Decision Likely Next Week on USDA Cabinet Position

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Next week, President-elect Donald Trump will meet with Elsa Murano, 57, a candidate for Agriculture Secretary. She is a former president of Texas A&M University. Transition spokesman Sean Spicer said that she would meet with Trump after the Christmas break about the USDA nomination.

Murano would be the first Hispanic official to join Trump’s Cabinet. Murano, a longtime food science professor at Texas A&M, served as Undersecretary of Food Safety at USDA under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005. She returned to the university after her stint in Washington to serve as vice chancellor of agricultural and life sciences before becoming A&M’s president in January 2008. She was born in Cuba and immigrated to the US in 1973. Link for more info on Murano.

“I don’t have additional information on how Ms. Murano came to the president-elect’s attention, other than to say that she comes very highly recommended from information I have,” Spicer said. “Obviously her track record of running a major university really speaks for itself.”

Murano’s track record of running a major university really speaks for itself,” Trump spokesman Jason Miller said. Murano, the first woman and first Hispanic to hold the president’s job at Texas A&M, was forced to resign in 2009 after 17 months on the job. Her appointment was initially seen as a progressive move for A&M, as it tried to become one of the nation’s top public research universities. Her resignation followed a dispute with then-Chancellor Mike McKinney, who criticized her decision-making, integrity and relationship with the board of regents. Those regents were appointed by then-Gov. Rick Perry, whom Trump’s team has nominated to be the next energy secretary. Among other areas of disagreement, she had questioned a Perry-flavored plan that was implemented by McKinney to award bonuses to faculty members based on student evaluations. Such bonuses were touted at a May 2008 summit on higher education organized by the governor.

She came to A&M’s Department of Animal Science from Iowa State University, where she was an assistant professor in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Preventative Medicine. She rose at A&M to associate director of the Center for Food Safety within the Institute for Food Science and Engineering and was director of the center from 1997 to 2001, when she joined the Bush administration.

Murano, who remained on the faculty of Texas A&M after stepping down as president, serves on the board of Hormel Foods. She is a professor in A&M’s Department of Nutrition and Food Science and director of A&M’s Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture, per the university’s website.

Born in Cuba, Murano fled Havana with her family after Fidel Castro came to power, moving to the Caribbean island of Curacao and later to Peru, El Salvador and Puerto Rico before settling in Miami.

Current Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller reportedly remains in the running to lead USDA, with spokesman Mark Loeffler confirming that Miller has been in touch with Reince Priebus, the outgoing Republican National Committee chairman and Trump’s appointed chief of staff, about “setting a meeting for next week.”

If any of the three Texans are chosen, it would be the first time a Texan heads the federal agency since its founding under President Abraham Lincoln in 1862. Trump has already targeted Texans Rick Perry for Energy Secretary and Rex Tillerson for Secretary of State.

Idaho Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter, a former president at potato giant Simplot, was recently mentioned as a possible USDA leader, with Bill Flory of the Idaho Wheat Commission, a member of Trump’s 64-member agricultural advisory committee, telling the San Antonio Express-News that Otter was an energetic and pro-trade leader who “ran the state like business” and “would really complement the [Trump] administration.”

Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, a Democrat from North Dakota, also has been a serious contender, though her reported vetting upset some Trump supporters. Heitkamp said she will likely remain in the Senate. She told her brother Joel Heitkamp’s KFGO radio program on Thursday morning that her first priority was serving her home state. Asked if that meant she was staying in the Senate, Heitkamp responded, “I think it’s likely that that’s going to be the outcome from all of this.” She added that, “I’m not saying ‘never never,’ but I will tell you that I’m very, very honored to serve the people of North Dakota and I hope that no matter what I do, that will always be my first priority.” Heitkamp said the Trump administration has a “laser-like focus” on creating jobs and building the economy. She also said the Trump administration has a “very maverick” perspective on politics, which could be an opportunity for Democrats to work with the White House.

House Agriculture Chairman Mike Conaway (R-Texas) is backing Susan Combs, a Texas politician who served as the state’s agriculture commissioner and comptroller, for USDA Secretary, one of the few remaining Cabinet posts to be filled. Combs met with VP-elect Mike Pence Tuesday.

There was a photo earlier this week of Iowa businessman Bruce Rastetter at Trump Tower. A reporter on Wednesday asked a Trump spokesman whether he is being considered for any administration post. Jason Miller, the transition team’s communications director, said, “Do not know if Mr. Rastetter is being considered for a particular post. Obviously someone who comes with a wealth of knowledge and is very well known in Iowa politics, but don’t have any particular updates on his meeting with transition officials.”

The president-elect reportedly has vetted only two members of the advisory committee to lead USDA, Nebraska cattleman Charles Herbster and former Georgia Governor Sonny Purdue.

NOTE: This column is copyrighted material; therefore reproduction or retransmission is prohibited under U.S. copyright laws.