Transition: Adding Salazar and Vilsack
Posted: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 9:26 AM by Carrie Dann
Tom Vilsack's elevation to Ag secretary means he "would be the fourth high-level appointment of a former presidential campaign rival to Obama's team, following Clinton for secretary of State, Delaware Sen. Joe Biden for vice president and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson for Commerce secretary."
By the way, it’s a big victory for ethanol advocates to have Vilsack in the Cabinet
The New York Times: “Mr. Vilsack, who briefly sought the Democratic presidential nomination in the 2008 race after serving two terms as governor, is a strong proponent of renewable energy and developing the nation’s alternative fuel industry. He will be joined at a news conference here by Senator Ken Salazar, Democrat of Colorado, who will be nominated as interior secretary.”
Xavier Becerra has turned down Obama's offer to be USTR. "The decision also means Obama will still have to find someone to serve as his trade representative, which could be a challenging post with a Democratic Congress increasingly skeptical of trade. Becerra was seen by some as the perfect person for the job, particularly given outstanding trade agreements with Colombia and Panama that were negotiated by the Bush administration but are opposed by many Democrats. Becerra has won good marks from business groups supportive of trade, as well as labor organizations opposed to the Colombia deal."
Meanwhile, Eric Holder's path to the AG post not only will have a Marc Rich speed bump or two, but also but some Elian hurdles. "Eight of nine GOP members on the Senate Judiciary Committee wrote Clinton Presidential Library Director Terry Garner on Thursday to ask for 10 categories of material, including any information on Holder’s involvement with the Cuban boy seized by U.S. agents in April 2000." More: "An aide to Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) says Republicans never showed the Clinton Library letter to Leahy but simply began referring to it in comments on the Senate floor on Thursday. The aide also said Republicans are being hypocritical by asking for a voluminous amount of information about an attorney general candidate.”
“‘They’re applying a standard of Supreme Court nominees to an attorney general nominee,’ the aide said. ‘Not to diminish the importance of the office, but this is not a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court like [Samuel] Alito or [John] Roberts. It seems the hypocrisy here might be in their direction.’”
The New York Times’ Leibovich has a Sunday magazine piece on incoming White House press secretary Robert Gibbs and the Obama communications team. An excerpt: “Before hanging up I asked Obama about his favorite movie, ‘The Godfather’ — specifically, which character Gibbs most reminded him of. Obama mentioned the Robert Duvall consigliere, Tom Hagen. ‘And I’ve seen a little bit of Sonny in him once in a while,’ he added.” More: Gibbs “has gotten résumés sent to his home and supportive notes from friends and from his podium predecessors. Gibbs told me that two of them — Jody Powell and the Clinton spokesman Mike McCurry — wrote essentially the same thing: ‘‘Congratulations. And condolences.’’
"Richardson ignored two shouted questions about the company [being investigated by a grand jury for allegedly engaging in a potential pay-to-play scandal with Richardson] at his afternoon news conference in Santa Fe and left the room. Richardson spokesman Gilbert Gallegos did not confirm the grand jury probe but said the governor's office is "aware of questions surrounding some financial transactions at the New Mexico Finance Authority."
Biden's buying a German Shepherd from a breeder has angered PETA, which "is running a controversial TV ad in Biden's hometown of Wilmington, Del., that blames people who buy from pet shops and breeders for the deaths of 4 million animals a year that are not adopted from shelters. In the TV spot, a breeder throws a body bag onto his desk and tell a family, 'Here's the dog you just killed.' Animal rights activists are now looking to President-elect Barack Obama, who says he wants to adopt a "mutt like me" from a shelter, but might be constrained because his daughter Malia has allergies."
OUR OBAMA CABINET SPECULATION LIST:
NAMED President’s office/staff:
-- Chief of Staff: Rahm Emanuel (Deputies: Jim Messina, Mona Sutphen)
-- Senior Advisers: Valerie Jarrett, Peter Rouse, David Axelrod
-- Political Director: Patrick Gaspard
-- Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs: Phil Schiliro
-- White House Counsel: Greg Craig
-- Press Secretary: Robert Gibbs
-- Communications Director: Ellen Moran (Deputy: Dan Pfeiffer)
-- Director of Scheduling and Advance: Alyssa Mastromonaco
-- Staff Secretary: Lisa Brown
-- Cabinet Secretary: Chris Lu
-- Special Assistant to the President and White House Social Secretary: Desirée Rogers
-- Director, White House Military Office: Louis Caldera
NAMED Vice President’s office/staff:
-- Biden’s Chief of staff: Ron Klain
-- Counselor to the Vice President: Mike Donilon
-- Domestic Policy Advisor to the Vice President: Terrell McSweeny
-- Assistant to the Vice President for Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Liaison: Evan Ryan
-- Communications Director: Jay Carney
NAMED First Lady’s office/staff:
-- Michelle Obama’s Chief of Staff: Jackie Norris (Deputy: Melissa Winter)
NAMED CABINET MEMBERS:
-- Commerce: Bill Richardson
-- Defense: Robert Gates
-- Education: Arne Duncan (Chicago public schools superintendent)
-- Energy: Steven Chu
-- HHS: Tom Daschle
-- HUD: Shaun Donovan (NYC housing commissioner)
-- Homeland Security: Janet Napolitano
-- Justice (AG): Eric Holder
-- State: Hillary Clinton (Jim Steinberg-deputy CONFIRMED BY NBC NEWS)
-- Treasury: Tim Geithner
-- Veterans Affairs: Eric Shinse
POTENTIAL CABINET MEMBERS:
-- Interior: Sen. Ken Salazar (D-CO) CONFIRMED BY NBC NEWS
-- Agriculture: Tom Vilsack CONFIRMED BY NBC NEWS
-- Labor: Kathleen Sebelius (asked that her name be removed from consideration from any post), Andy Stern (SEIU) (said not interested), Jennifer Granholm, Richard Gephardt, George Miller, David Bonior (said he’s not interested, suggested: American Rights at Work Executive Director Mary Beth Maxwell), Rep. Xavier Becerra, Linda Chavez-Thompson, Antonio Villaraigosa
-- Transportation: Ed Rendell, Jane Garvey, Mortimer Downey, Earl Blumenauer, Steve Heminger, James Oberstar, Peter DeFazio, Federico Pena, Jeanette Sadik-Khan, Tim Kaine, John Hickenlooper (Denver mayor), Ron Sims (King County (WA) Executive), Doug Foy (Fmr pres, Convservation Law Fndtn), Parris Glendening (Fmr Gov MD)
OTHER POSITIONS:
-- National Economic Council Director: Larry Summers NAMED
-- Council of Economic Advisers: Christina Romer (chair), NAMED, Dan Tarullo, Jacob "Jack" Lew, Jason Furman, Austan Goolsbee, Laura Tyson
-- Economic Recovery Advisory Board: Paul Volcker NAMED, Austan Goolsbee (staff director, chief economist) NAMED, Eric E. Schmidt (Google chairman, CEO)
-- Natl Sec Adviser: Gen. James L. Jones NAMED, (Deputy: Tom Donilon)
-- NSC: Dennis Ross, Tony Lake
-- OMB: Peter Orszag NAMED (Deputy: Rob Nabors NAMED)
-- White House Domestic Policy Council Director: Melody Barnes NAMED (Domestic Policy Council Deputy Director: Heather A. Higginbottom NAMED)
-- UN Ambassador: Susan Rice NAMED
-- EPA: Lisa Jackson (NJ environ commission) CONFIRMED BY NBC NEWS
-- Energy "Czar" reporting to the president: Carol Browner CONFIRMED BY NBC NEWS
-- CIA: Tony Lake, John Brennan (wrote a letter to Obama asking that his name be withdrawn), Chuck Hagel, Michael Hayden, Jami Miscik (fmr CIA dep dir for Intel)
-- DNI: Ret. Adm. Dennis Blair, Tony Lake, John Brennan, Tim Roemer, Rand Beers, Jane Harman, John Abizaid, Evan Bayh
-- FEMA: James Lee Witt
-- FBI: Robert Mueller (term expires 2011)
-- Fed Chair: Ben Bernanke (at least for first year)
-- FDA: Steven Nissen (Cleveland Clinic), Joshua Sharfstein (Baltimore health commissioner), Janet Woodcock (Big Pharma's choice), Susan Wood (GWU occupational and environmental health professor), Diana Zuckerman (president, National Research Center for Women & Families) Joint Chiefs: Michael Mullen (term ends in late 2009, can expect to be appointed for second term, per tradition)
-- Peace Corps: Chris Shays
-- USTR: Xavier Becerra, Cal Dooley (American Chemistry Council president), Daniel K. Tarullo (Georgetown University law professor), Lael Brainard (Brookings Institution vice president), Thomas F. “Mack” McLarty (fmr Clinton White House chief of staff)
-- Auto Czar: Jennifer Granholm
-- Secretary of the Army: Mortimer Downey
-- Chief Technology Officer: Julius Genachowski, Shane Robison (HP), Edward Felten (Princeton)
-- FCC: Jonathan Adelstein (FCC commissioner), Antoinette Bush (Skadden), Karen Kornbluh (Obama’s former Senate policy director), Blair Levin (fmr chief of staff to then-FCC Commissioner Reid Hunt)
