So much for a short list. Add another name to the possible candidates for Interior secretary, a post that will be vacant when Ken Salazar departs the agency in March: Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) We hear Salazar suggested Udall as a potential replacement, and that
his name has been sent to the White House for consideration. Of course, he wouldn’t be the first Interior Secretary named Udall.
The senator’s father, Stewart Udall, was a legendary environmental
champion who served as Interior Secretary under Presidents John Kennedy
and Lyndon Johnson. So he’s got a great pedigree, he’s well-liked, and he’s a Westerner, which is considered desirable in that job. But he’s hardly a lock. The White House is desperately seeking diversity in its Cabinet picks (because the first few nominees were mostly white men), and Udall wouldn’t exactly add to the rainbow. Other names we’ve heard that might fit that bill include outgoing
Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire, Office of Personnel Management chief
John Berry (who would be the first openly gay Cabinet secretary), and
Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.). Then there’s the fact that Republican Gov. Susana Martine would be
the one to appoint Udall’s replacement for the two years remaining in
his term — so Democrats would likely lose a Senate seat. Besides, Udall has reason to be pretty comfortable where he is. He
was recently named to the powerful Appropriations Committee, and is
running for re-election in 2014. Washington Post blog
Slate calls this Ken Salazar's Brilliant Plan to Empower Senate Republicans.
Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship.
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