11/24/08 Secretary of Ag contenders

Ed Schafer has the job now. I'm Bill Scott. Who is the next Agriculture Secretary? Back with some contender names after this. Look for President elect Obama to start naming members of his cabinet. The list of names for Secretary of Agriculture continues to be floated in Washington. American Farm Bureau President Bob Stallman says whoever gets the job must be able to represent a cross section of the industry. STALLMAN "Someone needs to be Secretary of Agriculture that has experience in governing and that is experienced in balancing competing interests. You know for none of these high level positions should activists be put in place where they only operated on one side of the spectrum or one point of view given a particular policy issue." Former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack's name continues to pop to the top of the list and Stallman says he'd be an acceptable choice. STALLMAN "Our friends at Iowa Farm Bureau have had a working relationship with him when he was governor and I think that they had to work with some issues relative to the livestock industry but still he's an individual that has had an opportunity to balance those competing interests." Stallman says using the same criteria for the head of the Environmental Protection Agency he'd oppose someone like Robert Kennedy Jr. He says Kennedy is a long time activist leader and cited his role with the Water Keeper Alliance. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott