Obama Names Picks for Agriculture and Interior

By BRIAN KNOWLTON and JEFF ZELENY
Published: December 17, 2008
New York Times

President-elect Barack Obama on Wednesday named Tom Vilsack, a former governor of Iowa, as his choice for agriculture secretary and Senator Ken Salazar of Colorado to head the Interior Department, nearly completing his cabinet with the addition of two men who, like others named earlier this week, will have heavy responsibilities for energy and the environment.

Taken with earlier appointments, Mr. Obama said, the two men whom he introduced at a news conference in Chicago would join a team that he vowed would work “to create millions of new jobs, to free our nation from its dependence on oil, and to help preserve this planet for our children.”

At a time when Mr. Obama is urging an intense focus on new or alternative energy sources — from wind power and biofuels to expanded offshore drilling — the two cabinet positions, with their respective responsibilities for the nation’s farms and its public lands, will probably carry unusual prominence.

As governor, Mr. Vilsack was a strong proponent of ethanol and wind energy, traveling the world in search of new markets and opportunities for American products.

Mr. Obama particularly praised Mr. Vilsack’s advocacy of biotech and his work to foster “an agricultural economy of the future that not only grows the food we eat but the energy we use.”

Mr. Salazar, a former director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources and state attorney general, has also been a proponent of renewable energy sources.

A farmer and rancher with deep roots in Colorado, he is known as a staunch conservationist and an opponent of developing oil shale on public lands. But some environmentalists are unhappy that Mr. Salazar has worked to allow more offshore oil exploration.

Appearing at the news conference in a light-colored cowboy hat and sporting a bolo tie, Mr. Salazar is the latest in a long line of Westerners to fill the interior position, which oversees agencies from the National Park Service to the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Mr. Obama made an unusual nod to the interests of Native Americans, a group often overlooked at the national level. He said that among Mr. Salazar’s responsibilities would be “helping ensure that we finally live up to the treaty obligations that are owed to the first Americans.”

“We need more than just a government-to-government relationship; we need a nation-to-nation relationship,” he said, adding that he would work with Mr. Salazar to ensure that tribal nations have a voice in this administration.

Mr. Salazar will also have to deal with questions about how the department has handled endangered species as well as allegations of improper conduct by an office in the department that manages mineral resources.

Indeed, the president-elect seemed to allude to some of those problems on Wednesday.

“I want a more pro-active Interior Department,” Mr. Obama said, in response to a reporter’s question. “I also want an Interior Department that, very frankly, cleans up its act. There have been too many problems and too much emphasis on big-time lobbyists in Washington, and not enough emphasis on what’s good for the American people.”

Mr. Vilsack, who served two terms as governor of Iowa, briefly sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008. After dropping out of the race, he endorsed Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and was among those who questioned whether Mr. Obama had the experience to do the job.

But during the general election, Mr. Vilsack campaigned for Mr. Obama. And, according to Democrats familiar with the decision, the two got along well during a recent job interview in Chicago. Mr. Vilsack, who has spent the fall semester as a political fellow at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, works as a lawyer in Des Moines.

Four years ago, Mr. Vilsack was among those considered as possible running mate for Senator John Kerry, but he was not on the short list of candidates to join Mr. Obama’s ticket this year.

The only cabinet positions now unfilled are for the departments of transportation and labor.

The appointment of Mr. Salazar, who is Hispanic, will leave a Democratic vacancy in the Senate. Colorado, which voted for Mr. Obama 53 percent to 45 percent, has a Democratic governor, Bill Ritter, who will name a replacement to complete the final two years of Mr. Salazar’s term.

John M. Broder contributed reporting from Washington, and Jeff Zeleny from Chicago.