PRESS RELEASE

FROM: POLLAN FOR SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE COMMITTEE
RE: WEBSITE LAUNCHED; LOBBYIST AND PUBLICIST APPOINTED
RELEASE DATE: IMMEDIATELY
DATE: DECEMBER 12, 2008
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Blane Friest/917-418-8625
bfriest@PollanforSecretaryofAgriculture.org

Pollan for Secretary of Agriculture launches new website (www.PollanforSecretaryofAgriculture.org), appoints Blane Friest lobbyist and media representative.

WASHINGTON D.C.--President-elect Barack Obama’s selection for Secretary of Agriculture has a new twist, thanks to a burgeoning grass-roots petition campaign endorsing Washington outsider Michael Pollan for the post.

Pollan, author of runaway New York Times bestseller Omnivore’s Dilemma, NYT journalist, and unofficial guru of the local, non-industrial food movement, framed his agenda most recently in his essay ‘Farmer In Chief’ published in the NYT Magazine, the Big Idea being:

“Most of the problems our food system faces today are because of its reliance on fossil fuels, and to the extent that our policies wring the oil out of the system and replace it with the energy of the sun, those policies will simultaneously improve the state of our health, our environment and our security.”

Now boasting 8,000 signatures, the petition and a new website (www.PollanforSecretaryofAgriculture.org) are the brainchild of lobbyist and media representative Blane Friest. Featured on WNYC, the nation’s largest public radio station and on Bill Moyers Journal, Pollan and the petition effort are gaining credible buzz among the nation’s media outlets. A Facebook Group now approaching 4000 members has also been formed independently by another Pollan devotee, Bryan Giglio.

Pollan’s reluctance to throw his hat in the ring has caused many in the blogosphere to question the validity of the campaign, but Friest remains resolute,

“In the Moyers interview he begins by saying he knows his limitations and doesn’t consider himself a viable candidate for the position. He then spends the next 45 minutes eloquently proving precisely why he’s the right one for the job. It’s not necessary to have a politician or bureaucrat as Secretary, but someone who knows the players well enough to hire the right people to write policy while maintaining oversight of the direction of the agency. Pollan is that person.”

The petition reads in part,
“Mr. Pollan has … a unique understanding of the history, development, and contemporary practices of U.S. Agriculture and its relationship to the health of the citizens of The United States. He is singularly qualified to identify inefficiencies and present improvements in production, nutrition, and our problematic reliance on petroleum and petro-chemical based fertilizers, for the benefit of food producers and consumers both.”

The complete petition and position statement are at www.PollanforSecretaryofAgriculture.org.


Blane Friest
Pollan for Secretary of Agriculture
www.pollanforsecretaryofagriculture.org
917-418-8625