Thomas Dorr, Ag Dept nominee, is a big fan of 'ethnic, religious non-diversity' Posted on Sunday, May 13 @ 10:11:03 EDT ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- By George Anthan, Des Moines Register
Washington, D.C. - President Bush's nominee for a top Agriculture Department post said in 1999 that three Iowa counties do well economically because "they have been very nondiverse in their ethnic background and their religious background."
The nominee, Thomas Dorr of Marcus, Ia., was recorded on a videotape Dec. 11, 1999, speaking at a seminar sponsored by Iowa State University's department of agronomy.
The Des Moines Register obtained a copy of the videotape from the department.
The position of undersecretary of agriculture for rural development would make Dorr responsible for economic programs in some of the nation's most impoverished and ethnically diverse rural areas - particularly in the South.
Dorr, 54, is a former member of the Iowa State Board of Regents and the board of directors for the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
He was unavailable for comment. His secretary said she would relay a message to him, but he did not return the call.
Dorr stated at the 1999 meeting:
"This is not at all the correct environment to say this, but I think you ought to perhaps go out and look at what you perceive the three most successful rural economic environments in this state."
He continued: "And I'm not talking about those associated with metropolitan areas. But I would submit to you that probably the three most successful - and if they're not the three then two of these are the three - and would be Carroll County, Sioux County and Lyon County."
Dorr then said: "And you'll notice when you get to looking at them that they're not particularly diverse, at least not ethnically diverse.
"They're very diverse in their economic growth, but they have been very focused, they have been very nondiverse in their ethnic background and their religious background."
Dorr concluded this segment of his presentation by stating: "There's something there obviously that has enabled them to succeed and to succeed very well."
Dorr had told seminar organizers when he was introduced that it was "incredibly courageous of you to invite all these academicians, then invite Tom Dorr."
Harvey Siegelman, chief economist for the Iowa Department of Economic Development, said of Dorr's conclusions, "I have never looked at economic development from that standpoint."
A state official and an immigration lawyer criticized Dorr's comments. Elizabeth Salinas Newby, administrator of the Iowa Division of Latino Affairs, disputed Dorr's conclusions.
"It sounds like he's trying to say diversity isn't important for growth," she said. "It is exactly diversity that has helped this state grow."
James Benzoni, interim director of the Iowa Immigration Legal Project and an attorney who practices immigration law, said Dorr is "out of touch with reality."
"I would say he may be right about how the success was built initially," he said. "But the economy in rural Iowa would collapse if it weren't for Hispanic workers."
Benzoni said many farmers in the area Dorr described in 1999 depend on migrant workers that often are undocumented and do not show up in census figures.
"These people live under the radar," he said.
According to 2000 Census Bureau data:
* Carroll County's population is 1.4 percent minority.
* Sioux County's population is 3.8 percent minority.
* Lyon County's population is 1.1 percent minority.
ISU's rural development analysts said they had no data on how ethnic and religious diversity have affected economic growth in the state's rural areas.
Dorr's nomination is supported by Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, who calls him "a progressive farmer who has worked hard to harness technology and improve agricultural operations in an increasingly competitive world market."
Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee, which will consider Dorr's nomination, has expressed strong reservations about Dorr filling a top agriculture department post.
Harkin's concerns have been related to Dorr's vision of replacing Iowa's small- and medium-size farms with operations as large as 225,000 acres.
A White House spokesman, Scott Stanzel, has called Dorr "well-qualified" for the USDA post.
Dorr was an early backer of Bush and contributed money to the president's campaign. He was invited by Bush late last year to participate in a meeting of farm leaders at Austin, Texas. Dorr acknowledges he isn't popular in his hometown, saying at the ISU seminar, "I am presently the pariah of Marcus."
Reprinted from The Des Moines Register: http://www.dmregister.com/news/