Rambo
Well-known member
I've known Gov. Schafer for sometime. He did a good job as Governor, hope he does as well in his new position.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/10/20071031-8.html
From the Fargo Forum
North Dakotans pleased with Schafer nomination as ag secretary
Associated Press
Published Wednesday, October 31, 2007
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) _ As a former North Dakota Senate Republican majority leader, Gary Nelson sometimes clashed with then-GOP Gov. Ed Schafer about spending priorities and state policy in general. Now Schafer may become Nelson's boss.
President Bush is preparing to nominate Schafer, who served as North Dakota's governor from 1992 to 2000, as his new secretary of agriculture. Nelson is state director of the USDA's Farm Service Agency in Fargo.
"In the Legislature, while we didn't always agree, we were able to state our differences and work through an issue until we came to a joint conclusion," Nelson said Wednesday of his dealings with Schafer.
"I know he understands agriculture. I know he also understands politics, and there's a lot of politics involved in any of the cabinet positions," Nelson said of Schafer. "I think he can blend the two very well."
Roger Johnson, North Dakota's Democratic agriculture commissioner, said he was surprised but pleased at Schafer's appointment. During the 1990s, Johnson and Schafer both served on North Dakota's Industrial Commission, which oversees a state-owned bank and flour mill.
"He's very predictable. I think he's a good administrator," Johnson said. "He is very much a straight shooter."
Schafer's successor as governor, Republican John Hoeven, said Schafer's appointment "gives us the opportunity to have direct input on national policy."
"In the case of agriculture, that's our largest industry, incredibly important to our state," Hoeven said.
During his first statewide campaign in North Dakota, an unsuccessful 1990 bid to unseat then-U.S. Rep. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., Schafer was critical of federal farm initiatives, including the Conservation Reserve Program — which provides farmers annual rent payments to plant prairie grasses on erodible land — and some crop price support programs. They helped subsidize "lousy operations," Schafer said then.
"Low prices, whether you like it or not, are a fact of the marketplace," Schafer said. "We need something that doesn't reward the poor operators and penalize the good operators."
Johnson said he expected that with only 15 months left in the Bush administration, Schafer would be preoccupied mostly with administrative tasks rather than federal farm policy. Congress has largely finished the job of writing new federal farm legislation, he said.
"The farm bill ... is so close to done that a new secretary coming in right now is probably not going to make much difference," said Johnson, who is president of a national organization of state agriculture officials.
Schafer's predecessor as governor, Democrat George Sinner, called Schafer "a lot better than a lot of people they could have put in there."
"They could have got somebody in there that was really setting out to knife the farm bill," Sinner said. "And I think Ed won't do that. He will pay attention to our needs."
President Bill Clinton, when he was elected in 1992, considered Sinner himself for the agriculture secretary's job. Sinner was finishing his second and final term as governor. Clinton eventually appointed U.S. Rep. Mike Espy, D-Miss., to the position.
The leaders of North Dakota's two largest farm groups said they anticipate Schafer being a popular agriculture secretary.
"Ed's a listener, and a darn good one," said state Farm Bureau President Eric Aasmundstad. "And when he listens, he acts. Everybody knows he's a good businessman. I think he's a good leader."
North Dakota Farmers Union President Robert Carlson said he traveled with Schafer to Washington, D.C., to lobby for farm aid while Schafer was governor.
"The thing that always impressed me about Ed Schafer was how affable and easy to talk with him and be with him is — he's just a very likable person," Carlson said. "My observation is he's a pretty conservative Republican, and I think he'll be pretty comfortable with delivering the Bush position on agriculture."
North Dakota Wheat Commission Administrator Neal Fisher said Schafer's nomination can only be a positive for the state. "We have a North Dakotan at the top desk (of USDA). That's tremendous," he said.
Schafer has long disavowed any interest in a Washington job, or in running for Congress.
He fended off Republican entreaties, including urgings from President Bush himself, that he run against Dorgan for his Senate seat in 2004, and declined to seek the Republican endorsement to oppose Conrad in 2006. Schafer is Conrad's former brother-in-law; the senator was once married to Schafer's sister, Pam.
"One thing about it is, 15 months is not a life commitment," said Lt. Gov. Jack Dalrymple, a Republican. "I think that probably was part of his thinking."
"He understands a state which is the most agricultural state in the United States," Dalrymple said. "He knows rural economies and rural development like the back of his hand."
Schafer has kept active in North Dakota politics. He has been a vocal supporter of a proposed state ballot measure to cut North Dakota's individual and corporate income taxes.
The former governor has been critical of what he says have been Hoeven's inadequate efforts to reassert the governor's control over the state's workers compensation agency. When Schafer was governor, the GOP-controlled Legislature took away his authority to hire the director of the agency, which is now known as Workforce Safety and Insurance.
Keith Bjerke, North Dakota State University's university relations director, served as administrator of USDA's Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service from 1989 to 1993. He was commander of the North Dakota National Guard during Schafer's tenure as governor.
"He's my old boss," Bjerke said. "He understands rural America and his biggest talent is his ability to empower and let people do their jobs.
"There is a lot of great talent at the USDA," Bjerke said. "He will set direction and motivate them to do their jobs. That's what he's good at."
Two North Dakotans have previously served in presidential cabinet positions. Thomas Kleppe, a former Republican congressman, was Secretary of the Interior under President Gerald Ford. Warren Christopher, a native of Scranton in rural southwestern North Dakota, was Secretary of State from 1993 to 1997, serving mostly during Clinton's first term.
Kleppe worked for Schafer's father, Harold Schafer, in the Gold Seal Co., a household products company Harold Schafer founded in 1942. Both Kleppe and Ed Schafer served as president of the company, which made Mr. Bubble bubble bath, Glass Wax glass cleaner and other products. It was sold in 1986.
http://www.in-forum.com/articles/index.cfm?id=182325
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/10/20071031-8.html
From the Fargo Forum
North Dakotans pleased with Schafer nomination as ag secretary
Associated Press
Published Wednesday, October 31, 2007
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) _ As a former North Dakota Senate Republican majority leader, Gary Nelson sometimes clashed with then-GOP Gov. Ed Schafer about spending priorities and state policy in general. Now Schafer may become Nelson's boss.
President Bush is preparing to nominate Schafer, who served as North Dakota's governor from 1992 to 2000, as his new secretary of agriculture. Nelson is state director of the USDA's Farm Service Agency in Fargo.
"In the Legislature, while we didn't always agree, we were able to state our differences and work through an issue until we came to a joint conclusion," Nelson said Wednesday of his dealings with Schafer.
"I know he understands agriculture. I know he also understands politics, and there's a lot of politics involved in any of the cabinet positions," Nelson said of Schafer. "I think he can blend the two very well."
Roger Johnson, North Dakota's Democratic agriculture commissioner, said he was surprised but pleased at Schafer's appointment. During the 1990s, Johnson and Schafer both served on North Dakota's Industrial Commission, which oversees a state-owned bank and flour mill.
"He's very predictable. I think he's a good administrator," Johnson said. "He is very much a straight shooter."
Schafer's successor as governor, Republican John Hoeven, said Schafer's appointment "gives us the opportunity to have direct input on national policy."
"In the case of agriculture, that's our largest industry, incredibly important to our state," Hoeven said.
During his first statewide campaign in North Dakota, an unsuccessful 1990 bid to unseat then-U.S. Rep. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., Schafer was critical of federal farm initiatives, including the Conservation Reserve Program — which provides farmers annual rent payments to plant prairie grasses on erodible land — and some crop price support programs. They helped subsidize "lousy operations," Schafer said then.
"Low prices, whether you like it or not, are a fact of the marketplace," Schafer said. "We need something that doesn't reward the poor operators and penalize the good operators."
Johnson said he expected that with only 15 months left in the Bush administration, Schafer would be preoccupied mostly with administrative tasks rather than federal farm policy. Congress has largely finished the job of writing new federal farm legislation, he said.
"The farm bill ... is so close to done that a new secretary coming in right now is probably not going to make much difference," said Johnson, who is president of a national organization of state agriculture officials.
Schafer's predecessor as governor, Democrat George Sinner, called Schafer "a lot better than a lot of people they could have put in there."
"They could have got somebody in there that was really setting out to knife the farm bill," Sinner said. "And I think Ed won't do that. He will pay attention to our needs."
President Bill Clinton, when he was elected in 1992, considered Sinner himself for the agriculture secretary's job. Sinner was finishing his second and final term as governor. Clinton eventually appointed U.S. Rep. Mike Espy, D-Miss., to the position.
The leaders of North Dakota's two largest farm groups said they anticipate Schafer being a popular agriculture secretary.
"Ed's a listener, and a darn good one," said state Farm Bureau President Eric Aasmundstad. "And when he listens, he acts. Everybody knows he's a good businessman. I think he's a good leader."
North Dakota Farmers Union President Robert Carlson said he traveled with Schafer to Washington, D.C., to lobby for farm aid while Schafer was governor.
"The thing that always impressed me about Ed Schafer was how affable and easy to talk with him and be with him is — he's just a very likable person," Carlson said. "My observation is he's a pretty conservative Republican, and I think he'll be pretty comfortable with delivering the Bush position on agriculture."
North Dakota Wheat Commission Administrator Neal Fisher said Schafer's nomination can only be a positive for the state. "We have a North Dakotan at the top desk (of USDA). That's tremendous," he said.
Schafer has long disavowed any interest in a Washington job, or in running for Congress.
He fended off Republican entreaties, including urgings from President Bush himself, that he run against Dorgan for his Senate seat in 2004, and declined to seek the Republican endorsement to oppose Conrad in 2006. Schafer is Conrad's former brother-in-law; the senator was once married to Schafer's sister, Pam.
"One thing about it is, 15 months is not a life commitment," said Lt. Gov. Jack Dalrymple, a Republican. "I think that probably was part of his thinking."
"He understands a state which is the most agricultural state in the United States," Dalrymple said. "He knows rural economies and rural development like the back of his hand."
Schafer has kept active in North Dakota politics. He has been a vocal supporter of a proposed state ballot measure to cut North Dakota's individual and corporate income taxes.
The former governor has been critical of what he says have been Hoeven's inadequate efforts to reassert the governor's control over the state's workers compensation agency. When Schafer was governor, the GOP-controlled Legislature took away his authority to hire the director of the agency, which is now known as Workforce Safety and Insurance.
Keith Bjerke, North Dakota State University's university relations director, served as administrator of USDA's Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service from 1989 to 1993. He was commander of the North Dakota National Guard during Schafer's tenure as governor.
"He's my old boss," Bjerke said. "He understands rural America and his biggest talent is his ability to empower and let people do their jobs.
"There is a lot of great talent at the USDA," Bjerke said. "He will set direction and motivate them to do their jobs. That's what he's good at."
Two North Dakotans have previously served in presidential cabinet positions. Thomas Kleppe, a former Republican congressman, was Secretary of the Interior under President Gerald Ford. Warren Christopher, a native of Scranton in rural southwestern North Dakota, was Secretary of State from 1993 to 1997, serving mostly during Clinton's first term.
Kleppe worked for Schafer's father, Harold Schafer, in the Gold Seal Co., a household products company Harold Schafer founded in 1942. Both Kleppe and Ed Schafer served as president of the company, which made Mr. Bubble bubble bath, Glass Wax glass cleaner and other products. It was sold in 1986.
http://www.in-forum.com/articles/index.cfm?id=182325