Des Moines Register
09-21-07
Conner chosen to take reins at USDA
By MAUREEN GROPPE
Gannett News Service
Washington, D.C. — Charles Conner - whom the president tapped Thursday to
temporarily replace Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns - knows his way around
a farm. He returns almost every fall to his brother's Indiana farm and takes a turn
on the combine.
"I don't have to tell him how to run it," Mike Conner said.
Charles Conner, who had been the deputy agriculture secretary for two years,
was named acting secretary after Johanns resigned for an expected bid for an
open Senate seat in Nebraska.
The leadership change comes in the middle of the debate over what farm policy
should be for the next five years.
Conner, 49, has been spearheading the administration's negotiations with
Congress on the farm bill and is well positioned to be nominated agriculture
secretary for the rest of Bush's presidency, according to Dave Juday, an
agriculture analyst with the consulting company World Perspectives.
Conner has done a good job as deputy and is respected by lawmakers, which
would make for an easy Senate confirmation, Juday said.
Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin, D-Ia., who will preside at
the confirmation hearing, praised Conner's appointment as acting secretary.
"I have known him for over 20 years and believe his involvement in this farm bill
process will make for a smooth transition," Harkin said in a statement.
Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Ia., praised Johanns for supporting limits on subsidy
payments for larger farms.
"I hate to lose him in that position, especially before a new farm bill is finished,"
he said. "I appreciate his support on payment limits, but I believe our early push
for this policy will propel it into the bill even if he's not at the agency."
It remains to be seen whether Conner will be as forceful an advocate for change,
said Bruce Babcock, director of the Center for Agricultural and Rural
Development at Iowa State University. Johanns, a native Iowan, had been
making the case for tightening payment limits on big farms and spreading
government subsidies beyond cotton and grain farms.
"He has been dedicated to putting out a reform message in every speech he
gives," Babcock said.
Current farm law expires Sept. 30. The House has passed a five-year bill;
Harkin's committee hasn't acted.
Register staff writers Philip Brasher and Jerry Perkins contributed to this article.