Abel Maldonado on Trump short list for Secretary of Ag
Donald Trump’s return to the White House could also mark the return to the political stage for one of Santa Barbara County’s best-known elected officials.
Former Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado, now a winery owner from Santa Maria, has been shortlisted for the Secretary of Agriculture post, according to reporting from the online publication ProAg and the AgWeb newsletter produced by Farm Journal.
“It’s an honor to have one of our region’s former elected (officials) being considered for this important position. Agriculture is so important to the tri-county economy and our way of life,” said Harold Edwards, CEO of Limoneira, one of the region’s oldest farming companies.
“It’s exciting.”
Whether Maldonado becomes the president-elect’s nominee remains to be seen.
But he would bring impressive credentials and a West Coast GOP pedigree to the job.
Maldonado served as Lt. Governor during the administration of Arnold Schwarzenegger, before stepping down to mount an unsuccessful run for Congress.
Before that, he was a popular Santa Maria City Councilman, assemblymember and State Senator.
He helped break the state’s budget deadlock in 2007, which enraged some hard-line GOP members, but he also was known in the legislature for being a taxpayer advocate.
Maldonado was considered for Secretary of Agriculture in 2017 after the first Trump victory but never crossed the finish line.
He’s now the owner of Runway Vineyard in the Santa Maria Valley.
AgWeb rates him as the top candidate this time, followed by Farm Bureau head Zippy Duval, Indiana mega-farmer Kip Tom and former Ag Committee Chair Mike Conaway. Having Maldonado as Secretary of Agriculture would be a coup for the Central Coast which typically counts itself lucky to land an ambassador appointment, let alone a cabinet member.
Maldonado is the son of an immigrant Mexican family who worked his way up in the business world helping the family expand from a small strawberry farm to a large operation with refrigerated facilities.
He famously ran for city council when his family’s business was turned down repeatedly for building permits — and won.
Maldonado grew up in the Santa Maria Valley, graduated high school and attended Cal Poly San Luis Obispo where he studied crop science. He left Cal Poly to join the family’s growing strawberry operation.
During multiple campaigns, Maldonado proved to be an effective vote-getter who often won with 60% or more of the vote.
His no-nonsense, practical approach could serve him well at the Department of Agriculture where the Trump administration is expected to overhaul the SNAP program and closely examine the agency’s lending and disaster relief programs for waste and fraud.
email: [email protected]
