Millionaire Schafer a shoo-in as new agriculture secretary

By Charles Abbott

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Millionaire businessman Ed Schafer seems a shoo-in for Senate approval as U.S. agriculture secretary for the last year of the Bush administration, said senators and staff workers on Wednesday.

A former two-term governor of North Dakota, Schafer, 61, was scheduled to appear at a nomination hearing on Thursday. If he is confirmed quickly by the Senate, he would be thrust into final negotiations over a new farm subsidy law. The White House has threatened to veto the House and Senate farm bills.

Two Agriculture Committee members, Minnesota Democrat Amy Klobuchar and Iowa Republican Charles Grassley, said they would urge Schafer at the hearing to work for stricter crop subsidy rules. Payment limits are a major issue for the farm bill.

"Tomorrow's hearing will be an opportunity to learn of his views on the farm bill currently moving through Congress and examine how under his leadership USDA (the Agriculture Department) will carry out its important responsibilities," said chairman Tom Harkin, Iowa Democrat, in a statement.

USDA is one of the largest federal departments with 100,000 employees and jurisdiction over public nutrition, farm subsidies, national forests and rural development.

"I look forward to reporting Gov. Schafer's nomination favorably out of committee and swift approval on the Senate floor," said Georgia Sen. Saxby Chambliss, the Republican leader on the Agriculture Committee.

Farm groups spoke favorably of Schafer. He would succeed Mike Johanns, who resigned in September to run for the Senate in Nebraska.

In documents submitted to the Senate, Schafer said he was president of the real estate investment firm TRIESCO and on the board of Investors Real Estate Trust, with interests in commercial real estate and apartment buildings in the Midwest, besides being an occasional talk-show host and head of a political action committee.

During eight years as governor ending in 2000, Schafer promoted economic growth, cut the state payroll and increased education funding. He was the first Republican governor to win re-election in the state. He also supported biofuels and agricultural exports. He was rose to be president of Gold Seal Co, sold in 1986 to a British firm.

Schafer reported assets of at least $2.9 million, including at least $1 million in stock in US Bankcorp, yielding more than $100,000 a year in dividends. He also listed $131,098 in salary and $55,667 in consulting fees from Extend America, a wireless telephone and broadband company.

Extend America received a low-interest USDA loan of $11.2 million "to build out broadband services in 87 communities in the Midwest," Schafer wrote in a nomination document. The firm was sold to Sprint in 2005, he said, and the loan commitment was withdrawn.

"No money was ever drawn on the loan," he wrote.

(Reporting by Charles Abbott; Editing by Marguerita Choy)