Position: Secretary - Agriculture

Type of Appointment/Position: Presidential with Senate confirmation    

Tom Vilsack

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Nominee's Background: Currently Vilsack is the Chair of the Democratic Governors Association. He is also a member of the National Governors Association Executive Committee. Vilsack had been previously involved with the Jobs for Americas Graduates (JAG) program. He had also participated in the Governor's Biotechnology Partnership, the Ethanol Coalition, and the Midwest Governors Conference. Nominating Speech: Considered one of the finalists for the VP slot, Vilsack has used his position to do things like veto cuts in the Iowa income tax in order to preserve state funding of programs. He supports fully funding No Child Left Behind, and the Equal Rights Amendment. Questions for him include his support for declaring English as Iowa's official Language and a belief that it is ok to trade emmissions credits. To research this nominee, please look for them on the Wikipedia website or at Google.

Progressive Criteria: The Department of Agriculture will: Support sustainable agriculture; Work to ensure the American people a safe, varied and plentiful food supply; Put public health and environmental safety above corporate, political or regional interests; Support family farming and encourage healthy economic development of rural communities; Work to protect the Commons: public lands, air and water, biodiversity, unpatented seed stock; Promote humane farming; Work to avoid hurting poor farmers in poor countries with unfair competition from subsidized US crops.

• Fired for 'racism,' a cause she had long been fighting
  Even though Tom Vilsack has now offered Sherrod Sherrod a new job at the U.S. Department of Agriculture , the elegant irony of the whole affair is that Vilsack was appointed by the nations first black president.
• Ousted USDA employee Sherrod plans to sue blogger
  Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack tells reporters that he acted in haste in firing Shirley Sherrod, a black U.S. Agriculture Department official, after it appeared she had made racist remarks in unfair and heavily edited video posted on a conservative Web site, during a news conference at the Department of Agriculture in Washington, Wednesday, July 21, 2010. Vilsack said he is taking personal ...
• Birthday cake to be sliced at 10 a.m.
  U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack has proclaimed Sunday through Saturday, Aug. 1-7, as National Farmers Market Week.
• Sherrod will sue Breitbart
  SAN DIEGO -- Ousted Agriculture Department employee Shirley Sherrod says she will sue a conservative blogger who posted an edited video of her making racially tinged remarks. The edited video posted by Andrew Breitbart led Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to ask her to resign, a decision he reconsidered after seeing...
• Ex-USDA official to sue blogger over video
  Ousted USDA employee Shirley Sherrod said Thursday that she will sue a conservative blogger who posted an edited video that appeared to show her making racially offensive remarks. Conservatism - Tom Vilsack - Andrew Breitbart - Politics - Racism
• The Real Sherrod Injustice: Right-Wing vs. Black Farmers
   Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack was direct, forceful and blunt when he declared this week that the USDA does not tolerate racial discrimination. This was Vilsacks widely circulated public explanation for firing black civil servant Shirley Sherrod. There are two problems...
• Two MU researchers win USDA award
  COLUMBIA With the recent invention of an inexpensive genetic device that evaluates merit in cattle, two MU researchers from the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources have been awarded a 2010 U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretarys Honor Award. Jerry Taylor, professor and Wurdack Chair in Animal Genomics, and Robert Schnabel, research assistant professor, were members of a ...
• A labor of love: USDA grows produce for local food bank
  Employees at Fort Detrick's USDA lab are using their gardening skills to help the community, creating a People's Garden to grow produce for a local food bank.
• New council represents many interests
  S ECRETARY OF THE Interior Ken Salazar and Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced Friday the appointments of 18 people to the Wildlife and Hunting Heritage Conservation Council. The group was created in February to advise about recreational hunting and shooting sports activities and associated wildlife and habitat conservation. Members serve two-year terms (see list). The new ...
• Manes name to national council
  WASHINGTON, DC Former Pratt resident Rob Manes has been named to the Wildlife and Hunting Heritage Conservation Council by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. The Council will advise their respective agencies regarding management activities that benefit recreational hunting and wildlife resources.