UPDATE: Accolades incoming:
He has always led with integrity, and I have great confidence in his ability to represent the United States.
We, in Colorado, are proud of him and grateful for his service once again.
— Michael Bennet (@SenatorBennet) June 15, 2021
—–
Just in from the Denver Post’s Justin Wingerter, though it’s been a prevalent rumor for some weeks now:
President Joe Biden has nominated Ken Salazar, a former U.S. senator from Colorado, to serve as the next ambassador to Mexico.
Salazar, 66, is the former secretary of the interior under President Barack Obama and had served as a Democrat in the U.S. Senate for four years before that. He is currently an attorney at WilmerHale and founder of the firm’s Denver office.
Salazar’s nomination will now go to the U.S. Senate, which must confirm him before he can take over the U.S. embassy in Mexico City.
Former Interior Secretary and U.S. Senator Ken Salazar’s expected nomination to serve as ambassador to Mexico was originally reported by Axios back in April, and we’ve been waiting since then to see it made official. Far from a patronage appointment, serving as ambassador to Mexico is one of America’s most challenging diplomatic posts, and we expect Salazar, a leading elder statesman to a whole generation of Colorado Democrats, will be very busy once confirmed.
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Great pick.
Since Ken Salazar descends from the land grant Spaniards of the San Luis Valley, does going to Mexico City count as a reconquista for our team?
I'm just thinking like a right winger.
Congrats Ken!
Don't even joke you'll set one of them off
Solid ambassadorial picks, and in a sharp departure from 200 years of history, *none* of them are political donors.
You smoked him right out of his hole, bullshit!
👇👇👇👇👇👇
I wonder how much Salazar paid for this plum corruption post? They don't come free….
How much did Betsey DeVos pay for her plum corruption post in the former guy's administration? Since she was appointed to a post she was woefully unqualified for, but had a lot of money.
Not nearly as much as trump's dimwits did, buttercup
When you clock off from your cushy, union-protected job read through this. Have you already forgotten about Louis DeJoy? Gordon Sondland? Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross who made Donnie Fatso rich while bankrupting the Atlantic City Casino investors?
Speaking of appointments, we all know you’re quite familiar with that process. Did it wreck your family budget?
Thank *od the grownups are in charge again.
When his fuhrer lost and had to leave after his failed Putsch? I guess when a spouse loses a job because of that, "Noodle dick", as V so affectionately called him, is not busy counting his money.
you should know, noodle dick. Your wife has had several patronage positions. Ken, in contrast, has real ability. I've known him for forty years
Ken Salazar has “evolved” on climate change. As a Senator, and later as Interior Secretary, he defended the interests of oil companies, opening up Arctic and the Gulf to offshore drilling. Salazar was an early denier of climate change, or at least voted against having Federal projects consider climate change impacts in the design stage.
He also has made a name for himself advocating for conservation of land and water, and has an 81% lifetime score from the League of Conservation Voters.
We need progress on climate change deals with Mexico. The maquiladoras on the border spew toxic pollution into the rivers and exploit the poor and vulnerable….but generate huge profits for foreign investors, including from the US. Trump’s border wall, now thankfully halted, threatened wildlife corridors and habitat. Will Salazar try to reverse this and protect these areas?
Who will Ken Salazar be advocating for, as ambassador?
Maquiladoras provide desperately needed jobs and hope to the formerly poor and vulnerable. I guess you'd rather see them starve.
Because, being poor Mexicans, they don’t really want, need, or deserve the same clean, air, and water that those corporations are obligated to maintain in their home countries??? . . .
. . . eat
shittoxic waste or starve? That’s the choice you’re OK with giving??? White man’s gabacho “hope,” I guess. FFS!“¡Hola, amigos! We’re from America, you know, um El Norte?, and we’re here to
fuck you— ¿cómo se dice? — um, ‘help’!?” . . .The Mexican government could certainly get tough on the American operators of the maquiladoras and enact and enforce stricter environmental regulations. Kind of like the same way they cracked down and got tough on wanton violence, drug dealing, beheadings and such.
Are American companies exploiting this situation ? – yes
Is Mexico not doing shit about it ? – yes
And my aim is not to pick on Mexico. See: American 1% tax policy. Same thing.
Maquiladoras pay about 100-200 pesos a day (USD equivalent 5-10$). Hardly a living wage, even in Mexico. . Also, since the bulk of their employees are young rural women, many of these unfortunately don’t survive in brutal, misogynistic Ciudad Juarez.
All of this contributes to migration to the US, where US minimum wage looks a lot better in comparison ( but cost of living is much higher).
Enough with the facts- now for my best V imitation, in which I will pretend to know your inmost thoughts and motivations:
You obviously don’t care about the struggles of people on the border, and would rather they spend their lives in wage slavery or are cut down by the cartelistas. Your union background has not given you any empathy for the most exploited workers, who depress US wages even while they help corporations rack up profits.
Your ideology, as usual, trumps your logic. You want Mexicans to starve rather than have jobs that pay less than Americans get. Because that is their alternative.
Because, otherwise, someone might make a profit! The horror, the horror!
Bless your little heart.
There was no shortage of similar criticisms of Biden’s legislative history going into the general election; he has largely proven his pundits wrong. Vilsack was the subject of many of the same criticisms. I’ve enjoyed my tenure with Ken throughout his political career: he was an ardent champion of renewable energy and he was responsible for getting biochar into the 2007 Farm Bill. We’re just now seeing the fruits of his labors in those regards. As we all grow old, accumulate grandchildren, lose loved ones, and, for some, have the great blessing of being placed in a position of public trust and influence, agendas evolve.
He’s a good man and well-suited for this historic opportunity to build bridges and opportunity.
Biden is building a formidable team to tackle the challenges that face us.
Speaking of…
Vilsack tore into the Stephen Miller-directed group yesterday on their lawsuit challenging black farmers payments:
Vilsack blasts farmers suing over minority debt relief
Fair point about Vilsack and Biden being similarly criticized, but coming through on progressive policies.
I hope you’re right about Ken Salazar. There are so many humanitarian and environmental issues that are part of the “border crisis”, for which a US ambassador could have at least some influence. It would be great to see him tackle US / Mexico corporate corruption the same way he broke up the cocaine-and-kickbacks culture at the Minerals Management Agency.
Yes, I get that an ambassador doesn’t have the same powers as an Interior Secretary; yet I remain skeptical that Salazar will use his voice on behalf of the most vulnerable people on the border, as opposed to those who profit from their exploitation.
And I think progressives should watch and keep the spotlight on those human and environmental issues.
Time will tell.