I demand more Italian/Scottish-American representation!

Whatever happened to appointing someone on their merit rather than their race or gender? Please.

Latinos push Obama on vacant post

By Guillermo X. Garcia

After the withdrawal of Bill Richardson's name as an Obama administration Cabinet nominee, Hispanic leaders say they expect the president-elect to name another Latino to head the Commerce Department.

An Obama transition team source said a veteran California congressman, Xavier Becerra, has emerged as the leading congressional candidate to replace Richardson, the Hispanic governor of New Mexico, as President-elect Barack Obama's choice for a job that will include overseeing the 2010 U.S. Census.

“Even though he turned down the trade representative slot, Becerra is not only Hispanic, but he has the skill, talent and experience to do the Commerce job,” said the source, who was not authorized to speak for the president-elect.

“Xavier's name has gone to the top of the list of potential replacements in part because he is a member of the House leadership, he is well liked, he has very good credentials, and, of course, he was an early Obama backer,” the source said.

Becerra, a member of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee and the House Committee of the Budget, turned down Obama's offer to be U.S. Trade Representative because he did not want to give up his House seniority.

But several sources, including two who know him, say Becerra might be tempted to leave Congress, where he has been for 16 years, for the Commerce slot.

Richardson, who has also held a variety of high-profile posts including Energy Secretary and U.N. ambassador in the Clinton Administration, became an early Obama supporter after his own bid for the Democratic presidential nomination fizzled.

After Richardson removed himself from consideration Sunday, Hispanic interest groups around the country began pushing to have the position go to another Hispanic.

San Antonio Congressman Charlie Gonzalez said the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, which is meeting in Washington this week, “will be coalescing with other groups on a specific person to recommend” as Richardson's replacement. He declined to name any candidate.

He said Hispanic groups would strongly push to have a qualified Hispanic named as Richardson's replacement because of the need to have minorities, especially Hispanics, properly accounted for in the Census.

The Census Bureau, which conducts a national count once every 10 years, is part of the Department of Commerce. Many federal entitlement program allocations to the states are based on Census data.

While Gonzalez said he could not release the name, the Obama insider who is familiar with the situation, said the person under consideration is Becerra, 50, an eight-term congressman from Los Angeles.

The Obama official said Becerra's name “has risen to the top of the list” of potential Hispanics to replace Richardson, who removed himself because of a pending criminal investigation in his home state.

“I am crushed that Richardson is out,” said Linda Chavez Thompson of San Antonio, a member of the Democratic National Committee.

“I can't think of a single high-profile Latino at the level of Bill Richardson. He would have been ideally situated to positively impact the everyday life of Latinos, especially during these economic times we are living through,” Chavez, who until her retirement last year was the third-highest-ranking officer in the national AFL-CIO labor organization.

“We are going from three Latinos to two on the Obama Cabinet,” said Juan Sepulveda, a San Antonioan who served as the Obama campaign's Texas coordinator. “While we still have Sen. (Ken) Salazar and Rep. (Hilda) Solis at Interior and Labor, respectively, Richardson would have been the highest-ranking Hispanic in the cabinet.”

It would have been the first time that three Hispanics would serve as Cabinet secretaries at the same time, he said.

Three Latinos — current Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez and former Housing and Urban Development head Mel Martinez — served in the Cabinet of President George W. Bush, though not at the same time.

Three Latinos also served in Clinton's Cabinet, but not at once: former San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros as HUD secretary, Richardson as Energy secretary and former Denver mayor Federico Peña, a Laredo native, served as head of the Transportation and Energy departments.