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Westerners considered for Obama Cabinet

By Sara Burnett, Rocky Mountain News (Contact), David Montero, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published November 6, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Pena has been named to Obama's transition team

Pena has been named to Obama's transition team

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President-elect Barack Obama has to fill Cabinet positions, ambassadorships and top-level staff positions while planning with the transition team - and he's already plucking Westerners to help with those decisions.

Former Denver Mayor and Clinton Cabinet member Federico Pena and Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano are part of the transition team. There is talk of Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar landing a Cabinet position. Likewise for New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson as a possible secretary of state and Napolitano as attorney general.

Pena, who is one of those reviewing potential Cabinet members, said Wednesday he wouldn't comment on individual names but did say the West has a "a lot of talented candidates."

He said the top priority slots are ones related to the economy and national security and that Cabinet positions related to energy were "in the top five." Pena was energy secretary under President Clinton.

Democrats and Republicans have speculated Salazar could be a candidate for Interior secretary, overseeing federal and tribal land, much of it in the West. The former Colorado attorney general's name also has been mentioned for a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court.

"Right now, my intention is to continue to serve well as a U.S. senator, hopefully doing what my bosses of 5 million people in Colorado want," Salazar said.

Ken Bickers, chairman of the political science department at the University of Colorado, said none of the names floated with the affiliated positions would surprise him, but he also said there are several things to consider - namely how vulnerable any position is to being lost to Republicans if vacated.

He said in Salazar's case, Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter would appoint his replacement but it's less certain that replacement could win re-election in 2010.

If Napolitano became part of the administration, Bickers said that would remove a Democratic governor from a reliably red state.

Comments

  • November 20, 2008

    1:49 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    SierraStorm writes:

    To the disillusionment of anyone who imagined Obama would even pretend to take the War on Terror or border defense seriously, Arizona's unsuccessful governor Janet "Nappy" Napolitano has apparently received her pieces of silver for backing The One in the form of the top spot at Homeland Security.
    Napolitano's heart lies with the shamnesty crowd. She vetoed a bill cracking down on phony matricula consular cards for illegal aliens and rejected efforts allowing more cooperation between local law enforcement and the feds. She opposes assimilationist measures on English language and ID requirements to prevent voter fraud; she supports in-state tuition discounts for illegal aliens.
    Crappy Nappy, as some fondly call her, can be expected to do for the DHS bureaucracy what she did for Arizona's state government: bloat it with flab until it can't be sustained. She has turned a $1 billion surplus into a $2 billion deficit.

    Nappy the Troll's exit will be the best thing to happen in the Grand Canyon State since Barry Goldwater was born. But as Phoenix talk host Bruce Jacobs points out, Arizona's gain will be America's pain.