Tom Vilsack To Lead Usda Under Obama

摘要

In mid-December, President-elect Barack Obama selected former Iowa governor Tom Vilsack to serve as the new administration's Secretary of Agriculture. Vilsack, who was on a short list of names to succeed Ed Schafer, competed with the president-electrnfor the Democratic nomination-earlier in the election process. He dropped out before the primaries began and supported Senator Hillary Clinton until she conceded defeat.rnA native of Pittsburgh, Vilsack received an undergraduate degree from Hamilton College in New York and a law degree from Albany Law School in 1976. At Hamilton, Vilsack met his future wife Christine Bell. After law school, the couple moved to Mount Pleasant, Iowa, where he joined his father-in-law's law practice. In 1987, Vilsack was appointed mayor of Mount Pleasant, succeeding Ed King who was shotrnto death during a city council meeting by a disgruntled citizen.