Commerce: Third Time's A Charm?
An Obama administration official confirmed for CongressDaily Monday that the president's likely third pick for Commerce secretary is former Washington Gov. Gary Locke. The Democrat was the nation's first Chinese-American governor when he served two terms from 1997 to 2005. Since leaving office, he has worked for Davis Wright Tremaine in Seattle on issues involving China, human rights and intellectual property rights. He was an IP crusader on the domestic front as well. Under Locke's leadership, Washington became the fourth state in 2000 to issue an executive order requiring state agencies and recipients of state funds to acquire and use legally licensed software. Obama's second choice for the job, Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., backed out a week after he was named citing "irresolvable conflicts" with the president's policies. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a Democrat, was his first choice but he withdrew in January amid allegations of wrongdoing in the awarding of contracts in his state. Also on the tech front, Locke was named to the board of Key Technology in May 2008. The Walla Walla, Wash.-based company designs and manufactures automation systems for the food processing and industrial markets.
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