USDA's Vilsack names John Norris as chief of staff

Wed Jan 21, 2009 12:30pm EST


WASHINGTON, Jan 21 (Reuters) - U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack chose former top aide and political activist John Norris as his chief of staff, officials said on Wednesday.

Norris, a former chairman of the Iowa Democratic Party and a political organizer in recent years, was chief of staff for Vilsack during his first two years as governor of Iowa. He would resign as chairman of the Iowa Utilities Board to work at the Agriculture Department.

Carole Jett would be Vilsack's deputy chief of staff, said one source. She worked in Indiana for President Barack Obama's election last fall and was co-chair of an Obama transition review of USDA. Formerly, she was a high-level official with USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Besides Norris and Jett, Vilsack chose David Lazarus as a special assistant. Lazarus, a former aide to Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, worked on rural issues in the Obama campaign and was part of the transition team review of USDA.

While Vilsack's chief of staff in Iowa, Norris, a lawyer, headed a group on electric restructuring. Norris was Iowa party chairman in 1998, Vilsack chief of staff from 1999 to 2001, and an unsuccessful candidate for the U.S. House in 2002. He also was a national field director for John Kerry's presidential campaign.

The other co-chair of the USDA review, Bart Chilton, was expected to return to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, where he is a commissioner.

CongressDaily, a newsletter, said Dallas Tonsager, a member of the Farm Credit Administration board, was likely to become USDA undersecretary for rural development. (Reporting by Charles Abbott; Editing by Walter Bagley) (chuck.abbott@thomsonreuters.com; +1 202 898 8319))






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