Agriculture Department

Ann M. Veneman
Secretary
202-720-3631
Veneman, 51, is the first female Agriculture Secretary and only the second Californian to hold the post. Some politicians and farm leaders from the Midwest and South privately questioned why someone from their regions-which Bush carried in November-didn't get the post. But Veneman, who served as secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture and in positions at the U.S. Agriculture Department under Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush, got the nod. Veneman arrived at the USDA at a difficult moment, with commodity prices at their lowest in decades and mad-cow disease and foot-and-mouth disease threatening to enter the country. Born in Modesto, Calif., and raised on a peach farm near there, Veneman is a protege of Dick Lyng, the only previous Californian to serve as Agriculture Secretary. Veneman got her B.A. at the University of California (Davis), a master's in public policy at the University of California (Berkeley), and a law degree from the University of California's Hastings College of Law in San Francisco. After spending four years as a lawyer for the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District and six years in private practice in Modesto, Veneman came to the USDA in 1986 and rose to associate administrator of the Foreign Agricultural Service. In the first Bush Administration, she served as deputy undersecretary for international affairs and commodity programs and as deputy secretary. Veneman stayed in Washington as a lawyer with Patton Boggs until then-Gov. Pete Wilson appointed her California agriculture secretary in 1995. From 1999 until her nomination by George W. Bush, she was in an agribusiness private law practice in Sacramento.

James P. Moseley
Deputy Secretary (designate)
202-720-6158
This is the second time that Moseley, 53, has left his Clarks Hill, Ind., farming operation to serve in Washington. In the first Bush Administration, Moseley served as agricultural adviser to the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency from 1989-90 and then as assistant secretary of Agriculture in charge of natural resources and forestry issues from 1990-92. Born in Peru, Ind., Moseley received a B.S. in horticulture from Purdue University in 1973. Following his graduation, he and his wife started farming in central Indiana. Moseley says he began with 250 acres of rented land and a Farmers Home Administration operating loan. He now owns a 2,800-acre operation and raises 50,000 hogs a year in a business entity called Infinity Pork. USDA insiders say the reason Moseley's nomination has taken so long is his difficulty in separating himself from his farming operation. During the first Bush Administration, Moseley earned such a strong reputation as an environmentalist that former colleagues wonder how he'll fare now, considering the Bush Administration's environmental policies. The state of Indiana statutorily assigns certain state regulatory functions to Purdue University, and after leaving the USDA, Moseley became director of agricultural services and regulations for the state of Indiana at Purdue.

William T. Hawks
Undersecretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs
202-720-4256
Hawks, 56, has the job of managing programs that range from keeping mad-cow disease out of the country, to making sure that oranges comply with the size and quality requirements stated in federal marketing orders. Hawks, who was born near Oxford, Miss., has been farming since he graduated from Mississippi State University with a bachelor's degree in agricultural economics in 1968 and a master's degree in 1970. From 1979, Hawks served as an officer and director of the DeSoto County Cooperative, a farm supply co-op. He held a seat in the Mississippi state Senate from 1995-99 and is a close political ally of Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., who until recently chaired the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on agriculture. Hawks Farming produces soybeans, winter wheat, and corn on 8,000 acres of land (2,000 of which he and his wife own) in northwest Mississippi. Hawks's adult daughter and son are also involved in the farm. Hawks severed his relationship with the farming operation and said he would negotiate written cash leases on the land.

Lou Gallegos
Assistant Secretary for Administration
202-720-3291
Gov. Gary E. Johnson of New Mexico lost his right-hand man when Gallegos, 62, left for Washington. As Johnson's chief of staff beginning in 1994, the New Mexico native was the governor's point man in charge of overseeing daily operations. But although Gallegos played a crucial role in Johnson's administration, the two differed on the governor's controversial drug reform proposals. "It was something that I did not support, and he understood this," said Gallegos. In total, Gallegos has more than 33 years of public service experience. A graduate of New Mexico Highlands University who served in the Air Force, Gallegos worked as chief of staff to Sen. Pete V. Domenici, R-N.M., from 1980-84. This is Gallegos's second stint in Washington as a sub-Cabinet member. From 1989-90, he served in the Interior Department as assistant secretary for policy under Secretary Manuel Lujan Jr., also of New Mexico. At USDA, Gallegos oversees eight divisions, including ethics, civil rights, human resources, operations, procurement, and small business.

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