Thursday, December 18, 2008

Senator's style: reaching out, getting it done

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You can't talk about Ken Salazar without talking about the off- white Stetson cowboy hat. You can't talk about the hat without talking about the San Luis Valley, one of the state's poorest regions. You can't talk about the valley without talking about five generations of the Salazar family ranching and farming before Colorado was a state. And so it goes. Native son makes good. Again. The news became official Wednesday: U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar is President-elect Barack Obama's pick for Interior secretary. Salazar - who as a teen decided against becoming a Catholic priest after attending a Franciscan seminary for two years, who ran a couple of bilingual radio stations and a Dairy Queen with his wife - broke into the political sphere in 1986. That's when Democratic Gov. Roy Romer hired the then 31-year-old water lawyer and rancher as his chief legal counsel. Four years later, Romer tapped Salazar as director of the Department of Natural Resources. Ask people about Salazar, 53, and a member of the Senate Finance Committee, and they often point to his ability to garner respect from farmers and oil company executives alike. "He listens to people," Romer said. "He is able to balance one side of an argument with the other and finally come up with a decision that is best."....

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