NOTE: The Update at the end of this blog posted on 2-3-09 adds even MORE to this:
Administration Officials: Gregg Is Leading Candidate for Commerce Secretary
Republican Sen. Judd Gregg is the leading contender for Commerce Secretary, an Obama administration official said Saturday.
Two White House officials said Saturday that Republican Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire is the leading candidate to become commerce secretary.
The officials — speaking on condition of anonymity — told FOX News that an announcement of Gregg’s nomination could come as soon as Monday.
Gregg’s appointment to the post could give Obama and his Democratic Party another seat in the Senate, clearing the way for them to pass legislation without fear of a Republican filibuster. It takes 60 votes to end a filibuster, a legislative tactic used to block measures from coming to a vote.
The choice also would provide the administration a strong ambassador to the business community in Gregg, who devised the $700 billion banking bailout package last year. [Stacking the deck to try to force the stimulus package]
The officials also said there was no word on who New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch, a Democrat, would appoint to replace Gregg.
Lynch, a political moderate, could easily appoint a Republican, senior Democrats have told supporters in private conversation. They fret that the independent-minded Lynch is likely to appoint a “placeholder” senator who would not permanently seek the office in 2010.
Gregg faces a tough re-election in 2010. His state has shifted toward Democrats in recent years and his role in the banking rescue plan would complicate a re-election bid in a state that proudly rebukes government spending and has no state income taxes.
New Hampshire Democrats have taken two House seats, a Senate seat and control of the state’s Executive Council, House and Senate since 2004. Democrats slightly outnumber Republicans on voter rolls, but the vaunted independent voters — or “undeclared,” as they are known in the Granite State — lead both. Lynch won re-election last year with 70 percent of the vote.
Democrats already have eyed Gregg’s seat as vulnerable for the right candidate.
His appointment to the Cabinet could make it more difficult for the Republicans to defend.
Democrats hold a 56-41 majority in the 100-member Senate, and two independents caucus with them. The Senate seat from Minnesota remains undecided, with Sen. Norm Coleman and challenger Al Franken in a close, court-based contest.
Gregg on Friday confirmed he was under consideration as Republicans urged him to think carefully about what it would mean to the Republican Party. Gregg’s spokeswoman did not have immediate comment on Saturday.
A member of a New Hampshire political family, Gregg rose through the Senate ranks to serve as chairman of the powerful Budget Committee and the Appropriations subcommittee that funds homeland security.
Now in the minority, he is the ranking Republican member on the Budget Committee but still has large sway in the Republicans’ response to Obama’s legislative agenda.
He would be Obama’s second choice to run the Commerce Department. His first pick, New Mexico’s Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson, dropped out of consideration amid a grand jury investigation over how state contracts were issued to political donors.
Obama has spoken with his party’s leadership on Capitol Hill about the move, which aides say could be a lost opportunity if the administration allows a Republican replacement to be named.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/01/31/administration-official-judd-leading-candidate-commerce-secretary/
Lost opportunity? The Governor of New Hampshire is DEMOCRAT, therefore his SENATE replacement would be Democrat. This give the SENATE a fillibuster proof Powerful Bloc: In other words whatever Obama wants…..
Contact your Republican Congressional members and convince Gregg it WOULD NOT BE A SMART MOVE FOR THEIR PARTY!
STRATEGIC MANIPULATION AT ITS BEST!
UPDATE: February 3, 2009
Politico’s Ben Smith noted on Saturday:
“The White House, I’m told, is still trying to get a guarantee from Governor Lynch that he’ll replace Senator Gregg with a Democrat.”
Smith’s statement was a single sentence and no other implications have been drawn from it. But a report in The Wall Street Journal’s Political Diary today seems to confirm this claim.
Obama is misappropriating a government position, putting someone into his cabinet who he doesn’t believe is the best person for the job.
The Politico information indicates that Obama clearly does not view Senator Gregg as the best person to head the Commerce Department.
Rather, it makes explicit that Obama was offering the Commerce job solely to buy a Senate seat for the Democrats.
Senator Gregg, though, resisted any deal that gave Democrats an immediate filibuster proof majority. As Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell noted yesterday on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Senator Gregg promised that he would only leave the Senate if another Republican replaced him.
So what was Obama to do? He apparently compromised for the next best option. John Fund at The Wall Street Journal reports on the new deal: Gregg will be replaced by a caretaker Republican who won’t run for reelection — giving the Democrats in an “increasingly” Democratic state “a good shot at picking up the seat” in the next election.
By removing Gregg — a popular Republican incumbent who can remain in the Senate as long as he wanted — Obama is willing to buy his Senate seat for a delayed chance to create a filibuster proof Senate.
Arguably, buying this Senate seat might be even worse than doing so with a promise to help to raise campaign donations.
Obama is misappropriating a government position, putting someone into his cabinet who he doesn’t believe is the best person for the job.
With the nation in a recession, the Commerce Department position is even more important than usual.
For Obama to use it to buy a Senate seat seems particularly troubling and cynical. — A Senate seat that won’t even be relevant for the legislation that, in Obama’s view, could help with the recession.
Senator Gregg’s motivations are obviously quite different from Obama’s — after all, heading up the Commerce Department is a powerful position and he might really believe that he is a better person for the job than whomever else Obama would appoint.
But the White House’s statement, as related by Politico, raises serious questions about whether Obama is really different from other Chicago politicians.
Ironically, not only was Blagojevich just removed from office for trying to sell a Senate seat, but the Commerce position is only open because Governor Bill Richardson was forced to withdraw his name over investigations into bribery.
John R. Lott is the author of Freedomnomics and a senior research scientist at the University of Maryland.
http://foxforum.blogs.foxnews.com/2009/02/02/lott_gregg_obama/
