Although some members of Donald Trump’s informal agriculture advisory committee would like the president-elect to choose former Iowa House Republican Annette Sweeney to run the U.S. Department of Agriculture, there’s no sign Sweeney is a serious contender for the job.
Citing Agweek, KWWL reported on December 28 that Sweeney “could end up” on Trump’s list for agriculture secretary “if he listens to some of his advisers.”
KWWL’s news brief surprised me. Although Sweeney was among the 60-some people listed as unofficial advisers to the GOP nominee this summer, I hadn’t seen her name on any published short list for the USDA position, nor had I heard of her meeting with Trump or anyone on his transition team since the election.
Sweeney farms in Hardin County and served in the Iowa House for four years, chairing the Agriculture Committee in 2011 and 2012. She may be best known as the driving force behind Iowa’s so-called “ag gag” bill. Several other states have since adopted versions of that bad and probably unconstitutional legislation.
Sweeney’s career at the statehouse ended after redistricting put her and State Representative Pat Grassley in the same Iowa House district. She lost the 2012 GOP primary by a wide margin despite large campaign contributions and advertising by a political action committee mostly bankrolled by Sweeney’s friend since childhood, Bruce Rastetter.
Since leaving the Iowa House, Sweeney has led a public policy group called Iowa Agri-Women and now serves as executive director of the Iowa Angus Association.
So does she have a shot to become agriculture secretary? A close reading of the December 23 Agweek story by Mikkel Pates, which inspired KWWL’s speculation, indicates the answer is no. Pates quoted North Dakota State Representative Mike Brandenburg and South Dakota State Representative Larry Rhoden as praising Sweeney and suggesting she would be a good choice to lead the USDA, in part because she could bring more gender balance to Trump’s cabinet. Sweeney is clearly interested in the job, judging by her comments to Agweek.
Here’s the big tell, though: “Sweeney says she’s talked to a ‘few higher-ups’ in the Trump organization, but hasn’t officially ‘heard from this administration’ about any interview prospects.”
No one who hasn’t been interviewed or vetted yet by Trump’s transition team is going to land a cabinet post. Sweeney’s best chance for a senior USDA job would be through Rastetter. He appears to be genuinely under consideration for agriculture secretary, having met with officials at Trump Tower last week.
P.S.- Pates reported, “Brandenburg says Sweeney would be effective, especially if the Trump administration is looking to include a woman in a cabinet post. Nominees for other posts all have been men.” Not true: Trump picked Betsy DeVos to head the Education Department, Elaine Chao for Transportation, Linda McMahon for the Small Business Administration, and Nikki Haley as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
UPDATE: Tara Palmeri and Josh Dawsey reported for Politico Wednesday evening,
President-elect Donald Trump, who repeatedly lashed out at Mexican immigrants during the campaign, is scrambling to appoint a Hispanic official to serve in his Cabinet amid criticism that his incoming administration lacks diversity at the highest levels.
The search has intensified in recent days, and sources within the transition say officials are determined to have a Hispanic in a prominent role. According to a transition official, Trump has narrowed his focus to agriculture secretary as the best possibility of the few remaining openings, which also include veterans affairs and the U.S. trade representative.
Trump met Wednesday with two Hispanic politicians at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach to discuss the possibility of taking on the agriculture post: Dr. Elsa Murano, a former U.S. agriculture undersecretary for food safety, who is Cuban-American, and Abel Maldonado, a Mexican-American who is a former California lieutenant governor and co-owner of Runway Vineyards.
“I can tell you now I have spoken to numerous folks on the transition, and they say that he’s absolutely looking for qualified Latinos for a Cabinet post,” said Mario Rodriguez, head of the Latino PAC Hispanic 100.
Hilarious. After bashing Mexicans and Americans of Mexican descent helped Trump surge among more than a dozen Republicans running for president, now he wants a Latino agriculture secretary. As Brad Barth noted in a recent article for Modern Farmer, Trump’s plan to “deport millions of undocumented workers” (many of them Latinos) would “undermine the agricultural workforce and ripple out in the food economy in unforeseen, but likely negative, ways.