Obama to Name Salazar Interior Secretary
EmailABC News’ Sunlen Miller and David Chalian report: President-elect Obama will tap Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., for Interior secretary, in an announcement to come later this week.
At a Chicago press avail today, Obama announced key posts on his energy and environmental team: Steven Chu for energy secretary, Lisa Jackson for Environmental Protection Agency administrator, Carol Browner as the energy and climate "czar," and Nancy Sutley to head the White House Council on Environmental Quality.
Obama’s anticipated selection of Salazar will round out his newly-chosen green team.
Obama said today that his selection for Interior would have a "critical role" in working with his choices for energy and environmental posts on energy indpendence.
Salazar, a first-term Colorado senator, headed the Coloado Natural Resources department and was a former attorney general for the state.
The formal announcement will be made later this week in one of many Cabinet-level announcements Obama makes before heading to Hawaii for the holidays Saturday.
Like the governors of Illinois, New York, and Delaware, the Democratic governor of Colorado, Bill Ritter, will now have an opportunity to name a successor to Sen. Salazar in the U.S. Senate.
The move of Salazar to the Cabinet will also ensure that Mark Udall will now become Colorado’s senior senator, despite his having been elected just six weeks ago.
Some prominent Democratic names in Colorado that have been floated as potential replacements:
Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper
Outgoing Colorado House Speaker Andrew Romanoff
Rep. Diana DeGette
Rep. John Salazar, the Interior secretary designee’s brother, just won a seat on the House Appropriations Committee — likely taking him off the governor’s short list for the Senate replacement, as he may be able to deliver much more for the state from his vantage point in the House now.
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/In other words, he can feed at the taxpayer trough and send billions of dollars back to his special interest buddies via earmarks and pork./
Haha…welcome to Congress, where earmarks and pork are king. If you’re not in, you’re out…that means your local government.
Posted by: New England Patriot | December 15, 2008, 9:21 pm 9:21 pm
I wonder how much the democrats will sell his seat for?
Posted by: obusha 09 | December 15, 2008, 9:30 pm 9:30 pm
As much as the republicans are willing to pay with their ill-gotten gains.
Posted by: Slim Shady | December 15, 2008, 9:39 pm 9:39 pm
Finally another Latino in the Obama cabinet.
Posted by: Cameron | December 15, 2008, 9:41 pm 9:41 pm
good bye oil from shale. Hope there is a lot of wind out there to power my car and work truck. Where does the windmill go on a buick?
Posted by: smith | December 15, 2008, 10:28 pm 10:28 pm
Outstanding! As a Coloradoan, this makes my day; Ken speaks to ranchers and outdoorsmen, and will certainly be a friend to anglers, hunters, hikers and landowners (his brother John is a good guy, too). He will certainly pay heed to the importance and value of our country’s wonderful natural resources.
Posted by: Aaron | December 15, 2008, 10:35 pm 10:35 pm
“Finally another Latino in the Obama cabinet”
Don’t get too excited yet…today the Grand Jury came knocking on Bill Richardson’s door…
Yup…He may have been playing the Pay for Play game too.
Do a google search and you will find the story written today. “Richardson Bloomberg”. The story is on Bloomberg.com
Are there any good men for Obama’s cabinet out there anywhere?
Posted by: cpad | December 15, 2008, 10:41 pm 10:41 pm
i am loving the diversity of the new admin.
it is wonderful to see good representation of all of america.
Posted by: lameduck-duck! | December 15, 2008, 10:44 pm 10:44 pm
I hope Ken Salazar is a man of integrity. But, I am almost afraid start doing google searches on him.
Posted by: cpad | December 15, 2008, 10:45 pm 10:45 pm
/Are there any good men for Obama’s cabinet out there anywhere?/
Yes, good women too…all qualified candidates every one of them.
Posted by: New England Patriot | December 15, 2008, 11:51 pm 11:51 pm
Hopefully this administration’s Interior will have fewer indictments and resignations than the last one!!!
Posted by: walt | December 16, 2008, 12:16 am 12:16 am
New England…
You are so right!
Sorry, that was a big flub up and from a woman no doubt…
Posted by: cpad | December 16, 2008, 12:36 am 12:36 am
Another good pick by Obama. It is sure going to be a different kind of administration with knowledgeable people in charge right from the start.
Posted by: Lydia | December 16, 2008, 9:23 am 9:23 am
This is a definite victory for anyone concerned about the environment, Salazar has fought hard to keep the hands of the Bush Administration and congressional Republicans off Colorado shale oil (whose extraction would destroy Colorado’s most prized attribute, its wilderness)
Posted by: thomas | December 16, 2008, 11:06 am 11:06 am
Another Democrat???!!!
Posted by: jill | December 16, 2008, 1:29 pm 1:29 pm
A Choice Only Republicans Can Love
Senator Ken Salazar, who is reportedly President-Elect Obama’s choice for Secretary of Interior, is a choice that Republicans can celebrate. As a western Rancher with a ZERO Humane Animal Scorecard from the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and apparently with support from the oil and gas industry, he would have fit nicely within the current Bush Administration or that of Reagan’s James Watt-led Interior Department.
As a man who supported Lieberman’s bid for remaining Chair of the Homeland Security Committee and introduced Alberto Gonzalez to Congress, he has shown he will be able to represent the Republican viewpoint in Obama’s Cabinet.
BLOODY HALL OF SHAME: ZERO HUMANE SCORECARDS
109th Senatorial Democrats Congressional Final Scores
Only 4 Democrats
Only four Democratic Senators have earned a zero on the HSUS Humane Scorecard, and among this ignominious count was a vote to torture and put downed animals in your food supply, and a separate vote to slaughter equines (which are flight animals) in slaughterhouses designed for short necked, docile bovines (cows). Senator Ken Salazar distinguishes himself by being among this sad group.
Senator Salazar (Rancher) Colorado
Senator Bingaman New Mexico
Senator Lincoln Arkansas
Senator Rockefeller West Virginia
(Bingamen is Chair of the committee that is blocking the Anti-Horse Slaughter bill)
Democrat vs Republican Scorecards: MIRROR IMAGES
Humane Society * Scores of 100 Scores of Zero (0)
Democrats Senate 18 4
Republicans Senate 4 15
Democrats House 64 7
Republicans House 8 30
Posted by: meepdog | December 17, 2008, 12:20 pm 12:20 pm