North Dakota Ag Commissioner Roger Johnson To Resign Upon Accepting National Farmer’s Union Gig
Interesting…
BISMARCK — Roger Johnson, North Dakota’s agriculture commissioner since 1996, said today he’s a candidate for National Farmers Union president and, if elected next Tuesday, will resign his state office.
He said it was a difficult decision and was reached last night in response to encouragement that he run to replace the national president who resigned last week.
“I was recruited, strongly encouraged,” he said. “This is not a position I sought.”
Johnson’s mouth noises about not really wanting this position is no doubt to inoculate himself from backlash after Democrats made a big deal out of Republicans resigning from statewide offices in the middle of their terms to pursue other interests. Democrats played that up as a betrayal of public trust. But, of course, they aren’t going to hold their guy accountable to the same standard.
But what’s perhaps more interesting than Johnson departing is who Hoeven is going to appoint to replace him. The obvious choice would be former Governor Ed Schafer, who just finished up a stint as Sec. of Agriculture in the Bush administration. But my guess is that Schafer would say no. Which leaves Doug Goehring, who has run twice against Johnson and nearly won with 48% of the vote.
Who will Hoeven pick? Who knows. But anyone besides Schafer or Goehring isn’t likely to sit well with Republicans in the state, which would further isolate a Governor already at odds with his own party.
Update: I got in touch with Schafer and he told me “that position is not something I’m interested in.”
So that leaves Goehring, right?
