Hillary Clinton today announced Ken Salazar will lead her White House transition team, drawing cheers from some and jeers from others.
The job means Salazar will meet with current White House officials and try to make the transition as seamless as possible should Clinton win the presidency in November. Transition teams, reports Vox.com, “lay the groundwork for key decisions about executive branch appointments, outreach to Congress, and legislative priorities.”
Here are five takeaways from the big announcement.
1.) He’s a competent, credible establishment leader
Salazar is about as entrenched in the Colorado Democratic establishment as one can be— a former attorney general and U.S. Senator here whom President Barack Obama appointed as secretary of the Department of Interior.
Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper even floated Salazar’s name as a possible vice presidential pick for Clinton, and others have name-checked him as a potential Supreme Court justice nominee under a Democratic presidential administration. (Donald Trump has tapped New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to lead his own transition.)
Salazar is also a longtime Clinton backer who held an event for her campaign at his home in Denver.
https://twitter.com/crisantaduran/status/765648138027700224
2.) The anti-frackers are not happy with this choice
“Secretary Clinton’s appointment of former Interior Secretary Ken Salazar as head of her transition team is the wrong move for a candidate who needs to strengthen her progressive policies, not weaken them,” said Greenpeace USA Democracy Campaign Director Molly Dorozenski upon hearing the announcement.
Dorozenski said if Clinton plans to effectively tackle climate change, “the last thing her team needs is an industry insider like Ken Salazar.”
She said Salazar’s track record “illustrates time and again that he is on the side of big industry, and not of the people. His most recent opposition to the anti-fracking initiatives in his home state of Colorado directly undermines Clinton’s alleged support of local control over fracking. If Secretary Clinton wants to be the environmental leader that she claims to be in campaign speeches, she has to put the people before industry insiders.”
3.) Picking Salazar could undermine Clinton’s rhetoric against the ‘revolving door’
Writing for The International Business Times, Denver journalist David Sirota pointed to Salazar’s post-governmental career as “a partner at WilmerHale — a law and lobbying colossus that has been called one of the most influential forces in Washington” as a potential blind spot in Clinton’s campaign against the “revolving door” of public and private sector employment and influence peddling.
Sitora reports that Salazar is a supporter of the Keystone XL pipeline, the Trans-Pacific Partnership global free trade agreement, and has said “there’s not a single case where hydraulic fracking has created an environmental problem for anyone.”
4.) The move sets him up for a cabinet position in a potential Clinton administration
If Salazar wants a cabinet position under Clinton like he had under Obama, his work as transition team leader won’t hurt.
Mark K. Matthews writes in The Denver Post how “several members of Obama’s 2008 transition team ultimately found jobs within the administration” such as transition co-chair Valerie Jarrett, now a top aide to Obama, and Janet Napolitano and Michael Froman, who worked on the transition team and went on to become U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security and U.S. Trade Representative respectively.
Salazar could also run for governor of Colorado in 2018 when Hickenlooper leaves office.
5.) His appointment is a sign Latinos will be ‘well-represented’ under Clinton
Latinos are one of the fastest-growing voting blocs in the United States.
Salazar is Hispanic, and his “presence at the top of the transition group offers Latinos a sign that they will be well-represented in the Clinton administration,” writes Matt Yglesias for Vox.
Photo Credit: U.S. Dept. of Interior, Creative Commons, Flickr
yeah, the fracking thing is a BIG DEAL..
Why jump to the conclusion that he will be placed in a cabinet position – give her a chance to address that issue, which will certainly be a part of the debate – I believe Hillary will listen
Arrrg did everyone forget he sold his Buddy 1700+ mustangs @ $10 a head, and spent over $50,000 tax payer $$ DELIVERING THEM? Davis most likely sold them for close to a million dollars (yup $1,000,000) to be slaughtered in mexico.
All investigation was stopped, no charges filed. He threatened to punch a reporter in the face just for asking about it… and hes her number one pick for “transition”?
Can she pick anyone for her “crew” that’s not a crooked, corupt, asshole?
Third party for me. I’m definitely over her. Scraping the tar and feathers off of this disgraced Sec of Interior goes to show where Shill stands and what poor judgement she has. He needs to crawl back under the rock for good. TPP, fracking, threatening to punch reporters, slaughtering wild horses. Seriously Shill?
How can Ken Salazar get away with what he is doing to our wild horses,burrows& wolves?Our government is breaking the law by rounding up these horses and either imprisoning them or sending them to slaughter.They are meant by law to be free.Hillary Clinton has chosen a person with no respect to wildlife to be on her team.The man should be held accountable for what he did to the nations wild horses.
Right on Kathy M.Ken Salazar used our taxpayer money to ship 1700 federally protected wild horses,beloved by 75% of the American People to his sleazy family friend Tom Davis who then sold them into a ghastly,horrific death in a Mexican slaughterhouse and made a huge profit.Any reasonable person would conclude that Davis kicked back some of the ill gotten profits to Salazar.
The Office of the Inspector General for the DOI investigated the case and concluded that these allegations were true and that it was not only illegal,but it was also against BLM’s own policy’s.Furthermore BLM employees who helped orchestrate this criminal activity were rewarded with taxpayer money.
Yet the U.S. Atty for the District of Colorado refused to prosecute based upon the ridiculous assertion that the case had no merit and was too hard to prove.For Gods sake Tom Davis joked to a reporter that of course it was illegal but he would never be prosecuted!
If the newly elected Trump administration really wants to ” drain the swamp” then prosecuting these slimy,horse killing bastards should be on the agenda.
By the way I’m a republican,an ER doctor,a responsible horse owner,an oilman,and I put my money where my mouth is.I spend many thousands of dollars of my own money rescuing horses from slaughter and shipping them to good homes.So no I’m not a “tree hugger” I’m one of the vast majority of Americans who value horses as a national treasure far beyond there mere utility.The betrayal of our staunchest and most beloved animal ally for the petty financial interests of a few small minded men is a victory for darkness and philistinism over chivalry and enlightenment.
We horse lovers will never forget the “1800”