Home > Election Day > Archives > 2006 > August > 08 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USBlack cruises to Ag Commissioner victory
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Republican voters on Tuesday picked Commerce farmer and agribusiness lobbyist Gary Black as their choice to challenge 37-year incumbent state Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin in November.
Black, the frontrunner in last month’s four-person GOP primary, credited his easy runoff victory over state Sen. Brian Kemp of Athens to “running 57 weeks with a positive message.
“Gary Black only talked about Gary Black’s vision for the future of agriculture,” said Black, who celebrated with supporters Tuesday night at the Georgia National Fairgrounds in Perry.
Republicans, who control the governor’s office and General Assembly, are openly making a grab this year for some down-ballot offices that Democrats have held for decades, including agriculture commissioner, secretary of state and lieutenant governor. They see Irvin as vulnerable, in part, because of his age. He’s 77.
Irvin, who is dean of the state’s constitutional officers, has been agriculture commissioner since 1969. He is promising to make this his 10th and last election and to run on his agency’s record on food safety, consumer protection and animal disease prevention.
“I realize the perilous times our state and nation are facing…,” Irvin said recently. “Now is not the time for on-the-job training.” Black, 47, relied heavily in his primary campaign on contacts he established in 17 years as president of the Georgia Agribusiness Council, a chamber-of-commerce like organization representing agriculture with more than 650 member businesses.
He also gave credit to a network of team leaders he had in each of the state’s 159 counties, working to spread his message in true, old-fashioned grassroots style. Black said he believes the race against Irvin may be contentious, but winnable.
“The rhetoric will be competitive, no doubt,” he said. “But this job does not belong to one person.” Black said results of the 2002 general election — in which 42.6 percent of the agriculture race vote went against Irvin — show the incumbent is vulnerable.
“I’m pretty sure I can get more than 10 percent more to vote for me so long as we keep focused on the issues,” he said.
He finished first in the July 18 primary with 42.3 percent of the vote and carried 137 of 159 counties. Kemp, 41, came in second and later was endorsed by the other two primary candidates, farmer Deanna Strickland of Brooklet and businessman Bob Greer of Suwanee.
Black’s financial backers include former Attorney General Michael Bowers, a confidant of Gov. Sonny Perdue, and U.S. Rep. John Linder, dean of the Georgia congressional delegation.
The state Department of Agriculture, with an annual budget of about $43 million, has a lot on its plate — from helping farmers and inspecting food to regulating pest control companies and measuring the accuracy of gasoline pumps. The department also protects Georgia’s coveted Vidalia onion against inferior imitators.
The commissioner runs for re-election every four years and currently earns $112,452, a year. Kemp, once considered a legislative rising star, has pledged to back Black in the general election.
Permalink | | Categories: Statewide
