A chancellors job is to defend the system against such bills, said Matthew Boedy, a rhetoric and composition professor at the University of North Georgia and the president of the Georgia conference of the American Association of University Professors. The credits are meant to offset the environmental impact of land development and they can be bought and sold on the marketplace. [70], Perdue is an avid sportsman. Kemp has used congressional redistricting to add more Sonny Perdue supporters to the Board of Regents. [24] The State Ethics Commission ruled against Perdue twice, finding that he had taken improper campaign contributions from donors including SunTrust Banks and that he had improperly used one of his family business's airplanes on the campaign, for which the commission fined the sitting governor. A Senate panel backed a bill on Tuesday that would put pressure on local school boards to adhere to the open meetings laws and create barriers to removing disruptive parents from meetings. Has he said, "I'm supporting the guy who's pushing my candidacy for chancellor" or "I'm supporting my cousin who's running against him"? Eric Stirgus: Now, you know, conversely, his supporters say he was a governor of Georgia for eight years. The COVID-19 crisis served as yet another opportunity to promote the political fortunes of his boss, without impeding his pursuit of a pro-agribusiness, anti-worker agenda. Steve Fennessy: Eric, you've covered higher education in Georgia for a lot of years. Dr. Sonny Perdue bio. Kudlow used the opportunity to fluff Trumps economic record. Later, FALF Management Trust was created. But should it go to a politician? Steve Fennessy: Well, there was also some changes that happened on the board itself, right? Steve Fennessy: So there's a school of thought that Gov. You know, Steve Wrigley, you know, he worked in the university system before he became chancellor, so he did have some of that experience. This is the golden rule do unto others.". Secretary Perdue did nothing wrong when he complied with his ethics agreement and followed the advice of career ethics officers at USDA (at considerable personal expense) to restructure his trusts.. Why is Sonny Perdue is such a polarizing figure? Across the state, teachers have found themselves caught in a conservative battle to ban divisive topics from classrooms, which Republican lawmakers define as a various list of ideas regarding race. Founder and partner in an agricultural trading company,[4] Perdue served from 2012 to 2017 on the Governors' Council of the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, D.C.[3][5] He is the second secretary of agriculture from the Deep South; the first was Mike Espy of Mississippi, who served under President Bill Clinton from January 1993 to December 1994. Steve Fennessy: It's interesting the the letter was addressed to Sachin Shailendra, who at the time was chair of the Board of Regents, but is one of those members who redistricting kind of pushed out so he's no longer on the Board of Regents. You know, he's a strong conservative, you know, and he's David Perdue's cousin. Why are we still talking about this, then? In July, with the economic fallout from the pandemic generating a massive hunger crisis, Perdue alighted on North Carolina, a key swing state, to stage a rally promoting congressionally mandated food aid as an example of the personal benevolence of Donald Trump. Mr. Perdue, a graduate of the University of Georgia, said he considered the opportunity to lead the university system, which has more than 340,000 students, as the capstone to a career of public service. On April 1, 2022, Perdue took over as the system's 14th chancellor. Like Trump, he's a former Democratwho ascended to political power (in Perdue's case, Georgia. Some farmers ended up destroying perfectly good food. Mr. Perdue served two terms as governor from 2003 to 2011, and later became Secretary of Agriculture under President Donald J. Trump. [67], Perdue's assets during his time as Secretary were placed in blind trusts, as is common to prevent financial conflicts of interest. Please consider making a gift today to support this vital public service. Now to me, Eric, that sounds like a kind of an implied threat that appointing Sonny Perdue as chancellor could mean that we'd lose accreditation. Former US Secretary of Agriculture and former Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue were named chancellor of the University System of Georgia by the Board of Regents today (USG). So you have 14 members who serve each congressional district in Georgia, and then there are five at-large positions. Senator David Perdue by their grandfather George Ervin Perdue I. AGrowStar (including the assets acquired as part of the Estill deal) was sold by Perdue's trusts in 2018 for 12 million dollars, but due to the secretive nature of the trusts, this was not widely disclosed. On March 1, 2022, the Board of Regents of University System of Georgia appointed Perdue as the system's 14th chancellor, effective April 1, 2022. The secretarys office contends he has complied with the agreement. Sonny Perdue, aka George Ervin "Sonny" Perdue III, is known to be a veterinarian, businessman, and politician of the United States of America. [News tape] parent at recent school board meeting, 11Alive: "I don't know how or why this would be debated.". He oversees 26 public colleges and universities with a $9.8 billion annual budget, 48,000 faculty and staff and more than 340,000 students. Eric Stirgus: I think, you know, his critics have a couple of reasons that they're concerned. Some would say the most important job is, you know, making sure that money that comes from the state is sent to the schools and is being spent properly. Steve Fennessy: But in the state of Georgia, I would think that, at least of jobs that are sort of in the employ of the state of Georgia, there are few that are more prominent or important than chancellor. Brian Kemp: That's why I'm looking forward to working with the members of the General Assembly this legislative session to protect our students from the divisive ideologies like critical race theory. Eric Stirgus: Sonny Perdue, you know, encouraged then-President Trump to endorse Brian Kemp in the Republican primary back in 2018. [60] In August 2019, Lewis Ziska, a USDA plant physiology climate scientist, quit after department administrators attempted to impede the publication of one of his studies in the journal Science Advances. Sonny Perdue, of course, was a two-term governor of Georgia, as well as secretary of agriculture under former President Donald Trump. [25] Perdue then used the new law on his 2004 tax return to defer $100,000 in taxable gains from the sale of land. Eric Stirgus: Yes. Subsequently, the trust sold off AGrowStar LLC and Pro Ag Products LLC (none of the other assets posed any conflict of interest with his duties as Secretary of Agriculture). The Board of Regents named Dr. Sonny Perdue the 14th chancellor of the University System of Georgia effective April 1, 2022. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, it was a plum post for the political novice, which he used as a springboard that helped propel him to a US Senate seat in 2014. Eric Stirgus: Well, he didn't go into specifics that day. There are probably about 48,000 employees in the university system, and they range from professors, assistant professors, you know, associate professors, guest lecturers, you know, everything from electricians to people who work in the cafeterias. Steve Fennessy: Matthew Boedy, a University of North Georgia professor and president of the Georgia conference of the American Association of University Professors, told the New York Times that, quote, "a chancellor's job is to defend the system against such bills. Perdue, a former US senator, has so far raised a fraction of what Kemp has in his campaign war chest. But Sonny Perdue was there from the beginning. [24] During his governorship, Perdue collected at least $25,000 in gifts, including sporting event tickets and airplane flights. Libertarian Garrett Michael Hayes was also on the ballot. It is simply unacceptable for people to sneak into this country illegally on Thursday, obtain a government-issued ID on Friday, head for the welfare office on Monday, and cast a vote on Tuesday, he declared, backing up his rancid lies with a crackdown on undocumented people. Steve Fennessy: What did you think when you first heard about that? Georgias public university system said on Tuesday that former Gov. Presumably, some political appointees who served in the Trump administration did so with earnest intentions, hoping to bring dignity and professionalism to the task of advancing the Republican agenda of deregulation, austerity (for non-cronies), and upward wealth redistribution. Alec Poitevint, long a pivotal player in the Perdue network, is now backing Kemp over David Perdue. We'll be back next week. He's also a fierce advocate for Sonny Perdue to land the chancellor job, saying his experience . [46] Perdue failed to disclose his ownership of the property in required financial disclosure forms. While it is often especially difficult for members of a governing board who are appointed by the governor or legislative body to remain independent in their work, it is imperative that they do or they place the accreditation of the institution they govern in jeopardy." The association has publicly condemned how the university system selected Mr. Perdue, a process that largely occurred in meetings without faculty input and closed to the public. Citing export losses from Trumps trade war with China, the USDA lavished mainly huge soybean, hog, and cotton farmers with $28 billion in 2018 and 2019more than double the price tag of President Barack Obamas 2009 auto bailout. And then also, you know, maybe among some who might be interested in working for the university system. Perdue is poised within . Find them all here. Your support makes this possible. Sign up to receive GPB Event announcements via Email. She currently produces the Georgia Today and Battleground: Ballot Box shows. Steve Fennessy: How big is the university system? He would not be the first governor to move into academia: Former Gov. On December 30, 2016, Perdue's company AGrowStar purchased property and a facility from Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM), a large American agribusiness corporation that the Department of Agriculture regulates. So I think there is some concern out there among some of them. David Perdue is saying, "I'm the big Trump guy here." According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, payments on the Go Fish bonds, approved by Perdue and the General Assembly in 2007, runs through December 2027 with most payments $1 million a year in bond money. Latest news, headlines, analysis, photos and videos on Sonny Perdue Steve Fennessy: So the faction that was opposed or is opposed to the idea of Sonny Perdue as chancellor seems to be getting smaller.
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