John McMillan is seeking election to a state office that he says is “low-profile, low-glamour, and down-ballot,” but he hopes that between now and the general election “people will understand how important (the commissioner of agriculture and industries) is.”

A former state representative, member of the Baldwin County Commission, commissioner of the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, McMillan currently serves as a member of the state personnel board and believes he is “uniquely qualified” to serve as agriculture commissioner.

“The name gets shortened because nobody wants to say commissioner of agriculture and industries,” he said during a visit to St. Clair County to attend a Republican Party committee meeting.  “What most people don’t realize is that, while agriculture and farming are a big part of what the office deals with, one of its top priorities is serving as a consumer protection agency.”

If elected, McMillan pledged to keep current state services available to farmers and consumers, explore sources of renewable energy, and focus on creating agricultural and industrial jobs in rural areas of the state.

Research and development into production of cellulosic ethanol shows promise at creating such jobs, he said.  The biofuel is made from forestry products, and “the first step in the conversion process takes place in smaller facilities in rural areas closer to the raw materials before they’re taken to larger refining facilities for final processing.  Creating jobs in the smaller processing plants in rural areas would be a great thing, and we need to get us some jobs dispersed around the rural areas of Alabama.”

Having served as an appointed and elected official and spent time working for the Alabama Forestry Association, McMillan said he understands issues facing rural and urban areas and has a “unique combination of experience and background that will help me work with all kinds of people at this critical time for state government.  I’m a team player and am willing to work with the next governor.”

He recently attended a campaign event in Moody with Dr. Robert Bentley and said he’s using the governor’s race as a gauge for public awareness of his own campaign.

 “There were 47,893 people who voted in the run-off in the governor’s race who didn’t vote in the agriculture commissioner’s run-off.  That worked out all right for me, but I’d rather see heavier participation in November.”