A former leader of Indiana’s State Department of Agriculture says lawmakers should scrap Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith’s role as agriculture secretary and elevate Director Don Lamb to a cabinet position instead.
“It’s probably time to make that change,” said Ted McKinney, who served as ISDA director from 2014 to 2017. “Why do I say that? We may think that the director has complete autonomy, but they do not. … If you’re looking for efficiency, cut out the middleman. I don’t mean that with any disrespect.”
Indiana legislators made the lieutenant governor the secretary of agriculture and rural development in the same law that established ISDA. Gov. Mitch Daniels signed House Enrolled Act 1008 in 2005.
“Indiana is unique. I respect the heritage of that,” McKinney told a state panel on Tuesday. “… I think it also had a lot to do with the personality that (Lt. Gov.) Becky Skillman was at the time.”…