New Name Mentioned for Obama’s Interior Secretary
Colorado Senator Reportedly Offered Job by President-elect Obama
12/17/08
After a week in which grassroots supporters for two different candidates to become President- elect Obama’s Secretary of the Interior battled, a new name has emerged for the position. On Wednesday, December 17, Colorado Senator Ken Salazar was nominated to the position.
As the USSA reported last week, the two likely candidates were thought to be U.S. Representatives Raul M. Grijalva (D-AZ) and Mike Thompson (D- CA). Each representative had groups of supporters advancing their names to the President- elect’s Transition Team. However, word started leaking to the media early this week that President- elect Obama had offered the position to Sen. Salazar and that the only question was whether he would accept the nomination. Sen. Salazar has not completed his first term as U.S. Senator from Colorado, having become a member only after the 2004 election. However, in that time period, Sen. Salazar has received paltry ratings from the leading anti-hunting group in the nation, the Humane Society of the United Sates (HSUS). During the 2007-2008 Congress he received a mere 50 percent rating from HSUS and a 0 between 2005 and 2006. Prior to his election, Sen. Salazar led Colorado's Department of Natural Resources and was the state's attorney general.
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