President-elect Barack Obama has topped previous administrations with the number of Hispanic officials named, according to White House chief of staff-designate Rahm Emanuel, as reported in Politico. “[W]e have more Hispanics in senior positions in this White House than under either President Bush or President Clinton,” he said.
Besides the better-known Cabinet appointments of the past, Emanuel based much of what he meant on Latino Assistants and Deputy Assistants to the President at any one time.
Otherwise, it looked like slow-motion to high expectations until Dec. 17 when U.S. Senator Ken Salazar (D-Colo.) was nominated as Secretary of the Interior. Salazar has been a leader on Capitol Hill on renewable energy, health care, farming and rural community issues. 
Ken Salazar If confirmed, he will head a department with more than 70,000 employees and an annual budget exceeding $10 billion that manages and conserves most federallyowned land and administers programs related to indigenous populations. He has served in the Senate since 2005.
On Dec. 15, Obama named Nancy Sutley, of Argentine descent, as his choice to head the White House Council on Environmental Quality. (See Political Poop. page 2.)
As yet, no announcement has been forthcoming about the Secretary of Agriculture Cabinet post. U.S. Rep. John Salazar (DColo.), Ken’s brother, with strong backing by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, had been reported in contention. However, one Salazar in the Cabinet may be enough forthis administration. by the El Reportero’s news.
After being appointed to the powerful House Appropriations Committee, John Salazar virtually removed himself from contention.On Dec. 11, the Associated Press reported him saying he never asked to become agriculture secretary in the fi rst place and was happy joining the Appropriations Committee.
The name of Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.) has been bandied as likely to become U.S. Trade Representative.Reps. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio and Kendrick Meek of Florida and Rep. Hilda Solís of California indicated interest in replacing him as the fifth-ranking member in House leadership. But on Dec.16 Becerra bowed out of Trade Rep contention, deciding to stay on the House leadership ladder and on the important Ways and Means Committee, saying he was eager to get to work “in the People’s House just down the street from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. The clock is ticking. I’m ready to go!”
That kind of enthusiasm is welcomed among the Democrats, but it can also cause, shall we say, issues,as happened last week when Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrión Jr., 47, a Democrat of Puerto Rican descent, was being mentioned as a possible nominee for Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
Rumors intensifi ed after Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa declared himself out of the running for any administration position. He said he wanted to continue at the helm in his West Coast city instead.
A funny thing happened on the way to Carrión’s “nomination.” On Dec. 5,he told some Yale students that U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton , now Secretary of State-designate, had called to congratulate him on his selection for a Cabinet post.
The remark came dur ing a question-andanswer period following Carrión’s lecture on Latino-Jewish relations, an event sponsored by Yale Hillel and La Casa Cultural. Intended to be “off the record,” it was reported in The Yale Daily News and attested to by ten students. Evidently, he thought the anecdote would not go beyond the room.
Carrión has been rumored in line for one of several positions, most recently the newly created Offi ce of Urban Policy.
A similar goof concerning Philadelphia lawyer Nelson Díaz, who is/was a HUD “mentionable.”
He told the Philadelphia Inquirer that he had received a call from “the transition team” about a job. The Washington Post
reported Díaz as saying, “If it’s high enough, I might be interested in looking at it.”
So far, there have been no formal statements or announcements by the transition team yet about Carrión or Díaz. However, on Dec.13 President-elect Barack Obama nominated NewYork City’s housing commissioner Shaun Donovan to lead HUD. Hispanic Link
