Eric Stirgus: Good question. Let's go into November and be against Stacey Abrams together.". In 2011, he founded Perdue Partners, which facilitated the export of U.S. goods and services. 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". So Sonny Perdue is very much in the good graces of Donald Trump. Perdue, a former US senator, has so far raised a fraction of what Kemp has in his campaign war chest. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue pledged in 2017 to separate himself from his multimillion dollar business holdings that could pose conflicts of interest in his public duties. His selection has angered professors concerned about academic freedom. Steve Fennessy: So that's not something you can just push aside because you don't like what one of their family members is doing. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue has long been President Donald Trumps most effective advocate among rural voters. A Senate panel backed a bill on Tuesday that would put pressure on local school boards to adhere to the open meetings laws and create barriers to removing disruptive parents from meetings. Libertarian Garrett Michael Hayes was also on the ballot. And then also there has been, through the congressional redistricting process, you know, because of some changes insome of the districts, you know, we've had two additional changes on the regents where two members are now no longer on the board and the governor has replaced another one of those members and all three of the members that he has replaced are people who have been, you know, very supportive of the governor in the past through campaign contributions and other ways. He shortly thereafter became a committee chairman, then climbed the leadership ladder to majority leader and to Senate president pro tempore. You know, we reported as soon as we got the copy of the letter. Am I being naive to think that that that would be the case? Secretary Perdue has visibility into and control over the trusts and their underlying assets, and he continues to benefit from them despite the plain terms of his 2017 ethics agreement, Evers wrote to the inspector general. [14] He defeated Republican candidate Ned Sanders in 1990 and succeeded Democratic incumbent Ed Barker as the senator representing the 18th district. Perdue is the first cousin of former U.S. 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. Eric Stirgus: Correct. A longtime Atlanta-based journalist, he is a former editor-in-chief of Atlanta magazine. What will Sonny Perdue do if he becomes Georgia system's - ajc We're a nonprofit (so it's tax-deductible), and reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget. Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation. Perdue, Trump's first and only agriculture secretary, is a notable exception. American Oversight and another watchdog group, Accountable.US, claim that violates Perdues 2017 agreement with ethics officials that he would restructure his original family trust and transfer all of its stock in Perdue Business Holdings to a new, irrevocable trust that wouldnt be overseen by or benefit the secretary. George Ervin "Sonny" Perdue III[1] (born December 20, 1946) is an American veterinarian, businessman, politician, and university administrator who served as the 31st United States Secretary of Agriculture from 2017 to 2021. Sonny Perdue Sworn in as 31st U.S. Secretary of Agriculture [33] Georgia voters chose the flag resembling the Confederate flag. But Sonny Perdue was there from the beginning. 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. And you know, in saying, you know, this is why we, you know, we are concerned about Sonny Perdue becoming chancellor. Steve Fennessy: By definition, you're appointed as a regent by the sitting governor, but appointing and hiring a chancellor is supposedly, at least theoretically, not supposed to be political, right? How Perdue's power benefits his friends - POLITICO Subscribe today and get a full year of Mother Jones for just $14.95. Not surprisingly, the news has dismayed many, both inside and outside of academic circles, who worry that Sonny Perdue is conservative politics will set the university system on a dangerous course and even put the system's accreditation at risk. Economists in the USDA's research branch were told to include disclaimers in their peer-reviewed publications stating that the findings were "preliminary" and "should not be construed to represent any agency determination or policy". Eric Stirgus: It was pretty newsy for us. What's the implication there? But her critics have said thatwhat she calls a COVID Crime Wave and her handling of the firing of Atlanta police officer Garrett Rolfe, who shot Rayshard Brooks last summer, made her vulnerable if she had chosen to run. 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. The reallocation entailed raising the companys holdings of highly valuable wetlands credits while lowering its portion of much cheaper stream credits. Steve Fennessy: News that Sonny Perdue will, in all likelihood be the university system of Georgia's next chancellor comes at a time when state legislators are debating bills about how racial history should be taught in classrooms. Monsters of 2020: Sonny Perdue - Mother Jones I understand that the Board of Regents, at least in its previous iteration, was not necessarily too keen on the idea of Sonny Perdue as the next chancellor, is that correct? (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. 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. Therefore the new trust Perdue listed on his 2019 financial disclosure, identifying himself as a co-trustee, poses no conflict of interest or violation of his ethics commitments, the spokesperson said. This is diversity and inclusion. Each of those firms is owned by Perdue Business Holdings Inc., and Secretary Perdues newly created FALF Management Trust of which the secretary is a co-trustee owns 100 percent of the voting stock in Perdue Business Holdings, according to his 2019 disclosure. Governor Pierre Howard asking for more responsibilities, and Howard obliged. Although it returned to last place in 2005,[26] Georgia rose to 49th place in 2006 in the combined math and reading mean score, including the writing portion added to the test that year. [69] Perdue lives in Bonaire, Georgia. There's been some social media push against him. Perdue addressed the crowd, saying "We've come together here simply for one reason and one reason only: to very reverently and respectfully pray up a storm" and "God, we need you; we need rain." Very few Republican elected officials, operatives, donors and activists in Georgia have. Mr. Perdues appointment as chancellor would also limit his contributions to the campaign of David Perdue, his cousin and a former senator who is running against Gov. Georgia regents name Sonny Perdue finalist to lead University System The board cited Perdue's, quote, "vast understanding of the issues facing the university system," unquote. [25] Perdue signed the legislation into law on April 12, 2005, three days before tax day. 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. Then the pandemic hit, ripping through migrant farm worker communities, who toiled on with little in the way of protective gear or opportunities for social distancing. AGrowStar (including the assets acquired as part of the Estill deal) was sold by Perdue's trusts in 2018 for 12 million dollars, but due to the secretive nature of the trusts, this was not widely disclosed. Higher education is where I wanted to have a real impact as governor, only to be stymied by twin recessions, he said in the board-issued statement. The income stemmed partly from the sale of conservation credits under a federal wetlands protection program. Sonny Perdue Is Sole Finalist to Lead Georgias Public Universities, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/15/us/sonny-perdue-georgia-chancellor.html. | J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo. The former Georgia governor has a background in agriculture. There may be that short list that some of these members of the Board of Regents have, but they're not allowed to discuss it publicly. Steve Fennessy: And when Wrigley said he was going to retire, was there kind of a shortlist floated around of possible successors? Why is Sonny Perdue is such a polarizing figure? The U.S. Senate confirmed Secretary Perdue by a vote of 87-to-11 on Monday evening. 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. [34] In a 2014 editorial published by National Review, Perdue criticized attempts by "some on the left or in the mainstream media" to connect climate change to weather events. He was confirmed by the Senate on April 24,[49] with Bernie Sanders and nine Democrats voting against him. The latest scrutiny stems from Perdues wealth of current and former interests in agriculture, trucking and land development a complex web of trusts, land parcels, holding companies and subsidiaries. Eric Stirgus: I think, you know, his critics have a couple of reasons that they're concerned. Sonny Perdue, of course, was a two-term governor of Georgia, as well as secretary of agriculture under former President Donald Trump.