Opponents of the choice say Perdue's appointment would jeopardize academic freedom across the systems 26 campuses. [54] In December 2018, he changed the nutrition standards for school lunches to allow more refined grains, allow milk with added sugar, and increased sodium. There's been a lot of different issues that colleges are facing regarding social issues and political issues. [47], Perdue was constitutionally ineligible to seek a third consecutive term as governor in the 2010 Georgia gubernatorial election. [31] The choices were a modified version of the First National Flag of the Confederate States of America, with the Georgia State Seal prominently displayed inside a circle of 13 stars, or the flag created in 2001 by the Roy Barnes administration. Can you pitch in a few bucks to help fund Mother Jones' investigative journalism? At the beginning of 2020, Perdue yearned publicly for a way to cut federally mandated wages for migrant farm workers on guest visas. He's also a fierce advocate for Sonny Perdue to land the chancellor job, saying his experience . David Perdue is running against Democrat Jon Ossoff in one of two runoff elections in the state that will determine control of the U.S. Senate in the next Congress. Steve Fennessy: Yeah. Once again, left-leaning organizations like American Oversight will do anything they can to stop this administration from helping the American people, the spokesperson said. The crux of the watchdog complaint comes down to a handful of Perdues businesses the secretary reported as sources of income, at least a half-million dollars, on his 2019 filing. The Perdue USDAs largesse to large-scale farmers and agribusinesses went beyond cutting wages and protective measures for their workers. The business holdings were a source of concern during his confirmation process, as well as during his time as Georgia governor from 2003-11, when he faced more than a dozen ethics complaints and was found to have funneled illegal amounts of money from his businesses to his campaign in 2002. Sanders: one of the the most fun, engaging, charming, and charismatic people Ive ever been around. Perdue: he has an amazing instinctive ability to make decisions.. Perdue restructured his original family trust into a new fund that he did not oversee, and the fund then sold off two of his businesses directly involved in agriculture the only assets that posed potential conflicts, according to a USDA spokesperson. Georgia Runoff: Perdue-Ossoff Senate Race Heads To Runoff : NPR - NPR.org There are probably about 48,000 employees in the university system, and they range from professors, assistant professors, you know, associate professors, guest lecturers, you know, everything from electricians to people who work in the cafeterias. Feb. 15, 2022 Georgia's public university system said on Tuesday that former Gov. [25] Perdue signed the legislation into law on April 12, 2005, three days before tax day. "You have got to have stuff where there is a lot of traffic. The United States Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry overwhelmingly approved his nomination on March 30, with a 191 vote. Sonny Perdue had campaigned on his cousins behalf during David Perdues 2020 re-election campaign, which he narrowly lost to Senator Jon Ossoff. A Big Ag corporation sold it to Sonny Perdue's company for $250,000", "Agriculture secretary pick Perdue led big political change in Georgia", "Official: Perdue flew copter without license", "Governor Perdue Makes Acting Debut in "We Are Marshall", Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Administrator of the Small Business Administration, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sonny_Perdue&oldid=1142223043, Democratic Party Georgia (U.S. state) state senators, Republican Party Georgia (U.S. state) state senators, Presidents pro tempore of the Georgia State Senate, Republican Party governors of Georgia (U.S. state), Military personnel from Georgia (U.S. state), Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 1 March 2023, at 05:05. Sonny Perdue Age: 75 Birthplace: Perry, Georgia Political History: Georgia state senator, 1991-2002; governor, 2003-2011; U.S. Department of Agriculture secretary, 2017-2021. Mother Jones was founded as a nonprofit in 1976 because we knew corporations and billionaires wouldn't fund the type of hard-hitting journalism we set out to do. Jess Mador is the lead podcast producer at GPB News. Lance Cheung/USDA; Mother Jones Illustration. The state's Board of Regents on Wednesday named a veteran finance official as the acting chancellor of Georgia's public university system, stalling former Gov. A USDA spokesperson denied Perdue was involved and said holding such land doesnt conflict with his duties as secretary. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue told the crowd at last week's event in North Carolina that he got a call from the White House. [18], Perdue was elected as a Democrat in 1991, 1994, and 1996. [24] The State Ethics Commission ruled against Perdue twice, finding that he had taken improper campaign contributions from donors including SunTrust Banks and that he had improperly used one of his family business's airplanes on the campaign, for which the commission fined the sitting governor. His Democratic opponent was Lieutenant Governor Mark Taylor. Founder and partner in an agricultural trading company,[4] Perdue served from 2012 to 2017 on the Governors' Council of the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, D.C.[3][5] He is the second secretary of agriculture from the Deep South; the first was Mike Espy of Mississippi, who served under President Bill Clinton from January 1993 to December 1994. [19] After his first year in office, Senator Perdue wrote then Lt. But ethics questions have piled up in recent months about the secretarys mixing of USDA duties and his political promotion of the president. Steve Fennessy: Chancellor of the University System of Georgia it's one of the most coveted jobs in higher education. This is Georgia Today. The former two-term Georgia governor has kept his cabinet post until the end, maintaining a close relationship with . Brian Kemp and thought Trump thought his endorsement would spell immediate trouble for the incumbent. So, you know, we've been hearing that this from faculty members who have been upset about, you know, some of his credentials in that space. You know, I guess at the time, they sort of came to an impasse and there was a search firm that was hired to help with the process, but pulled out of the process. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2023 demands. According to the Georgia government's website on Confederate History Month, they also participated in the manufacture of products for the war effort, built naval ships, and provided military assistance and relief efforts"[38] The proclamation was criticized by historians for its historical inaccuracies,[39] although there were, in fact, African-Americans who served the Confederacy. [12] A 2005 tax bill passed by the Georgia Legislature allowed residents to gain a tax break if they sold a property in Georgia to buy similar property in another state, and made the change retroactive to 2004. Brian Kemp is in a fierce battle with David Perdue. Across the state, teachers have found themselves caught in a conservative battle to ban divisive topics from classrooms, which Republican lawmakers define as a various list of ideas regarding race. You can keep up with Georgia today by subscribing to the show at GPB.org. [1][10] He grew up and still lives in Bonaire, an unincorporated area between Perry and Warner Robins. [71], In 2006, while still governor, Perdue made a cameo appearance as the coach of the East Carolina Pirates football team in the movie We Are Marshall, large portions of which were filmed in Georgia. I give him my full and total endorsement.". But last year, he disclosed he had become trustee of a newly formed fund that includes many of the same assets as his original family trust. [57] Current and former employees of the ERS were strongly critical of the relocation to Kansas City, saying the resulting exodus of scientific and economic talent caused disruption to federal research, especially on climate change and food security. The Perdue USDA also insisted that federally funded grocery boxes distributed by food banks contain a letter signed by Trump, touting the administrations coronavirus response. Sonny Perdue was its sole finalist to become chancellor, a choice that has outraged some professors and led a. The Washington Post detailed several wish-list items that ADM achieved: loosening of regulations on pork production, fewer inspections, helping lobby against proposed government bans on glyphosate by Thailand and Vietnam, and promoting ethanol and biodiesel. (David Perdue is now locked in a tight runoff election that could decide which party controls the Senate in the next Congress.). Since joining the Trump administration, Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue's complicated network of ties to Georgia-based entities including his family's company, Perdue Partners raised questions about potential conflicts of interest as well as his working relationship with his cousin, Georgia Sen. David Perdue. She currently produces the Georgia Today and Battleground: Ballot Box shows. The property (in Estill, South Carolina) had originally been purchased by ADM for 5.5 million dollars, and independent assessments and government tax assessors agree on that as a fair range; however, AGrowStar was offered the property for US$250,000, a fraction of its value. It pays pretty well. RELATED: Oversight group isnt reviewing Georgia regents choice of Sonny Perdue. Mitch Daniels of Indiana has led Purdue University since 2012. On March 1, 2022, the Board of Regents of University System of Georgia appointed Perdue as the system's 14th chancellor, effective April 1, 2022. [News tape] WSB: Gov. Georgia Today is a production of Georgia Public Broadcasting. Kemp continues to be grateful for that support, and he feels some, you know, some loyalty, from what we've been hearing from our sources towards Sonny Perdue. He served as his party's leader in the Senate from 1994 to 1997 and as president pro tempore. What is it about this job that appeals to him? David Perdue is running for governor in Georgia. Here's what to know Eric Stirgus: I think you would have many people who would say that it is a political decision or that the board members themselves have, you know, some say depending on their own personal politics. [News tape] FOX5: Critics have questioned Perdue's experience, pointing out his lack of experience in the higher education setting. (Washington, D.C., April 28, 2020) - U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue released the following statement after President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order to keep meat and poultry processing facilities open during the COVID-19 national emergency. Trump-backed Perdue struggles in Republican primary challenge in - CNN Eric Stirgus: For now, we have not heard any discussion about, you know, where Sonny Perdue will ultimately fall on the governor's race. In his 2002 election campaign, Perdue promised that he would let the state's citizens vote to determine the state flag. of Agriculture", "U.S. Senate: U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 115th Congress 1st Session", "Sonny Perdue Named Chancellor of the University System of Georgia", "Meet David PerdueHe Might Be Georgia's Next Senator", National Governors Association: Sonny Perdue, "Trump taps former Georgia governor for agriculture secretary", "Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue Perdue Farms Plans Major Expansion in Georgia", "Official Results of the November 5, 2002 General Election", "Ethical Lapses Trail Nominee For Agriculture Conflicts of Interest as Governor of Georgia", "3 minutes, 1 tax bill, $100,000 for Sonny Perdue", "Georgia climbs in SAT rankings despite drop in score", "2008 SAT Results Highlight Need for Rigor", "Georgia View: Sonny Perdue's Non-Legacy", "Georgia leaders try to skip controversy in flag vote", "Tom Price, Kasim Reed, Sonny Perdue and the Art of the Georgia Deal", "Statement of Governor Sonny Perdue Regarding Court Ruling to Stay Transition to Reformulated Gasoline", "Georgia Enacts a Tough Law on Immigrants", The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader: The "Great Truth", "Trump could name Agriculture Secretary whose drought strategy was to pray for rain", "Yes, There Were Black Confederates. Steve Fennessy: Sonny Perdue is a Republican, so when he uses an expression like Cultural Revolution, what is he referring to? Perdue is a kind of an easy-going Southern version of the president he served so zealously. Revoking accreditation to schools including the University of Georgia, Fort Valley State and Georgia Southern would be a monumental step. Perdue led Ossoff in the . "[45], The project overall has been scrutinized as a waste of taxpayer money due to mismanagement of bond money and extremely low visitors. Personal: Perdue. Sonny Perdue was its sole finalist to become chancellor, a choice that has outraged some professors and led a regional agency to threaten the accreditation of the 26-school system. Sonny Perdue's Ties to His Family Business - American Oversight And so, you know, they point to things like that and they also point to issues, you know, point to things that, you know, hey, other states have hired elected officials and former politicians to lead colleges or universities. The credits are meant to offset the environmental impact of land development and they can be bought and sold on the marketplace. [News tape] 11Alive: He tweeted, "Brian Kemp is running for governor of the Great State of Georgia. publicly condemned how the university system selected Mr. Perdue, will be the first woman to head the institution, a large-scale, low-cost online Master of Science degree program. "The. It's us but for your ears. [46] After the state dropped out of the bidding and the land was sold to developers, the value of Perdue's property more than doubled. [13], In 1971, Perdue earned his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) from the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine, and worked as a veterinarian before becoming a small business owner, eventually starting three small businesses. Eric Stirgus: Yes, definitely. Perdue is the first cousin of former U.S. Yes, there is a acting chancellor. Yes. He was sworn in by Supreme Court associate justice and fellow Georgian Clarence Thomas. The association has publicly condemned how the university system selected Mr. Perdue, a process that largely occurred in meetings without faculty input and closed to the public. One is looking at his record, as you know, the governor of Georgia. I mean, you know, there is one former member now, Phillip Lehi, who did, you know, say, Hey, I like Sonny Perdue personally. Thanks for listening. So very excited to have the president standing with us and I'm a lot like him. [25] Perdue then used the new law on his 2004 tax return to defer $100,000 in taxable gains from the sale of land. I cant imagine Sonny Perdue doing that.. Steve Fennessy: When you look at past chancellors in the university system of Georgia, is that a position where the person who gets the job is typically coming from a higher educational background? [7] His appointment was approved by an 8711 vote by the Senate on April 24. An investigationby the Food and Environment Reporting Networks Leah Douglas found that at least 40 percent of chicken plants operating at the higher speeds experienced COVID outbreaks, versus 14 percent for the overall meat sector. He left in June. The complex arrangements were criticized as breaking the spirit of the rule, however, and that Perdue and his family's ties to his corporation were not distanced as much as the law intended. Looking at the pandemic, they've also had to take on some additional responsibilities, such as, you know, managing coronavirus relief funds. In 2010, at the tail end of his second term as governor, Perdue named his cousin, David Perduewho had just stepped down as chief executive of Dollar General discount storesto the board of the Georgia Ports Authority. They range from Georgia State University, which has the most students in the system, like about 53,000 students; Georgia Tech, Kennesaw State both of those schools have about 40,000 students each and then University of Georgia. Brian Kemp in Mays Republican primary. How Perdue's power benefits his friends - POLITICO The new law saved Perdue $100,000 in state taxes. Purdue merged the voter-fraud myth with another racist fantasy, also fervently indulged by Trump, that undocumented immigrants burden taxpayers by siphoning welfare benefits. While Perdue puffed up the generosity of his boss, the USDA was busy botching the food-relief effort, awarding fat contracts to distributors ill-equipped to handle them, with the result that some parts of the country got a lot of food, while others got very little, NPR reported. Kudlow used the opportunity to fluff Trumps economic record. Eric Stirgus: During his time as agriculture secretary there was, you know, there's been some criticism about his record, you know, concerning issues such as climate change. [24], On January 18, 2017, President Donald Trump announced that he would nominate Perdue to be United States secretary of agriculture. Eric Stirgus: There are 26 institutions in the system. The Georgia Public Library Service and the Georgia Archives . [67], Regardless of whether the deal was intended to influence Perdue's actions, and if it was if it actually had any impact, the Perdue years were good ones for ADM. [69] Perdue lives in Bonaire, Georgia. Latest news, headlines, analysis, photos and videos on Sonny Perdue The North American Vexillological Association had deemed it the ugliest U.S. state flag. The sole vote against him came from Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY). And so now he's no longer on the regents. Students and faculty members around the state are reacting to news that Republican former Gov. [72], In 2006, Perdue's financial disclosure forms revealed that he had a net worth of approximately $6 million and received compensation of $700,000 that year.[73]. Perdue and the department have argued that the move will lower living costs, save . The harangue, which ended with the ag secretary leading a chant of four more years, earned Perdue a knuckle-rap from the Office of Special Counsel for violating the Hatch Act, which forbids government employees from campaigning while on the job. I'm Steve Fennessy. Copyright 2023 Mother Jones and the Foundation for National Progress. He later served as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and was named chancellor of the University System of Georgia in 2022.. Background and Education Sonny Perdue Is Sole Finalist to Lead Georgia's Public Universities USDA said the reorganization of Perdues finances was cleared by career ethics staff, pointing to the secretarys 2019 financial disclosure that was signed by ethics officials. Her name is Theresa McCartney, and she worked under Mr. Wrigley. Like Trump, hes a former Democrat who ascended to political power (in Perdues case, Georgia governor) in a stunning upset. Caught in the middle of a Republican overhaul of education, teachers feel under attack, Senate bill cracks down on local school boards' ability to eject disruptive parents from meetings. Meanwhile, in 2020, the pandemic ravaged meatpacking workers and put millions out of work, causing a surge in the need for food assistanceboth very much areas of concern for the agriculture department. Sonny Perdue Is Sole Finalist to Lead Georgias Public Universities, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/15/us/sonny-perdue-georgia-chancellor.html. [3], In 2006, Perdue was re-elected to a second term in the 2006 Georgia gubernatorial election, winning nearly 58% of the vote. On April 1, 2022, Perdue took over as the system's 14th chancellor. Steve Fennessy: So there's a school of thought that Gov. Eric Stirgus: Yes. Georgia regents name Sonny Perdue finalist to lead University System Sonny Perdue is cousins with David Perdue, who is now engaged in a bitter primary battle against Brian Kemp Brian Kemp, who, of course, is backing Sonny Perdue. Watchdog organizations are now calling for the Agriculture Departments inspector general to investigate whether Perdue has run afoul of the ethics agreement he signed as a nominee for the job early in the Trump administration. [46] The land was adjacent to the 20,000 acres (81km2) Oaky Woods preserve being sold by Weyerhaeuser. However, Perdue was faced with a Democratic House that would not allow the 1956 flag to be included in the referendum, due to its Confederate origins, and he needed support for a tobacco tax he wanted to pass to raise revenue. And so, you know, I think he was one of those, you know, members who, you know, was part of that faction were against it. Critics argued that the deal should be investigated, and speculated that ADM, which spends millions of dollars on lobbying regardless, used the property sale as a bribe for favorable treatment. Steve Fennessy: So the faction that was opposed or is opposed to the idea of Sonny Perdue as chancellor seems to be getting smaller. In July, with the economic fallout from the pandemic generating a massive hunger crisis, Perdue alighted on North Carolina, a key swing state, to stage a rally promoting congressionally mandated food aid as an example of the personal benevolence of Donald Trump. What is that history? The other election pits Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler against the Rev. A longtime Atlanta-based journalist, he is a former editor-in-chief of Atlanta magazine. Very few Republican elected officials, operatives, donors and activists in Georgia have. Unquote. Citing export losses from Trumps trade war with China, the USDA lavished mainly huge soybean, hog, and cotton farmers with $28 billion in 2018 and 2019more than double the price tag of President Barack Obamas 2009 auto bailout. And I understand that he wasn't the biggest supporter of the idea of Sonny Perdue as chancellor. Libertarian Garrett Michael Hayes was also on the ballot. Secretary Perdue complied with his ethics agreement and followed the advice of ethics officers at USDA when he restructured the Perdue Family Revocable Management Trust into a new family management trust, in which the secretary and his wife had no ownership interest and were not trustees, the spokesperson said in a statement. Perdues response? Donald Trump's agriculture secretary, Sonny Perdue, was confirmed April 24, 2017, and he will have a wide reach in his role. Perdue is a cousin to Trump Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue. (Washington, D.C., April 22, 2020) - Today, the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced emergency benefit increases have reached $2.0 billion per month for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) households across all 50 states and 3 territories to increase food security during the coronavirus national emergency. Steve Fennessy: How unusual is it for a letter like that to be written? Sonny Perdue served two terms as governor of Georgia before being named Agriculture Secretary in the Trump administration. Republican Sen. David Perdue, a former Fortune 500 CEO, will face off against Democrat Jon Ossoff, a 33-year-old media executive, again in a runoff election Jan. 5. She said that this is coming from a place of strength and not weakness. Undeterred by the pandemic-led spike in hunger, Perdue also doubled- and tripled-down on a long-held goal: boosting work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that would eliminate food aid forat least 1.2 million peopleabout a third of them households containing senior citizens, nearly a quarter with children, and 11 percent with a disabled person, according tononpartisan think tank Mathematica. @SecretarySonny (to use his folksy Twitter handle) stayed the course that characterized his entire time at UDSA. Sonny Perdue served two terms as the governor of Georgia, from 2003 to 2011. [55], In July 2019, Perdue ordered two USDA agenciesthe Economic Research Service (ERS) and the National Institute of Food and Agricultureto move from the USDA's headquarters in Washington, D.C. to the Kansas City metropolitan area. Kemp and Perdue are also close political allies, and Kemp recently replaced four members on the board before the vote. And Sonny Perdue was one of the only, if not the only cabinet member who went the distance in the Donald Trump administration. David Perdue is saying, "I'm the big Trump guy here." So that's a little strange, isn't it? Why is accreditation important for a university system like Georgia's? The Board of Regents is expected to confirm Perdue's appointment in the next two weeks. [56] The attrition rate was particularly high in the Resource and Rural Economics Division (90%) and in the Food Economics Division (up to 89%). Trump said Friday that he has directed Perdue to provide at least $16 billion in relief. Former Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue nominated as USDA Secretary Janet Napolitano of Arizona, a Democrat, later ran the University of California system, and former Gov. His nomination was transmitted to the U.S. Senate on March 9, 2017. Steve Fennessy: The governor appoints the regents on the Board of Regents; there's 19 of them. Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, who like Grassley is up for reelection in 2022, said he hasn't "paid a lot of attention" to Georgia's governor race, saying "we got our hands full . The board cited Perdue's, quote, "vast understanding of the issues facing the university system," unquote. Eric Stirgus: He has some interest in the job because, you know, he realizes the importance of higher education to the state's economy. Senator David Perdue (R-GA) abstained, as they are first cousins. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, it was a plum post for the political novice, which he used as a springboard that helped propel him to a US Senate seat in 2014. A low-ball estimate of the value of storage in the grain silos was US$3 million. Sonny Perdue - New Georgia Encyclopedia Steve Fennessy: How big is the university system? Secretary Perdue was just chastised for his abuse of tax dollars for political purposes by ethics authorities, so we cannot take these claims at face value, he said. And then a couple of months later, my colleague Greg Bluestein ran into him at an event and Sonny did say that he was interested in the position, if the regents would have him. Coronavirus-riddled slaughterhouses, in turn, emerged as primary vectors for spreading the pathogen to surrounding communities. In the podcasts final episode before the election, released Oct. 29, Perdue hosted another MAGA loyalist, the high-living former Wall Street man and TV personality Larry Kudlow, the non-economist who Trump improbably chose to lead the National Economic Council. [32] Perdue disappointed some Georgians by not making the 1956 flag one of the choices on the ballot, despite a campaign promise to do so. Steve Fennessy: So what happened then? [60] In August 2019, Lewis Ziska, a USDA plant physiology climate scientist, quit after department administrators attempted to impede the publication of one of his studies in the journal Science Advances. Eric Stirgus: Publicly, I don't think he's said one way or another right now. You know, there were some complaints that, you know, he was involved in some changes that, you know, made it a little bit more difficult for students to get the HOPE scholarship. [7] Monsters of 2020: Sonny Perdue - Mother Jones Perdues spokesperson also rejected the watchdog groups request for an investigation as politically motivated. Why is Sonny Perdue is such a polarizing figure? Sonny Perdue is a rarity: A Trump Cabinet member who went the - ajc DECATUR The Washington Post on Tuesday published a story that Archer Daniels Midland Co. sold a grain storage plant valued at millions of dollars to Sonny Perdue for $250,000 weeks after he . Born George Ervin Perdue III, Perdue has been known as Sonny since childhood, and prefers to be called by that name; he was sworn in and signs official documents as "Sonny Perdue". [6] His nomination was approved by the Senate Agriculture Committee by a 19-1 voice vote on March 30. Steve Fennessy: Politics makes strange bedfellows. So let's go into November with me as your nominee.". He won the 2002 Georgia gubernatorial election, defeating Democratic incumbent Roy Barnes 51% to 46%, with Libertarian candidate Garrett Michael Hayes taking 2% of the vote.