Dorr nomination to USDA could be shut down after hearing

The nomination of Iowa farmer Thomas Dorr to a top U-S-D-A post appears doomed. Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, who chairs the Senate Ag Committee which questioned Dorr on Wednesday, says he sees a “huge problem” with Dorr’s manipulation of paperwork to make more money from government subsidies. Harkin says it is clear that, Dorr falsely represented his farming operation to the U-S-D-A to get around payment limitations.A tape-recorded telephone conversation has surfaced in which Dorr apparently discusses his farming operation and the areas where he allegedly broke the law. Dorr had to repay the U-S government 17-thousand dollars after a review of his operation in 1995.In his years in the Senate, Harkin says he’s always tried to support any person from the Hawkeye State, democrat or republican, who is nominated for a federal post. He says it saddens him to have an individual from Iowa carrying this kind of baggage. Harkin would -not- say when or if the Senate Ag Committee will vote on Dorr’s nomination. Dorr lives in the Marcus area of northwest Iowa and has been nominated to be Undersecretary of Agriculture for Rural Development.