If someone brought up the term “agriculture commissioner” anytime in the past couple of years, you can be sure that with few exceptions the topic was scandal. Democrat Meg Scott Phipps was elected statewide to the post in 2000 with a narrow margin over Republican Steve Troxler. As we now know, her campaign benefited to a significant degree from the collection of illegal political donations from the carnival industry seeking her favor in the awarding of the contract to run the North Carolina State Fair.
Phipps has now been forcibly relocated from Raleigh to another site. Her successor, Britt Cobb, is one of two running for the Democratic nomination for the job in 2004. No one is suggesting that he or fellow Democrat Tom Gilmore — or Troxler, for that matter, as he is running again on the GOP ticket — will follow along in the fundraising furrows plowed by the former commissioner. But the problem still remains: if you set aside carnies and agribusiness, who else really cares enough about the outcome of an agriculture commissioner’s race to offer financial support for candidates?
In my view, the office is itself an open invitation for problematic politics. A major responsibility of the office is to operate a big government-controlled fair each year that competes with dozens of other public and private entertainment and recreation choices across North Carolina. Another responsibility is to oversee some regulations of consumer products, such as gasoline at the pump. Still another set of agencies offers small subsidies to agricultural enterprises, though the federal government is much more involved in funding and administering farm programs. None of these functions should be performed by a separately elected executive branch official that few North Carolina voters outside of affected interest groups have any reason to recognize or scrutinize.
And with regard to subsidizing the agriculture sector, the function is itself wasteful and counterproductive. I’d ask a rhetorical question — “so, why don’t we have a manufacturing commissioner, or a health services commissioner?” — except that I’m afraid it might not remain rhetorical. The relevant interest groups might say, “yeah, why don’t we?”
As in the insurance commissioner case, however, I’m sad to say that there is little immediate prospect of restructuring North Carolina state government to eliminate this questionable position. So, voters are going to see the office on the ballot July 20 and this fall. Let’s briefly discuss the candidates in the Democratic primary (Troxler is unopposed).
As a 31-year employee of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Cobb seems to have the support of much of North Carolina’s agribusiness community and political establishment. But does Cobb, as a departmental insider, offer enough of a clean break with the Phipps years to satisfy voters? That’s what some Democrats are asking themselves. Also, he is not a natural or experienced politician. But Cobb has been endorsed by some key Democratic-leaning groups, including the North Carolina Association of Educators (um, OK I’ll just let that one go). His web site is here.
Gilmore, who once ran for governor and played a significant role in Democratic politics back in the day, has surprised many with his hard-charging campaign against Cobb. He represented Guilford County in the General Assembly and has operated his family’s nursery business for about as long as Cobb has been in the Agriculture Department. He was Gov. Jim Hunt’s deputy secretary of the Department of Human Resources. His notable endorsements include the AFL-CIO, the Durham People’s Alliance, and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Black Political Caucus. His web site is here.
From a free-market, limited-government perspective, the most attractive candidate for agriculture commissioner would be one who talked about reducing the size and scope of the department, finding ways to reduce cost to taxpayers by shedding services or contracting them out, and putting the “service” in “consumer services” by advocating the reduction and ultimate elimination of governmental intrusion in the farm sector.
When I locate one, I’ll let you know.
Hood is president of the John Locke Foundation and publisher of Carolina Journal.