Gary Locke Is Likely Pick to Be Commerce Secretary

Locke led the state of Washington from 1996 through 2004, and is the first Chinese American to serve as a governor. He and Republican Bobby Jindal of Louisiana are the only Asian American governors outside of Hawaii.*

Locke was briefly entangled in the political contribution scandal that rocked the Clinton administration in the mid-1990s. He denied any wrongdoing and returned suspect political contributions, including $750 from John Huang, the central figure in the controversy over foreign contributions funneled to former President Clinton's 1996 re-election campaign.

Hopefully that history won't derail Locke. This is Obama's third try at getting a commerce secretary after Bill Richardson pulled out over possible political shenanigans and Senator Judd Gregg dropped because he didn't see eye-to-eye with the president.

Locke seems to be a political centrist so he's in line with how Obama wants to run things and solidifies the president's commitment to having a diverse team.

I'm writing this from down in California. Anyone up in Washington have any views on Locke? Was he an effective governor?

*CORRECTION: I originally said Locke was only Asian American governor outside of Hawaii.

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Harry Mok

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Editor in Chief Harry Mok wrote about growing up on a Chinese vegetable farm for the second issue of Hyphen and has been a volunteer editor since 2004. As a board member of the San Francisco and New York chapters of the Asian American Journalists Association, Harry has recruited and organized events for student members. He holds a master’s degree in journalism from the University of California, Berkeley, where he was also a graduate student instructor in the Asian American Studies Department.

Comments

RELAX wrote on Tue, 02/24/2009 - 5:38pm

Technically, Locke would be the 4rth high profile Asian in the Obama Administration. I forgot the name of the Indian American that was appointed to one of Obamas cabinet post. Maybe the name will re-emerge later, or can someone help me out.

RELAX wrote on Wed, 02/25/2009 - 6:48pm

Bobby Jindal bombed last night, Do you all think he just ruined his chances for 2012 presidency.Lockes is the man, I hope he can get approval from congress.

Anonymous wrote on Thu, 03/05/2009 - 8:47pm

Obama picked Sanjay Gupta to be Suegeon General, but he took himself out of consideration.http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090306/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/surgeon_general

zack wrote on Mon, 02/23/2009 - 4:54pm

Okay, I just read this a couple of times, but: The only Asian American governor outside of Hawaii? What about Bobby Jindal?

Harry Mok wrote on Mon, 02/23/2009 - 6:08pm

Thanks for pointing it out. It was not liberal bias, just forgetfulness.