Gary Locke Is Likely Pick to Be Commerce Secretary

Harry Mok
February 23, 2009

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

Editor in chief

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.

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Comments

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.