Republican lawyer Gary Baise helped assemble Donald Trump’s agricultural advisory committee last summer. But now he’s been chastised by at least one member of the presidential transition team for his public remarks about Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, who Trump is considering for secretary of agriculture.
Baise “emailed key members of the Trump transition team and agricultural advisers on Friday stating that he had been told by a person on the transition team to ‘back off’ some of his complaints about Heitkamp,” says DTN.
According to the outlet, Baise wrote in the email, “Rest assured I will not [back off]. I am speaking and reflecting you, Mr. Trump and agriculture’s best interests — not some politically correct solution.”
If chosen, Heitkamp would be the only Democrat in Trump’s lineup, a fact that Baise says would go against the desires of many conservative farmers who gave Trump their vote.
“Rural America doesn’t want a Democratic senator as head of USDA — no and hell no. We are not the sacrificial lamb,” said Baise.
While a Democrat, Heitkamp has not always toed the environmentalist line. She earned a score of 40 percent from the League of Conservation Voters in 2015, in part for voting against the Waters of the United States rule. Heitkamp currently serves on the Senate Agriculture Committee.
Idaho Gov. Butch Otter, who signed the country’s toughest “ag gag” law, and former Georgia Gov. Sunny Perdue, also are contenders for the USDA’s top job.