Vilsack role in USDA firing seen as uncharacteristic of 'thoughtful' decision-maker

Those who know Tom Vilsack well are surprised the former Iowa governor is caught up in a series of hasty decisions embarrassing him and the Obama administration.

On the other hand, his apology for the firing of a USDA employee based on an edited video and his offer to rehire her are more typical of what a former legal counsel described as Vilsack's “incredibly diligent” approach to decision-making.

“He was incredibly well-prepared and very thoughtful, especially to the extent that it had tangible impacts on people,” said Brian Gentry, who served as the two-term governor's legal counsel.

He also found it ironic that Vilsack would be caught up in a controversy with racial overtones. Vilsack, Gentry said “really worked hard to increase access to services, to opportunities and to engagement in the governmental apparatus to people who historically had not had significant representation.”

Vilsack's efforts to expand rights for homosexuals, restore felons' voting right and oppose legislation making English the official state language were more consistent with his “commitment to promoting equal rights, equal opportunities.”

Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin has observed that same thoughtfulness over the years, so he was surprised at Vilsack's firing of Shirley Sherrod, a black USDA official, based on reports she discriminated against a white farmer.

“Well, look, I don't know all the ins and outs of this,” Harkin said July 22. “I don't know who called who, who said what. … but it does not seem to me to be the Tom Vilsack that I know and have known for 20 years.”

Harkin, who said he hasn't talked to Vilsack about the incident, wouldn't say whether he thought the decision to fire Sherrod had been made above Vilsack's level. However, the rapid-fire series of events caused Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley to wonder about the White House's role.

“I know Secretary Vilsack to be a fair person and he has done the right thing by owning up to the mistake,” Grassley said, “but the White House hasn't cleared the air with a full accounting of what transpired and reconciled reports that USDA staff felt pressured by the White House to ask Ms. Sherrod to resign."

Sherrod was asked to resign based on an edited videotape posted by conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart at www.BigGovernment.com in which she recalls her reluctance 24 years ago to help a white farmer seeking government assistance.

At a news conference Wednesday, Vilsack insisted he made the decision without knowing all the facts and regretted it.

“I am accepting the responsibility with deep regret,” he said.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs also insisted the decision was one made at the Agriculture Department and he denied White House pressure. He apologized to Sherrod “for the entire administration.”

Harkin doubted Vilsack would have fired someone based on the blog post.

On the other hand, “We all make mistakes,” Harkin said, adding, “Maybe he just made a big mistake.”

If he did, Vilsack wasn't alone, according to Stephen Berry, a Pulitzer-prize winning newspaper reporter now teaching at the University of Iowa.

He was appalled that “such a big deal was made politically about pure crappy journalism.”

The original story, posted at BigGovernment.com by conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart, was “not worth crap, but it gets played all over the place,” Berry said.

He also faulted the media for running the story without verifying it.

“When they see bullshit coming across the air, they need to ignore it,” Berry said. “Let Fox and MSNBC waste their time on it.”

And if the Obama administration had “checked the damn facts it could have saved itself a lot of embarrassment,” Berry said.

Berry gave Gibbs some credit for acknowledging the mistake and apologizing for it, but said he shouldn't have spent so much time discussing it.

“He should have just said, “That's bullshit, let's go to the next question,'” Berry said.

Berry hopes readers and viewers recognize the coverage was “silly as hell. I hope they realize that bad journalism got a lot of play.”

More worrying is that the story completely overshadowed a truly important news story -- Obama signing the financial reform law, Berry said.

“That will affect everyone's lives for a long time,” he said. “This Shirley Sherrod thing will disappear in no time flat.”

Harkin, who called the coverage of the Sherrod affair an example of a “personality-driven … People magazine society,” predicted that “in a few weeks people will say, ‘Who's Shirley Sherrod?'”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.