Well, if you were looking for a progressive to fill the position of Secretary of Interior, you will be disappointed to learn that Sen. Ken Salazar (D-CO) has been selected. On the other hand, if you are interested in seeing a more progressive Senate, this could lead to that outcome. It’s possible that Ken’s younger older brother John will get promoted from the House, but there are other potential replacements.
Gov. Bill Ritter would pick a replacement to finish out the senator’s term if he accepts.
There has been some speculation about who would fill his seat in the Senate if Salazar does join the Obama Administration. Several names have been mentioned, including Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, outgoing Colorado House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, and the senator’s brother, Rep. John Salazar.
Rep. John Salazar reportedly turned down an offer to serve as Secretary of Agriculture in order to accept a seat on the House Appropriations Committee. He may prefer to remain in the House to moving to a no-seniority position in the Senate. I hope so.
The selection of Ken Salazar makes sense, as the Interior position normally goes to someone from the West. I will have to research Ken Salazar’s environmental record to know whether this pick is disastrous, or merely a disappointment. Regardless, the diversity beat marches on.
Update [2008-12-16 0:4:22 by BooMan]: Obama has selected Arne Duncan as Secretary of Education. I think you can safely consider Duncan to be a true progressive selection, although he won’t necessarily hew to the teacher union’s party-line. Duncan has a fascinating biography. He grew up in Hyde Park and was boyhood friends with R. Kelly. We was a star basketball player at Harvard and went on to play professionally in Australia. He met his wife in Tasmania. And check this:
Duncan was raised in Hyde Park area of South Side Chicago, where his father Starkey Duncan was a psychology professor at the University of Chicago, and mother Susan Morton runs Sue Duncan’s Children’s Center on the city’s south side for African American youth. Duncan spent a great deal of his free time at his mother’s center tutoring children and sharpening his basketball skills with the neighborhood children.
he might be a surprise in that position. he’s got a long history in the area of interior related issues, and it’s been pretty straight ahead democratic based.
he was executive director of colorado’s department of natural resources from 1990 – 1994, and practiced water and environmental law in the private sector from 1981 – 1986, and 1994 – 1998, and colorado AG from 1998 – 2004.
he’s been a pretty staunch supporter of renewable energy issues here, as well as adamantly opposed to oil shale development. it actually seems a pretty good fit, and getting him out of the senate is a positive in my mind, assuming ritter doesn’t appoint his brother, john, who’d be a clone. l think that’s unlikely.
ritter will probably establish another “blue ribbon panel” to cut the list of contenders down to 3 or so candidates to avoid any negative repercussions in 2010.
for a more definitive look at some of the names being thrown out early see colorado pols articles, here, and here, and here.
perlmutter looks like the early favorite…but it’s really to soon to tell…hickenlooper’s a long shot in my estimation, but l’ve been known to be wrong.
I just like to say ‘Senator Hickenlooper’. I don’t know the players in Colorado very well. So, that is not an endorsement.
We’re hoping Romanoff.
And many of us leave the room when Salazar enters. A politician’s politician. Never has stood for anything because it was right.
And let’s not forget that he was Alberto Gonzales’s Senate sponsor. He supported him for the following reasons: grew up poor, was a minority and was his friend.
I’m hoping it’s Hickenlooper but that doesn’t mean I’m opposed to Romanoff. I’d love to hear your arguments for or against both.
Hickenlooper has been adverse to leaving his job as Mayor in the past, despite a lot of support for his candidacy for higher office. Having a Senate seat handed to him could get him to change his mind, but the real question is who Ritter likes, although there’s going to be a lot of input from party insiders lobbying for their choice.
This is going to be a very interesting decision, and I can think of a lot of pols that I would like to see elevated to the office, especially some of those who’ve run for statewide office in the past.
The happiest guy in the world at the moment must be Michael Moore. Obama is getting rid of all the dumbass Stupid White Men and putting lots of minorities in positions of power. Good.
As I said above, he was Alberto Gonzales’s biggest promoter and gave his ethnicity as a primary reason. Reflect on that. We wrote Salazar and said that his choice on this basis, rather than his qualifications to be AG, was prejudiced and bigoted.
So Arne Duncan was boyhood friends with R. Kelly, while one of Obama’s top national security advisors (and perhaps future Sec. of Defense) Richard Danzig is first cousin to Glenn Danzig of The Misfits/Danzig fame.
This doesn’t really mean anything, but it’s cool.
Does he share Kelly’s taste for underage girls? Could be a scandal gestating here.
Here’s some inside stuff about the two front runners for Salazar’s Senate seat — Rep. Ed Perlmutter and Speaker (State House) Andrew Romanoff.
http://coloradopols.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=8403
From the modest amount I know about them, either would be very good.
As someone who has seen his incompetence up close and personal, hands down, the worst appointment of Obama – period.
Elaborate? Although this does look like Chicago cronyism.