Secretary of State Mark Ritchie must be a progressive powerhouse. He got dual mentions (of sorts) in The Nation’s list of Most Valuable Progressives: one for his work overseeing the statewide recount and one by way of…
Our colleagues at the Iowa Independent hail Gov. Tom Vilsack, President-elect Barack Obama’s choice for agriculture secretary, as a “consummate pragmatist” who has “endeared himself to both the left and the right.” But one group that’s not so fond of Obama’s selection is the Finland, Minn.–based Organic Consumers’ Association. It reacted to today’s announcement with a petition calling for organic producers and consumers to urge Obama to block the nomination, highlighting Vilsack’s support for factory farming and biotechnology. A tamer response came from Minneapolis’ Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy which contrasted Vilsack’s “fairly conventional perspective on agriculture” with the “unconventional times” we live in.
Experienced at working with international institutions and grassroots activists alike, Mark Ritchie has been known to use an “insider-outsider strategy.” It’s an apt descriptor: A onetime chicken farmer and co-op organizer, he’s addressed…
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