The timing of a Washington Post hit piece on former Gov. Sonny Perdue comes at a bad time. Perdue supporters leaked his name to the media to promote his appointment as the next University System of Georgia chancellor. Yet that leak dynamited the interview process underway by the Board of Regents and forced highly-qualified candidates to drop out. Furthermore, Perdue has never had a majority of Regents in favor of selecting him.
Now, his chancellor chances may have just died on the vine with more negative publicity.
The Post story, picked up by Georgia media, reported that a Perdue company– right before he became President Donald Trump’s agriculture secretary– purchased a South Carolina grain plant from one of the largest agricultural corporations in America. And he did not disclose the deal at the time of his confirmation.
The investigation revealed that Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM) sold the land and equipment at a small fraction of its estimated value just as it stood to benefit from an incoming secretary of agriculture. Danny Brown, the former president of the Perdue company named AGrow-Star, said ADM wanted $4 million for the plant — 16 times what Perdue’s company ultimately paid for it. The big question: As Perdue was about to become a powerful agriculture secretary, did he follow federal financial disclosure requirements as to whether the transaction could have been an attempt to influence an incoming government official? (Public officials must not receive anything of value if the benefit is given “with intent to influence.”)
An ADM official, in response, said “We did not receive any special favors from Mr. Perdue during his administration and it is unfair and inaccurate to imply that we did.”
Our InsiderAdvantage sources say the Post did a four-month investigation before the story’s publication– and Perdue and his inner circle knew about it during that time. Yet, curiously, the former governor initially offered a “no comment” to repeated media interview requests. Most public relations consultants would have advised that a statement defending the acquisition should have immediately been issued.
By the way, months after Perdue became agriculture secretary, his family trust sold AGrow- Star’s real estate and equipment to investors for a reported $12 million.
