Subject: Lead for USDA -- quick check-in
From: <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Cc: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 9 Sep 2008 23:06:53 -0400

John:

I know that you are interested in Ag issues, and I just wanted to make
sure that you are comfortable with our proposed lead for the Ag team
in the Transition's Energy and Natural Resources cluster.  We are
closing in on Mike Dunn, and I am poised to call him tomorrow. Don
Gips and Melody Barnes have signed off on him.   
Several folks whom I respect have strongly recommended Mike.  As you
may know, Mike worked at Ag during the Clinton years in several
capacities -- including in both the food safety area and the farm
credit area -- two hot issue areas in the farm belt.  He's from Iowa,
has spent his career in the ag field, is friends with Tom Harkin,
etc., etc.  Mike is currently a commissioner of the CFTC.  His bio is
below.  The breadth of his experience in the ag world is what I like
best.  Plus the strong positives that have come from folks like Rich
Rominger, Jim Gilliland and others.  (Dan Glickman had been pushing
his former chief of staff, Greg Frazier, but a number of folks raised
very strong objections about Greg.)  
As an FYI, Jake Caldwell is slated to be on the USDA team, along with
Jim Lyons, Chris Wood and Elliott Laws.
Let me know if you have any objection.  
Thanks.
-- David   

Michael V. Dunn was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on November 21, 2004,
as a Commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. He was
sworn in on December 6, 2004, to a term expiring June 19, 2006. On
June 16, 2006 Commissioner Dunn was nominated by President Bush to a
second term as Commissioner of the CFTC and confirmed by the Senate on
August 3, 2006. In a ceremony on August 23, 2006 at the Federal Court
House in Des Moines, Iowa, attended by U.S. Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA),
Commissioner Dunn was sworn in. U.S. District Judge Robert Pratt
administered the oath of office.

Commissioner Dunn serves as Chairman and Designated Federal Official
of the Commission's Agricultural Advisory Committee (AAC). The AAC was
created to advise the Commission on agricultural issues surrounding
the trading of commodity futures and options and to serve as a
communications link with the agricultural community. Commissioner Dunn
is also the Chairman of the Commission's Forex Task Force. The task
force objective is to raise the public's awareness of fraudulent
activity in the retail foreign currency (forex) futures and option
markets and to highlight the Commission's enforcement activities in
this area.
Prior to joining the CFTC, Mr. Dunn served as Director of the Office
of Policy and Analysis at the Farm Credit Administration (FCA) where
he managed the two FCA divisions responsible for developing
regulations and public policy positions for applicable statutes as
well as promoted the safety and soundness of the Farm Credit System
(FCS). Prior to this position, Mr. Dunn served briefly as a member of
the FCA Board.
Mr. Dunn has also served as Under Secretary of Agriculture for
Marketing and Regulatory Programs, Acting Under Secretary for Rural
Economic and Community Development, and as Administrator of the
Farmers Home Administration (FmHA) at the U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA).
Mr. Dunn has had a long involvement in agricultural credit dating back
to the late 1970s, when he was the Midwest Area Director for the FmHA.
He has been a loan officer and vice president of the Farm Credit Banks
of Omaha and has served as a member of the Professional Staff of the
Senate Agriculture Committee, specializing in agricultural credit. At
the USDA, Mr. Dunn also served as a member of the Commodity Credit
Corporation and Rural Telephone Bank Board. He is a past member of the
Iowa Development Commission and has served as the Chairman of the
State of Iowa's City Development Board.
A native of Keokuk, Iowa and a current resident of Harpers Ferry, West
Virginia, Mr. Dunn received his B.A. and M.A. degrees from the
University of New Mexico 

David J. Hayes

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