Wife's candidacy poses ethics quandary for ag secretary

WASHINGTON - Former Iowa first lady Christie Vilsack's congressional campaign has forced her husband, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, to tread carefully when it comes to issues concerning Iowa.

On the same day in April that Christie Vilsack, a Democrat, announced she was forming an exploratory committee to run for Republican Rep. Steve King's seat, her husband, a former Iowa governor, requested a briefing and memo from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's ethics office on guidance to avoid any conflicts of interest.

The ethics office advised the secretary on a federal law that places restrictions on political conduct of federal employees. It bans him from campaigning for her or commenting on her race.

When his wife formally announced her candidacy in Ames last month, Vilsack was at her side. But ethics rules prevented him from identifying himself as the secretary of agriculture.

A USDA official said the secretary has drawn “a very clear, very bright white line between politics and government.”

“On multiple occasions (Vilsack) has declined to comment on the campaign,” the official said.

Of greater importance to Iowans is that Vilsack may now have to recuse himself from certain issues that affect Iowa. That means an asset for the state - that the secretary of agriculture had close ties and deep knowledge of Iowa and its needs - has been lost.

James McCormick, chairman of the political science department at Iowa State University, said “ethics has to supersede any harm that might come to Iowa.”

“It's a very delicate situation for him,” Drake University political science professor Dennis Goldford said of Vilsack. “The difficulty is, on the one hand you cannot and do not want to do something that can be seen as favoring the state in a way that helps Christie. But on the other hand you don't want to disadvantage the state.”

Goldford also says “someone must ask ‘should she have done this?' in running for office in Iowa because she put her husband in a difficult position.”

Born and raised in Mount Pleasant, Christie Vilsack is a former high school teacher and college professor. She considered running for the 2nd District congressional seat, which would have pitted her against fellow Democrat Rep. David Loebsack.

But Vilsack decided instead to try to unseat King, one of the most conservative Republicans in the House of Representatives.

“It's a Republican district but (Christie) Vilsack has the money and name-identification to make it a race,” said Kyle Kondick, political analyst at the University of Virginia's Center for Politics.

According to the latest filing with the Federal Election Commission, Christie Vilsack's campaign has raised nearly twice as much money as King this year. As of June 30 she had raised about $424,000 to King's $222,000.

Some of Christie Vilsack's money came from out-of state contributors who may have interests before the USDA, such as Gary Hirshberg, CEO of New Hampshire yogurt company Stonyfield Farms and Walter Robb, the CEO of Whole Foods who lives in California.

“We're proud of the strong support we've received from people from all walks of life who believe Christie can help bring new jobs and opportunity to Iowa,” said Vilsack campaign spokesman Patrick Brown. ”We do not accept contributions from agricultural PACs and registered lobbyists working at companies with business before the USDA.”

Christie Vilsack said her race for an Iowa congressional seat poses no conflict for her husband.

“He has his job to do and I have mine - I'm working to represent the people of Iowa first and always,” she said.

Brown pointed out there have been several power couples in U.S. politics.

“Liddy Dole served as secretaries of Labor and Transportation while her husband Bob Dole was in the U.S. Senate and Mitch McConnell, the U.S. Senate minority leader, is married to Elaine Chao, who was the Secretary of Labor during the Bush administration,” he said.