Eric Stirgus: Correct. From the year 2017 to 2021, George has served as the 31st United States Secretary Of Agriculture. You know, I guess at the time, they sort of came to an impasse and there was a search firm that was hired to help with the process, but pulled out of the process. And you know, for a lot of critics, you know, it did raise their concerns about all of this. Eric Stirgus: No, not officially, you know, because they are personnel decisions that the board makes. Steve Fennessy: How Gov. The former two-term Georgia governor has kept his cabinet post until the end, maintaining a close relationship with . So we have Brian Kemp in this fierce battle against David Perdue primary battle for governor. But her critics have said thatwhat she calls a COVID Crime Wave and her handling of the firing of Atlanta police officer Garrett Rolfe, who shot Rayshard Brooks last summer, made her vulnerable if she had chosen to run. The Perdue USDA also insisted that federally funded grocery boxes distributed by food banks contain a letter signed by Trump, touting the administrations coronavirus response. Eric Stirgus: You know, he's never spoken publicly about it. The regents hired another firm, and then it put Ms. McCartney as acting chancellor, and so there really hasn't been much movement up until, I guess, the last few weeks. Mitch Daniels of Indiana has led Purdue University since 2012. The COVID-19 crisis served as yet another opportunity to promote the political fortunes of his boss, without impeding his pursuit of a pro-agribusiness, anti-worker agenda. The latest scrutiny stems from the agriculture secretary's wealth of current and former interests in agriculture, trucking and land development. He later served as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and was named chancellor of the University System of Georgia in 2022.. Background and Education The department did not provide further documentation that potential conflicts in 2017 were limited to AGrowStar and Pro Ag Products. On December 30, 2016, Perdue's company AGrowStar purchased property and a facility from Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM), a large American agribusiness corporation that the Department of Agriculture regulates. What does it mean to be a chancellor? @SecretarySonny (to use his folksy Twitter handle) stayed the course that characterized his entire time at UDSA. [53] In August 2017, he announced a mentoring program for new farmers. [60] In August 2019, Lewis Ziska, a USDA plant physiology climate scientist, quit after department administrators attempted to impede the publication of one of his studies in the journal Science Advances. Come on board with me. [64][65][66], In June 2021, a news story broke of financial dealings Perdue had after his nomination as Secretary of Agriculture but before his confirmation. On January 18, 2017, President-elect Donald Trump announced that he would nominate Perdue to be Secretary of Agriculture. If a college loses accreditation, warned the agencys president, Belle S. Wheelan, it could cause enrollment declines, lead to bad publicity and revoke the schools access to federal money. [6] His nomination was approved by the Senate Agriculture Committee by a 19-1 voice vote on March 30. Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, who like Grassley is up for reelection in 2022, said he hasn't "paid a lot of attention" to Georgia's governor race, saying "we got our hands full . [27] In 2007, Georgia moved up to 46th place. [43], Beginning in 2007, Governor Perdue began to pursue the goal of making Georgia the "bass-fishing tourism mecca". We noticed you have an ad blocker on. So those are some of the things that have concerned a lot of state leaders or particularly on the Republican side. As expected, the board named former governor and U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue as its sole finalist to head the University System of Georgia. [40], In 2008, Perdue worked with the Georgia Emergency Management Agency to implement Ready Georgia, a campaign to increase disaster preparedness throughout the state. Its another death, wound, stab in the heart for anybody that works in the university system to have someone like this, he said. Why isn't he going back to his farm? 260 14th St. NW Perdue, a former US senator, has so far raised a fraction of what Kemp has in his campaign war chest. Latest news, headlines, analysis, photos and videos on Sonny Perdue The sole vote against him came from Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY). Perdues spokesperson also rejected the watchdog groups request for an investigation as politically motivated. [50], In September 2017, Politico reported that, according to 42 reviewed resumes, the department hired 22 former Trump campaign workers, many of which had no significant agricultural knowledge or experience with federal policies. Eric Stirgus: It was pretty newsy for us. One is there was a group of students who created a group called Students against Sonny. Kemp. So tell us, what does the job of chancellor of Georgia universities and colleges entail? Sonny Perdue, of course, was a two-term governor of Georgia, as well as secretary of agriculture under former President Donald Trump. Why is Sonny Perdue is such a polarizing figure? Steve Fennessy: Yeah. (David Perdue is now locked in a tight runoff election that could decide which party controls the Senate in the next Congress.). Find them all here. After Perdue took office, in 2003 and 2004, Georgia moved up from last place in the country in SAT scores. [8] Perdue served as Secretary of Agriculture throughout Trump's term. What's the implication there? Each of those firms is owned by Perdue Business Holdings Inc., and Secretary Perdues newly created FALF Management Trust of which the secretary is a co-trustee owns 100 percent of the voting stock in Perdue Business Holdings, according to his 2019 disclosure. Sonny Perdue's . Perdue will not improve the state of education as chancellor - he will only ruin it.. USDA said the reorganization of Perdues finances was cleared by career ethics staff, pointing to the secretarys 2019 financial disclosure that was signed by ethics officials. How did we find out about that? Kemp has used congressional redistricting to add more Sonny Perdue supporters to the Board of Regents. As governor, Perdue mastered the Trumpian strategy of using know-nothing bigotry as a beard for brazen self-dealing, sometimes involving his own family. The design of the 2001 Georgian flag was widely unpopular, being derisively named the "Barnes flag". Eric Stirgus: There are 26 institutions in the system. And besides the national prominence afforded any state governor, Perdue garnered widespread attention for his actions in 2007 during the worst drought in Georgia's history. But last year,. Steve Fennessy: You mentioned that there's a long political history between Sonny Perdue and Brian Kemp. While Perdue puffed up the generosity of his boss, the USDA was busy botching the food-relief effort, awarding fat contracts to distributors ill-equipped to handle them, with the result that some parts of the country got a lot of food, while others got very little, NPR reported. 11/08/2018 02:42 PM EST. Sonny Perdue has long mixed personal and political business to benefit his friends and business associates and he's on track to do it again. [18], Perdue was elected as a Democrat in 1991, 1994, and 1996. Perdues response? He served two terms,. Feb. 15, 2022 Georgia's public university system said on Tuesday that former Gov. Alec Poitevint, long a pivotal player in the Perdue network, is now backing Kemp over David Perdue. [71], In 2006, while still governor, Perdue made a cameo appearance as the coach of the East Carolina Pirates football team in the movie We Are Marshall, large portions of which were filmed in Georgia. Brian Kemp in Mays Republican primary. Sonny Perdue and Brian Kemp have a longstanding relationship politically, and then you have Sonny Perdue's cousin who is running against the governor now in the GOP primary. Steve Fennessy: Matthew Boedy, a University of North Georgia professor and president of the Georgia conference of the American Association of University Professors, told the New York Times that, quote, "a chancellor's job is to defend the system against such bills. On April 1, 2022, Perdue took over as the system's 14th chancellor. I think Steve really was making maybe about a half million dollars when he retired, so that's way more than the governor of Georgia was making. American Oversight is now calling on the inspector general to investigate whether Perdue improperly participated in any such decision, given his ethics pledge to stay out of any matters that might have a direct and predictable effect on the financial interests of the assets in his trusts. [6] His nomination was approved by the Senate Agriculture Committee by a 191 voice vote on March 30. [7] In 2011, he founded Perdue Partners, which facilitated the export of U.S. goods and services. So that's a little strange, isn't it? The association has publicly condemned how the university system selected Mr. Perdue, a process that largely occurred in meetings without faculty input and closed to the public. [22], Perdue advocated reforms designed to cut waste in government, most notably the sale of surplus vehicles and real estate. The . His nomination was transmitted to the U.S. Senate on March 9, 2017. The secretarys numerous and labyrinthine financial interests in agribusiness and land development makes it essential that his ethical commitments be rigorously enforced so as not to create a conflict of interest, Austin Evers, the groups executive director, wrote last week in a letter to the IGs office. [News tape] 11Alive: This is where angry parents are accusing the school board of trying to indoctrinate students with controversial curriculum on race and American history. Janet Napolitano of Arizona, a Democrat, later ran the University of California system, and former Gov. after feeling punished under Trump, "Economists flee Agriculture Dept. Steve Fennessy: It's interesting the the letter was addressed to Sachin Shailendra, who at the time was chair of the Board of Regents, but is one of those members who redistricting kind of pushed out so he's no longer on the Board of Regents. You know, we reported as soon as we got the copy of the letter. Why is accreditation important for a university system like Georgia's? And so, you know, they point to things like that and they also point to issues, you know, point to things that, you know, hey, other states have hired elected officials and former politicians to lead colleges or universities. He was the first Republican chosen by Georgians to occupy the governor's mansion since the Reconstruction-era election of Rufus Bullock in 1868. "The most important activity in which any governing board will be involved in is the selection of the CEO. [25] Perdue then used the new law on his 2004 tax return to defer $100,000 in taxable gains from the sale of land. [48], During meetings with Georgia state port officials, then-Governor Perdue discussed his family business's use of a terminal, then started a new export company in Savannah soon after leaving office. Mr. Kemp had received Mr. Trumps endorsement in 2018, but their relationship deteriorated following the Kemp administrations refusal to undermine Georgias presidential election results in 2020. [12] A 2005 tax bill passed by the Georgia Legislature allowed residents to gain a tax break if they sold a property in Georgia to buy similar property in another state, and made the change retroactive to 2004. (Washington, D.C., April 22, 2020) - Today, the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced emergency benefit increases have reached $2.0 billion per month for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) households across all 50 states and 3 territories to increase food security during the coronavirus national emergency. Steve Fennessy: But in the state of Georgia, I would think that, at least of jobs that are sort of in the employ of the state of Georgia, there are few that are more prominent or important than chancellor. Faster kill lines boost packer profits even as they put already pandemic-stressed workers under greater strain, while also making proper social distancing even more difficult. You can keep up with Georgia today by subscribing to the show at GPB.org. But you know, we are hearing, you know, some of the newer members could be a lot more supportive of Sonny Perdue. Students and faculty members around the state are reacting to news that Republican former Gov. We'll be back next week. [24], In mid-2003, Perdue purchased 101 acres (0.41km2) of land next to his Houston County, Georgia, home. [33] Georgia voters chose the flag resembling the Confederate flag. [46] Perdue failed to disclose his ownership of the property in required financial disclosure forms. Lance Cheung/USDA; Mother Jones Illustration. But should it go to a politician? [News tape] WSB: Gov. [34] In a 2014 editorial published by National Review, Perdue criticized attempts by "some on the left or in the mainstream media" to connect climate change to weather events.