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December 12, 2008 08:07 PM UTC

Salazar All But Backs Out of Running for Ag. Post

  • 15 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

Sorry Josh Penry, et al. From The Pueblo Chieftain:

Whenever reporters wanted to talk this week to Colorado Rep. John Salazar about his potential nomination to head the Agriculture Department, the San Luis Valley potato farmer remained behind closed doors.

Salazar, 55, ended all the suspense Thursday by announcing he’d gotten the job he’d really been chasing for six months – an open seat on the powerful House Appropriations Committee, which oversees the federal budget, making the actual dollar decisions for every government agency.

“This is a great win for Colorado and for the 3rd Congressional District,” the two-term Democrat told reporters in a conference call Thursday morning. “I look forward to serving in this capacity for many years to come.”

Salazar, who was just elected to a third term on Nov. 4, had Democrats and Republicans across the state preparing to jump into a special election to replace him, should Obama pick Salazar to head USDA. Pueblo County District Attorney Bill Thiebaut and state Sen. Abel Tapia, D-Pueblo, both raised their hands last week when asked who would be considering a run to replace Salazar in the 3rd District. Republican possibilities included state Rep. Scott Tipton, from Cortez, who ran against Salazar in 2006, as well as state Sen. Josh Penry, from Grand Junction. Penry was a staffer for former Rep. Scott McInnis, R-Colo., who held the 3rd District seat for 12 years before Salazar took office. But serving on Obama’s Cabinet was not what Salazar had been working toward, he told reporters.

“I’ve been working to land this seat (on appropriations) for six months and 22 other members were trying for it as well,” Salazar said, celebrating his new committee assignment, which was made by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday night.

Salazar said it was “an honor” to have been considered by the Obama team as a possible choice to head USDA, but that he had not sought the Cabinet appointment. Of course, few lawmakers are willing to say they would refuse a request from the president to serve a new administration.

“If President-elect Obama asked me to serve, I would have to seriously consider it, but this committee assignment would make it very difficult to leave the House,” Salazar told reporters, making it clear which he preferred.

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15 thoughts on “Salazar All But Backs Out of Running for Ag. Post”

  1. I have never seen him named nationally and did he really want the position in the 1st place? being named to the Earmarks … I mean Appropriation Committee will bring in the campaign donation too … not that he needs them.

    You are right too bad for Penry … and Buescher, Tapia, Teibeau (sp?), MacFayden (sp?), Pace, etc…

    1. As a matter of fact, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus sent a letter to Obama recommending him and Salazar admits to initial conversations with Obama’s transition team regarding the post.

      So yea, I think he was on the short list, Libertad.

          1. this from wiki says the Times is not Soros tool.


            The Ochs-Sulzberger family, one of the United States’ great newspaper dynasties, has owned the Times since 1896.[3] After the publisher went public in the 1960s, the family continued to exert control through its ownership of the vast majority of Class B voting shares. Class A shareholders cannot vote on many important matters relating to the company, while Class B shareholders can vote on all matters. Dual-class structures caught on in the mid-20th century as families such as the Grahams of the Washington Post Company sought to gain access to public capital without losing control. Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal, had a similar structure and was controlled by the Bancroft family; the company was later bought by the News Corporation in 2007.[23]

            Major Class A shareholders, as of December 31, 2006, included the Sulzberger family (19%), T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. (14.99%), Private Capital Management Inc. (9.34%), MFS Investment Management (8.28%) and Morgan Stanley Investment Management Inc. (7.15%). The Ochs-Sulzberger family trust controls roughly 88 percent of the company’s class B shares. Any alteration to the dual-class structure must be ratified by six of eight directors who sit on the board of the Ochs-Sulzberger family trust. The Trust board members are Daniel H. Cohen, James M. Cohen, Lynn G. Dolnick, Susan W. Dryfoos, Michael Golden, Eric M. A. Lax, Arthur O. Sulzberger, Jr. and Cathy J. Sulzberger.[24]

            So far the company’s dual-class ownership structure has deterred outside investors from pushing for change in Ochs-Sulzberger control. But in 2008 two hedge funds, Harbinger Capital and Firebrand Partners, bought 19% of The Times.[25] On September 10, 2008, it was reported that Mexican Carlos Slim, one of the world’s wealthiest men, had acquired a 6.4 percent stake for $120 million. These moves are seen as putting increasing pressure on the company, whose advertising and circulation have faltered recently. The downturn in print advertising sales has recently spread to the internet, and some observers speculate that the recent acquisitions of Times Company stock might put increasing pressure on the family to sell, or take the company private to escape Wall Street’s unwanted attention.[25] The newspaper is currently over one billion dollars in debt.[26]

      1. Your cleaver quip about “sorry, Penry et. al” is pretty offensive.  Point to one incident that penry suggested that he was remotely interested in running for the 3rd.  Shouldn’t the thread have started off: “Sorry, Bernie” or “Sorry, Thiebaut.”  SOmething like that?  Those are the opportunistic clowns that began writing Salazar’s obituary before the funeral.  I’m amazed Bernie hasn’t announced for Governor of Illinois yet.  

          1. I know you never base your “news” on fact but how can you dispute that the only people that expressed interest in the seat were Salazar’s fellow democrats!?  The real news is what did Johnny Potatoseed do to screw up his inevitable appointment?  My guess would be that Rahmbo interviewed him and realized that an illiterate potato farmer from the valley has no place in the cabinet of the messiah.  Don’t you think?

            3. you’re both ignorant and insulting. And since you’re apparently illiterate about how Washington works, let me educate you a little.

              Colorado-wise, having someone on the Appropriations Committee is huge. Appropriations holds the purse strings and is in charge of producing all the annual federal funding bills. There are usually 12 separate Appropriations bills, but they can get rolled into combined bills if the process backs up.  That’s called an ‘omnibus’, MesaJerk.

              So if Obama gets an economic stimulus plan through Congress, chunks of it are going to have to be funded by the Appropriations Committee – which could be crucial to projects and jobs in Colorado.

              Ag Secretary would put Salazar in charge of just one sector of the Colorado economy.  Appropriations puts all of them in play.

              And that is critical for Democrats as we go into the 2010 midterms.

              Now go and do some homework before you post again.

      2. and that we have them to thank for this stellar House Appropriations Committee assignment for a Colorado Dem as an alternative valuable plum that also preserves a Dem congressional seat.

        It could be that this was what Salazar wanted all along and the need to give him something really good was created by the success of Hispanic Dems ( maybe including little brother) in getting him on the short list.  

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