Harkin Greets Dorr Nomination with Same Criticism

Dorr, of northwest Iowa, was unable to garner the needed 60 votes in the Senate in 2002, because of criticism led by Ranking Member Sen. Tom Harkin about comments he had made about racial ethnicity and issues cited about structuring his farming operations to avoid payment limitations.

He was made a recess appointee from August 2002 until December 2003. Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman retained him as a senior adviser when his recess term expired and assigned him additional duties in other areas of the Department of Agriculture.

Despite the cloud of controversy that surrounded Dorr's initial nomination and recess appointment, President Bush has re-nominated him to fill the head position at USDA's Rural Development branch. Dorr greeted the Senate Agriculture Committee with a passion for the rural economy in a hearing on Wednesday.

He expressed his gratitude for his staff across the country that helped make "great progress in expanding our outreach to qualified individuals and communities, making them aware of, and assisting them with, our many USDA Rural Development programs" with a special emphasis on minority outreach, Dorr says.

"Our overriding goal during my time leading USDA Rural Development was to be the advocate for rural America, and we took that objective very seriously," Dorr adds. "I witnessed many examples of leadership and creativity from our team in working with communities, often bringing multiple funding sources together such as federal, state, non-profit and private."

And as the committee began to tackle the nomination again, it was clear that Harkin, D-Iowa, remained opposed to the nomination of his fellow statesman. Although he said he's never in all his 20 years in the Senate objected to the nomination of an Iowa native for a nominated position, he says he has a "responsibility" to inquire into the questionable matters.

Most of Harkin's questioning directed towards Dorr focused on information brought to light in the first nomination hearing. He again asked for clarification on his reasons for having to pay back to the government $34,000 in farm payments that were wrongly collected because of the relationship of Dorr's operation with the two family trusts as a custom farming operator instead of only a crop-share partner.

Harkin asked what kind of signal does the nomination and potential approval of Dorr send to farmers and ranchers who partake in the many varied programs that agriculture provides if one of the highest leadership members is not honest with the government on his own farm?

Over 10 years ago, Dorr had written a constituent letter to Harkin saying that "the more we help, the more we hinder people." When asked specifically if that's how Dorr still felt, he replied, "My passion for assisting minority communities and all others involved in rural America is clearly part of the record. To suggest that I believe 'the more we help, the more we hinder,' that's clearly not true."

Republican senators were quick to point out that because Dorr led the agency during a recess appointment, he does have a track record to quiet the concerns raised by some organizations, as well as some groups changing their opinion of Dorr after seeing him in action.

In an introduction of Dorr at the hearing, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, shared portions of letters and statements of different groups encouraging the committee to nominate Dorr. Several letters of those letters were from minority organization leaders that initially were against Dorr's nomination. For instance, the Federation of Southern Cooperatives, which had a representative testify against Dorr at the 2002 hearing, endorsed the nomination because Dorr had "made several visits to the communities within the Federation's network and has a great understanding of the needs of rural poor communities. He is the man for the job," says Ralph Page, executive director of the Federation.

Dexter L. Davis, president of the Northeast Louisiana Black Farmers and Landowners Associations, said Dorr has "earned the trust from rural Americans."

Calvin R. King Sr., president and CEO of Arkansas Land and Farm Development Corporation, in a statement expressed that he was impressed with Dorr's passion for small farmers. "Quite frankly, when I first met Tom, I was not expecting him to be particularly supportive of our needs," King says. But over the years that we have worked together, I have found him to be a great ally and a tireless fighter for the causes that we both support."

Chambliss did indicate that 85 organizations, including the National Corn Growers Association and the American Farm Bureau Federation voiced support for the nomination. Chambliss did read a portion of a letter from the Black and Hispanic Caucuses that claimed Dorr had not dealt with issues written in a 2004 letter or subsequently in 2005.

Grassley outlined several ways individuals had pointed out the successful work of Dorr's leadership during his recess appointment.

1) Expedited the release of $762 million of water and wastewater infrastructure funds provided in the 2002 farm bill in just 3 months.

2) Led the effort to complete the rulemaking process in order that the $1.5 billion broadband program could begin taking applications this year. He believes that if Americans are to live locally and compete globally, that it is as imperative to wire the country for technology access as it was to electrify it over 60 years ago.

3) In order to facilitate the review and announcement of the $37 million in value-added development grants, Dorr is using private-sector resources to expedite the
process.

4) Helped develop and get signed a memorandum of understanding between Rural Development and the Delta Regional Authority to deliver financial grants through the program. This will allow Rural Development to assist in delivering joint projects at no added cost to the Delta Regional Authority.

5) Facilitated the development of a memorandum of understanding, signed by Secretaries Veneman and Martinez, between the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Housing and Urban Development that is focused on better serving housing and infrastructure needs.

6) Developed a series of initiatives with HUD that will allow Rural Development to more cost effectively meet the housing needs of rural America. These have allowed the Department to provide greater access to housing for all rural Americans, but especially minority rural Americans in fulfillment of the President's housing initiative.

7) Initiated a review of the Multi Family Housing program. This includes the hiring of an outside contractor to conduct a comprehensive property assessment to evaluate the physical condition, market position, and operational status of the more than 17,000 properties USDA has financed, all while determining how best to meet the needs of low income citizens throughout rural America.

8) Initiated a major outreach program to insure that USDA Rural Development programs are more easily made available to all qualified individuals, communities, and qualified organizations. This marketing and branding initiative has also played an important role in changing the attitude of employees to concentrate on customer service and pro-active outreach, with emphasis on reaching out to minorities.