Obama's Commerce Sec'y: Gary Locke

by Peter Nicholas and Tom Hamburger and updated

President Obama is expected to select former Washington state Gov. Gary Locke as commerce secretary, a position that the White House has had a difficult time filling.

The president is expected to announce Locke's nomination on Wednesday, according to a senior administration official.

Locke will be Obama's third pick for the post. The first was New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who dropped out amid questions about a grand jury investigation into the awarding of a state government contract. In his place, Obama reached across the aisle and nominated Sen. Judd Gregg, a New Hampshire Republican.

But Gregg had a change of heart and pulled out earlier this month, citing differences with the White House over the nearly $800 billion stimulus package and the census.

In Locke, Obama is getting a former two-term Democratic governor who left office in 2005. Now 59, Locke was the nation's first Chinese-American governor when he took office in 1997. He was also an early supporter of Obama's main rival in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary campaign, Hillary Clinton.

Locke has spoken privately to U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, which would vote on the nomination, a Senate aide said.
In a statement issued Monday night, Rockefeller said: "If Gov. Locke is chosen for Commerce Secretary, I think he would be phenomenal. Having a governor from a coastal state with a core understanding of what it takes to improve our economy would be most welcome and a tremendous asset."

Earlier this month, Obama joked about the stumbles surrounding the appointment. At a banquet in Springfield, Ill. marking the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birthday, Obama noted how in 1854 Lincoln was an ordinary lawyer and ex-congressman, "possibly in his law office, his feet on a cluttered desk, his sons playing around him, his clothes a bit too small to fit his uncommon frame, maybe wondering if somebody might call him up and ask him to be commerce secretary ..."

Locke is a partner in the Seattle office of the law firm Davis Wright Tremaine. The firm's website lists his specialties as China, energy, government relations and corporate diversity counseling.

The firm has a significant presence in eight other cities, including Washington, where several dozen lawyers and lobbyists specialize in media, technology, energy and other fields. The Washington office also advises Fortune 500 companies on diversity and employment matters.

Between 2005 and 2008, Locke served on the board of directors of Safeco, a Seattle-based insurance company that was taken over late last year by Liberty Mutual insurance company.

A call to Locke's office was not returned.

After an early flurry of White House staff and cabinet announcements, the Obama administration faced snags in getting key people confirmed. At least four of Obama's nominees have faced questions about unpaid taxes, raising questions about the White House vetting operation.

Obama has yet to fill three of 15 cabinet posts: Health and Human Services, Labor, and Commerce.

One of those vacancies may be filled soon. On Tuesday, the Senate is scheduled to hold a procedural vote on Obama's nominee for Labor secretary: California congresswoman Hilda Solis.

As cabinet jobs go, commerce doesn't rank as especially influential. But one of the secretary's duties has emerged as an intensely partisan sticking point. Republicans are wary that the White House intends to marginalize the career employees at the Commerce Department and take control of the 2010 census--the population-counting exercise that is used to determine such politically sensitive matters as the allocation of congressional seats.

"The first question for Gov. Locke is whether he will block the brazen attempt by the White House to take over the traditionally non-partisan census,'' said Michael Steel, a spokesman for House minority leader John Boehner (R-Oh). "To be more than a figurehead, Gov. Locke must promise to keep politics out of the census by keeping control of it in the Commerce Department."

The son of Chinese immigrants, Locke has cited his up-from-the-Seattle- projects story as proof that he had achieved "the Great American Dream.''

As governor, Locke helped preserve the state's aerospace industry by winning the bid for the new Boeing 7E7 plant.

He pushed a plan to raise sales taxes by $1 billion to fund education, but voters defeated it.

Analysts describe him as a pro-business Democrat, fond of trade missions to market the state's products.

David Olson, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Washington, said: "He was extraordinarily successful in working with business - Boeing, as well as labor and machinists.''