What ever happened to "No political appointees in an Obama-Biden administration will be permitted to work on regulations or contracts directly and substantially related to their prior employer for two years" (as stated in Obama's ethics rules)?
Whatever happened to "We'll tell ConAgra that it's not the Department of Agribusiness. It's the Department of Agriculture. We're going to put the people's interests ahead of the special interests" (speech to the Iowa Farmers Union, November 2007)?
Well, he's whistling a different tune now. The administration has recently nominated two big-ag insiders to do things "directly and substantially related to their former employers":
Around and around the revolving door goes, where it stops, no one knows.
On the bright side, he has brought the other side along some too with the appointment of organic ag advocate Kathleen Merrigan as deputy secretary of the USDA. Unfortunately she has to work under another big-ag acolyte, former Iowa governor Tom Vilsack, who was named "governor of the year" by the Biotechnology Industry Organization.
Grist food editor Tom Philpott writes that pairing the likes of Siddiqui and Beachy with Merrigan in the administration has left him with "a kind of policy whiplash." The reason, he conjectures, is that
"Obama likes cutting-edge ideas. You look at the ag landscape, and you see two distinct areas with great innovation, energy, and movement: biotech and organic/sustainable. So he's coming out strong behind both camps, and plans to sit back and see which one develops the best ideas."But how, exactly, is pitting one organic booster against three (and likely more) big-ag champions "coming out strong behind both camps"? Philpott does go on to say that the big-ag side of things has massive advantages - more money, dominant roles in university research, government-industry cronyism, intellectual property rights, the list goes on - so that "if Obama is setting up a kind of contest between the two camps, the game is rigged in advance."
Indeed, in this wildly uneven atmosphere, Obama's support of Merrigan seems less like "coming out strong" and more like throwing a bone to the organic crowd. Too bad Michelle isn't making policy.
ACT NOW: Siddiqui has yet to be confirmed, though his nomination hearings occurred earlier this month (here's a PDF of his statement). Sign the petition sponsored by the Pesticide Action Network North America and call your Senators to let our leaders know this is not the man for the job.
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