Heitkamp's centrist path to USDA secretary

[brooklynite]

Politico

President-elect Joe Biden will name his first Cabinet nominees on Tuesday, and he’s promising that some of the picks (like his choice of Treasury Secretary) will be broadly appealing to Democrats of all stripes. That might be tricky to pull off when he picks someone to run the Agriculture Department.

As MA readers know, there’s already a heated debate among food and farm groups about who should get the job — including a fierce backlash from progressives against former North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, a moderate Democrat who is considered one of the frontrunners to oversee USDA under the Biden administration.

Amid criticism from the left that she’s too friendly with big agribusinesses and fossil fuel interests, Heitkamp is largely keeping her head down and leaning into her centrist credentials, our Helena Bottemiller Evich and Liz Crampton write this a.m. The former Senate Ag member who lost her seat in 2018 has since launched a bipartisan climate initiative, collected plaudits from Republicans and worked quietly to maintain her ties to Democratic ag insiders.

On a conference call with rural organizers earlier this month, including the Biden campaign’s rural engagement director, Heitkamp praised the campaign’s appeal to rural voters and said she wants to see those efforts continue under the Biden administration and into future elections.

[orwell]

1. Sounds like a good pick...

...you can't please everyone.

I trust the Biden team is doing it's homework and finding qualified candidates at important positions.

And so far...no family members, white supremacists or tag along grifters.

[WhiteTara]

5. I agree. She could be great

with an eye to the future and agriculture.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

2. I think we must let him govern as he sees fit in a time of crisis.

Engage those businesses and help them to convert.

[Wellstone ruled]

3. With Collin Peterson gone

from Congress,Heitkamp would be a good choice. Knowing a tad bit about the mind set of Rural America and it's ethnic makeup,Heitkamp should be able to pull people together.

[judeling]

7. Why Pick Heitkamp when you can just pick Peterson?

For both political and AG policy Peterson is the superior pick. There is literally no one who knows as much about both the Department and the politics around it the Peterson and would be a huge help in implementing the broader agenda in Rural America.

I really don't think people understand just how destructive these last four years have been to the AG department. Peterson is far and away the best person to begin to repair the damage.

[Wellstone ruled]

9. Could happen,

you never know. He might want to spend his time Fishing.

[roamer65]

4. I think she would be a good pick.

[Budi]

6. Heitkamp is about as perfect as it gets when maneuvering thru the ...

..minefield of Red States, Ag business & environmental policies.

She's lived in that arena her entire successful career, from the years when the Dakotas were Blue to the current dark Red climate.

She is a dam good pick for Ag Sec.
She's also managed to remain highly respected in that volitile arena, even as she held her solid allegience to the Democratic Party.

I completely support this choice.

She knows who she's dealing with & as a cancer survivor, Heidi Heitkamp is as gentle & as tough as the moment requires.

👍 Excellent.

[2naSalit]

8. Boo, hiss.

I am not a fan of hers at all and I am not happy that she's even being considered. She's no friend of the ecosystem and that's a big problem out here in flyover territory which, unbeknownst to outsiders, has a fragile ecosystem that is currently on the brink. Why would that matter to everyone else? Look at where where the water comes from for your area, specially those west of the Mississippi River.

Once over grazing, wanton timber harvest and fossil fuel extraction have ravaged to localized ecosystems to collapse, and we're getting close, most of the western states and by association with the biosphere in general, will be in big trouble.

This particular choice is a worrisome issue for me. I wouldn't call her a moderate Dem, I refer to her as rep-light. She's more interested in revenue than ecological concerns that she has helped keep on the back burner while allowing KXL and other unfortunate projects to proceed.

[Wellstone ruled]

10. Going to be interesting to say the least

whom ever is selected. Just so it is not some Lobbyist from ADM or Cargill.

[2naSalit]

13. Just some background...

From Wiki...

Political positions

Heitkamp has been described as a moderate Democrat.[43][44] She was considered a centrist and often supported bipartisan legislation.[45] The National Journal has given her a composite rating of 53% liberal and 47% conservative.[46] The American Conservative Union gives her a lifetime 13.67% conservative rating.[47] The fiscally conservative group Americans for Prosperity gives Heitkamp a lifetime score of 26% and a higher score of 70% in 2016.[48] Americans for Democratic Action, which supports liberal positions, gave Heitkamp a score of 45% liberal in 2016 and 60% liberal in 2015.[48] According to FiveThirtyEight, Heitkamp voted in line with President Trump's positions 54% of the time.[49][50] Congressional Quarterly published a study finding that Heitkamp voted with Trump's position 67% of the time.[51] The Associated Press found that she voted with his positions more than 68% of the time.[52] In 2018, GovTrack placed Heitkamp near the center of the Senate as the third most moderate Democrat, to the right of moderate Republican senator Susan Collins.[53]

In March 2018, Heitkamp co-sponsored the Israel Anti-Boycott Act (s. 720), which would have made it a federal crime for American contractors to encourage or participate in boycotts against Israel and Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories if protesting actions by the Israeli government.[54]

In June 2018, Americans for Prosperity, which is backed by the Koch brothers, ran digital advertisements thanking Heitkamp for her vote to pass legislation loosening financial regulations on banks.[55]

Economic issues

She has sought to get the Trump Administration "to get the Export-Import Bank in high gear to help North Dakota's economy."[61]

Heitkamp was one of the chief architects of a bank deregulation bill that rolled back provisions of Dodd-Frank. Many progressives, most notably Elizabeth Warren, have urged her colleagues to oppose the bill.[66] She was one of 17 Democrats who broke with the majority of their party and voted with Republicans to ease bank regulations.[67] Heitkamp was later invited by Trump to be a part of the signing ceremony after the bill's passage.[68]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heidi_Heitkamp#Practicing_attorney_and_politics

I'm not impressed with her in a favorable way.

[Wellstone ruled]

14. Thanks for the background.

Not surprised by her Conservative and pro Banking Deregulation ideas. Especially Establishing State Banks free of oversight from the Feds. Was not fully aware of her Voting Record. She would not be my choice now that I read her background in the Senate.

Kind of a reminder of Jim Matheison of Utah,another major Dino who traveled a similiar road. Big Oil,and Big Mining as well as Big Banks,only in the House of Representatives.

[orwell]

11. But she is not setting the policy agenda...

...the Biden team is.

The important thing is can she execute his agenda?

[2naSalit]

16. I can only see her as an obstacle.

I think she will try to influence the top. I don't trust her.

[Hortensis]

12. This is AGRICULTURE. "Progressives" are a class-warfare movement promising a new

socialist system where everyone has a guaranteed income and home. Their leaders actually know and care little about climate change and its effects on agriculture, disappearing fresh water, clean air, energy, public health, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc. The slogan "Green New Deal" was stolen from Obama's administration when they realized others were more concerned about climate than providing an apartment for everyone and so added that issue to their platform.

No matter WHO Biden picked, that person would not be a far-left political appointee from their ranks -- the only kind they would ever support. But socialist revolutionaries are just not where those qualified for this position are coming from.

Joe Biden, genuine climate activist (NOT phony!), to the senate in 1987 (when that plus $20 would buy lunch for one of his field-crew outings):

"Life on this planet exists only under highly specialized circumstances. Indeed, so special are these circumstances that even a small rise in temperature could disrupt the entire complicated environment that has nurtured life as we know it."

[obamanut2012]

15. I actually think she's a very decent choice