Read a Pacific Northwest, liberal perspective on world, national, and local politics. From majestic Redmond, Washington - the Northwest Progressive Institute Advocate.

Monday, February 23, 2009

Former Governor Gary Locke said to be Obama's pick for Secretary of Commerce

To those who had been complaining that the Pacific Northwest was underrepresented in the new administration, we offer the following as proof of the timeless expression good things come to those who wait:
President Barack Obama's likely third pick for Commerce secretary is former Washington Gov. Gary Locke, a senior administration official said Monday.

Locke was the nation's first Chinese-American governor when he served two terms, ending in 2005.

Obama's expected choice of Locke arose less than two weeks after his most recent pick, Republican Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, backed out. Just over a week after Obama named him and he accepted, Gregg cited "irresolvable conflicts" with the policies of the Democratic president.
If Locke is indeed the new Commerce nominee, kudos to President Obama for a solid choice. Although his overall record as governor wasn't all that stellar, he did a great job strengthening our relationship with key trading partners and promoting Washington State exports. He certainly has the needed background for the job.

One of the best things he did as governor was to use his line item veto to sign into law our state's open primary in the spring of 2004. Later that year, the Grange succeeded in duping voters into replacing the open primary with "Top Two", but two successive federal courts found the Grange initiative to be unconstitutional. Unfortunately, last year, the U.S. Supreme Court unwisely decided to overturn those rulings, so for now we're stuck with "Top Two", which restricts voter choice and tramples all over political parties' First Amendment rights.

Since leaving office at the beginning of 2005, Locke has been with Seattle's Davis Wright Tremaine as a partner.

He has remained active in Washington politics; for instance, he hosted a fundraising event for Darcy Burner early in her first bid for Congress. He also served as a co-chair for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign in the Evergreen State.

Locke would be the third Asian American in Obama's cabinet (Retired General Eric Shinsheki became the new Secretary of Veterans' Affairs last month, and Steven Chu became the new Secretary of Energy).

At Commerce one of Locke's top deputies would be a fellow Northwesterner, Oregon State University's Jane Lubchenco, who was tapped by President Obama to take over NOAA. Lubchenco's confirmation hearing was February 12th.

Also slated to represent the region in the upper echelons of the Obama administration are Ron Sims, who has been nominated as Deputy Secretary for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Seattle police chief Gil Kerlikowke, who is supposedly Obama's choice for Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, a Cabinet level position.

Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home