Unlike his successor as King County Executive, Ron Sims (whom the Obama administration tapped as deputy secretary at HUD), former Washington governor Gary Locke, whom the president has apparently chosen as his (third) nominee for Commerce, was someone I always respected. He’s not as clean as reports would have you believe, as the folks at Sound Politics point out, but his fundraising misfeasance appears to have been relatively minor as these things go; he was an effective governor, a good administrator and to all appearances a man of good character, and generally pro-business and pro-free trade, which is important in a Commerce Secretary. Since he’s also a loyal Democrat and an ethnic minority, here’s hoping his appointment quashes the administration’s unconstitutional attempt to take over the U. S. Census.Update: from the AP article, it sounds like the administration will indeed leave the Census in the Commerce Department:
If confirmed by the Senate, Locke would assume control of a large agency with a broad portfolio that includes overseeing many aspects of international trade, oceans policy and the 2010 census. . . .”Who oversees the census won’t change,” White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said, adding that the director of it always reports to the commerce secretary. “I think members of Congress and the White House both have an interest in a fair and accurate census count.”
My hope, given that, is that Secretary Locke won’t bow to pressure to politicize the census, but will allow it to operate in as apolitical a fashion as possible.