11/08/06 New FSA Exec in Washington state

Washington Ag November 8, 2006 The new Executive Director of the Washington State Farm Service Agency office is Jack Silzel. Congresswoman Cathy McMorris announced the USDA appointment Monday. FSA administers many of USDA's programs and Silzel took time to talk about his new job during a break in a state committee meeting yesterday. Silzel: "I think the office is being very excellently run. It has an excellent staff. My main goals are to continue the tradition of really being a service organization where the state office should be very supportive of the county offices who deal with the clients, customers, the grassroots people out there who really depend on the agency for guidance and for assistance." Silzel already has plenty of connections locally and nationally having served then Congressman George Nethercutt and Congresswoman Cathy McMorris in Washington D.C., and he knows that sometimes federal farm policy doesn't work well locally. Silzel: "Particularly where there are issues that don't really address the Pacific Northwest very well I think I will have some credibility in bringing these issues to the forefront." Silzel and his family still maintain a wheat farm in Oakesdale. I'm Bob Hoff.