Former Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, now CEO of the U.S. Dairy Export Council, said President Trump’s nominee to head the USDA’s research division wouldn’t be a credible choice with the scientific community, according to Harvest Public Media. Trump nominated former conservative talk radio host and economics professor Sam Clovis to be the USDA’s chief scientist and the agency’s undersecretary of agriculture for research, education, and economics in July, setting off a wave of criticism. Clovis had strongly supported Trump in his election campaign.
“Mr. Clovis’s positions on things like climate change and things of that sort create a barrier for him that will make it hard for him to have the credibility, the connection with land grant universities, the connection with the science community,” Vilsack said, according to Harvest Public Media.
Clovis’s background as an academic, Vilsack conceded, could be helpful in other parts of the job. Clovis taught business and economics at Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa, and holds a doctorate in public administration, the report pointed out. “But I’m just not sure about his science background,” Vilsack said. “I don’t think he has a science background, and I think that job is designed for a scientist.”
By statute, the job he was nominated for is reserved for “distinguished scientists with specialized or significant experience in agricultural research, education, and economics.” While Clovis, a former college professor, has degrees in political science, business administration, and public administration, he has never taken a graduate course in science, says ProPublica. He is a climate change skeptic and suggested in an interview while running for the Senate that the federal crop insurance program is unconstitutional.
Clovis has come in for a round of criticism from Democratic lawmakers for his lack of scientific credentials and has also gotten pushback, from both sides of the aisle, for questioning the constitutionality of crop insurance and advocating its elimination. He has also been taken to task for his colorful language, calling President Obama a “Maoist” and describing black leaders as “race traders” in blog posts.