate for the Cabinet post.
The third woman leading the Clinton list, sources say, is Merrigan, who also served as undersecretary at USDA during Obama’s first term. Merrigan, a longtime advocate for a more local, regional food system, is beloved by the burgeoning food movement — a loose coalition of local food, health and environmental interests — and is seen as a loyal foot soldier for the party.
She also knows the Hill. As a former staffer for far left Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, she was instrumental in crafting the organic food law and advocated heavily for outreach efforts and programs for small and local farmers while at the USDA -- work that some in agriculture are dismissive of because the subtext often is that small and local is better.
I don’t like how Politico characterizes a good Democrat like Patrick Leahy as “far-left” when he is not a Buster or a JillBeforeHill type. Big Agriculture already has Congress to fight for their interests, Merrigan would be able to let the smaller farmers have their voices heard and perhaps their interests advanced as well. Local food is also going to become more important as our government increasingly will find climate change an important issue to tackle. Merrigan at Agriculture would be a good step in that direction.
An unusual pick would be Hickenlooper since he doesn’t really have much agriculture experience, and a Hick appointment would basically cause a special election in Colorado during an off-year, something that would not be good for Colorado. One would hope that a Clinton administration would not repeat the mistakes of the Obama administration in appointing red or purple state elected officials that hand control of offices to Republicans.
A geologist and beer brewer by trade, Hickenlooper didn’t enter politics until 2003 when he became mayor of Denver. He was elected as Colorado’s 42nd governor in 2010, bucking a red wave that saw Democrats lose control of both chambers in Congress.
“That one puzzles me, because I don’t see what he brings,” the agriculture policy insider said of a possible Hickenlooper nomination. “He wasn’t mayor of Durango or Yuma or a more ag-centric place in Colorado. He was mayor of Denver, which is more and more removed from ag all the time.”
Hick also supports the TPP. Politico seems to think that this would put him at odds with Clinton(who has stated recent opposition to it). I am very skeptical that this would be a problem for Clinton.
Steve Beshear seems to be another pick that had Politico’s experts quoted on background surprised. Some note his opposition to commercial cultivation of hemp as reason to believe that he had little interest in agriculture when he was governor of Kentucky. Politico also seems to believe that Beshear has a much stronger record on health care policy, and seems to believe that he would be a strong candidate for HHS.