Vilsack: Never Contacted About Agriculture Position

Former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack (D) indicated that he may not become Secretary of Agriculture in President-elect Barack Obama’s administration, telling the Des Moines Register he has not been contacted by Obama’s transition team about that or any other position.

“I would have to speculate that I was in fact in the running and further speculate as to why I was no longer. I do not think it prudent or appropriate to speculate about either,” Vilsack told the Register. Obama “has many interests he has to consider, and we have an abundance of talent in both parties from which to satisfy those interests,” the former governor added.

Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) said that it would have been a good thing to select Vilsack as agriculture secretary, but expressed hope that another Iowan may fill that seat. “I hope the incoming Obama administration continues to consider Iowans as it fills high-level positions,” he said.

–Michael O’Brien