Vilsack declines to answer “Christie Vilsack 2010” question

U.S. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack, the former Iowa governor, made two public appearances in Des Moines this morning.  The first, at the 13th annual Community Food Security Coalition” convention, marked the first time an ag secretary has visited the event.  It also was remarkable for another reason: Vilsack got booed, as you can read about here in this Radio Iowa story and on Des Moines Register columnist Kathie Obradovich’s blog post from this morning.

Vilsack’s second appearance came at 10 a.m. when he joined Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller in calling for creation of a U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Agency.

As Vilsack was leaving the attorney general’s office, Charlotte Eby of the Lee Enterprises newspapers in Iowa asked Vilsack if his wife, Christie, would be running against U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-New Hartford, Iowa).  Lynn Campbell of IowaPolitics.com followed, asking Vilsack what he thought of Terry Branstad, his predecessor as governor, running for a fifth term.  Here is Vilsack’s response to both questions:

“Honestly, when I come into a setting like this, it’s probably not appropriate for me to respond on political questions, so I hate to beg off, but I’ve been told by our ethics people that that’s not advisable.”