Ag Policy Blog

UPDATE: Sen Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, told KWCH TV that he has not been offered the position of Agriculture secretary, refuting the report from the Hill on late Friday.

http://www.kwch.com/…big

The Hill reported Friday that Moran, chairman of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, was under consideration to become President-elect Donald Trump’s Agriculture secretary, The Hill reported.

A source close to Moran said the senator is considering the offer, though no decision has been made, The Hill reported.

Moran, 62, easily won re-election this year. Before running for the Senate in 2010, he served as U.S. representative from the 63-county western Kansas district known as the “Big First,” and was a prominent member of the House Agriculture Committee.

Earlier he served eight years in the Kansas state Senate, spending the last two years as majority leader.

Moran was raised in Plainville, Kan. He attended Fort Hays State University and later the University of Kansas, where he completed a degree in economics. After an early career as a small-town banker, he received his law degree from the University of Kansas School of Law.

Trump also announced he would nominate Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan., to head the Central Intelligence Agency.

Pompeo was the author of a bill on disclosure of genetically modified ingredients in foods that passed the House, but failed to win Senate passage.

Meanwhile, Mike Torrey, a Kansas-born lobbyist who has been in charge of the transition at USDA, announced Friday he would leave the transition team after Trump announced that people who worked on the transition would be asked to terminate their relationships with any clients, Politico reported.

“Throughout my time assisting the transition effort, I have adhered closely to the code of ethical conduct and confidentiality agreement that was provided to me," Torrey said in a statement published by Politico.

“When asked recently to terminate lobbying registration for clients whom I serve in order to continue my role with the transition, I respectfully resigned from my role.”

Torrey represents clients in a broad spectrum of agriculture and his presence on the Trump transition team had been reassuring to the agriculture and nutrition communities.

Torrey’s office email was set with automated reply that he would be out until Monday, and calls to his office telephone were sent directly to voice mail.

GCN’s Michael Catanzaro, who was responsible for energy independence and Michael McKenna of MWR Strategies, who was focused on the Energy Department, also left the transition team, according to Politico.

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