Agriculture Secretary told to seek farmers for top slots

In 1995, when Republican Gov. Pete Wilson of California chose Ann M. Veneman to be secretary of the state Food and Agriculture Department, many farm leaders reacted as though they had been blindsided by a John Deere. Why, they asked, was Wilson breaking with the tradition of appointing a farmer to the job?

Veneman, after all, was a former deputy secretary of the federal Agriculture Department who was then working--about as far from Golden State dirt as you can get--at the Washington law firm of Patton Boggs. That she had grown up on a peach farm near Modesto, that her father, John Veneman, was a one-time California assemblyman who had worked in the Nixon Administration, and that her personal and professional godfather was Richard Lyng, the only Californian to serve as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, did not seem to matter.

Four years later, when the Wilson era ended and it was time for Veneman to leave her post, the same California farm leaders were praising her. They were especially impressed, they said, with her ability to beat the drums for California's agriculture products, with her food safety policies, and with her success in aggressively promoting exports. At Agriculture, her most pressing challenges will include promoting American farm exports--and overcoming trade barriers to grown-in-the-U.S.A. farm products.

President Bush's appointment of Veneman as his Secretary of Agriculture has generated next to no public criticism. But privately, some farm leaders and Southern and Midwestern Senators have been asking why Bush chose a Californian for his Cabinet, when her state voted against the President.

Some of those dynamics were in plain view at her Jan. 18 Senate confirmation hearing. California's Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer and Republican Rep. David Dreier gave Veneman a warm and enthusiastic introduction to the Agriculture Committee. But once the formalities had been dispensed with, Veneman was left to face a panel whose members are mostly Midwesterners and Southerners. Most of them had tough questions for her.

Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, bluntly told Veneman that he wants "to see working farmers" end up in one or more of the top spots at Agriculture. "I believe it's important for the Bush Administration to seek farmers, not Washington insiders, to best represent the interests of our agriculture community," he explained. "I've been saying for a while now that I want individuals with `dirt under their fingernails' for the top spots, but let me clarify this point. I want someone who uses Schedule F [the IRS' farm income form] to report the majority of their income."

Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Thad Cochran, R-Miss., told her: "You need someone at the highest level of the department who is acquainted with Southern agriculture." Veneman said she recognizes that there are "regional differences" in agriculture, and she pledged to bring "regional balance" to the department's senior positions.

Veneman had little to say about the Bush Administration's positions on any controversial policy matters, such as what kind of aid would be forthcoming for farmers--who, for all their complaints about Washington, have relied on special federal bailouts in three of the past four years--and the future of the Clinton Administration's meat and poultry safety innovations. After she declined to state her views on increasing spending to help farmers, Kent Conrad, D-N.D., said, "I hoped as Secretary-designate you would have a sense of this now." Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said he was looking forward to working with the first female Ag Secretary.

Perhaps her best opportunity to gain the confidence of farmers and Congress is to accept invitations from pols to visit their states. Timothy P. Johnson, D-S.D., pointed out that Veneman's Midwestern roots could help her connect with Midwesterners: Veneman, he revealed, had Dutch ancestors who homesteaded in South Dakota in the 1890s. Veneman may have to work a bit on communicating with her new constituents and bosses. Her opening statement had a rather flat quality--which former employees and colleagues may not find surprising. They say she is highly conversant and a superb strategist in one-on-one meetings and in small groups, but that she is not at her best when she has to speak before large audiences.

Even in small groups, however, Veneman's cut-to-the-chase style apparently can be off-putting at first. California Farm Bureau Federation President Bill Pauli, a friend of Veneman's who described her as "a professional," has told reporters that farm leaders should not expect much small talk from her. Pauli said that California farmers were initially put off by Veneman's straightforward approach, but were later highly satisfied by the results.

Farmers will inevitably compare her with the three ex-House members--Ed Madigan, Mike Espy, and Dan Glickman--who preceded her as Secretary. As veteran Washington pols, they had the ability to make farmers feel good, even when they couldn't do much to help them. Veneman and senior Ag career bureaucrats are said to know and respect each other from her previous tenure at the department, and the career officials expect her to look to them for advice, at least during her breaking-in period. But she will need the friendship of more than the Hill's Californians and the bureaucracy if she is to successfully help steer through Congress proposals that address rural America's many woes.