Who Will Succeed Gary Locke as Commerce Secretary?

Mar 9, 2011
Patrick Munn

Official Portrait of United States Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke - United States Department of Commerce

Gary Locke is expected to be named as President Obama's nominee for Ambassador to China. Who are the front-runners to replace him as Secretary of Commerce?

Both the AP and CNN have reported that ‘sources close to the administration’ have confirmed the President Barack Obama will nominate current United States Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke for the position of United States Ambassador to the People's Republic of China, succeeding current Ambassador John Huntsman. It is important to note that the Department of Commerce is currently without a Deputy Secretary, indicating that the administration may need to confirm a nominee before Secretary Locke takes up his new position as Ambassador to China.

Locke was nominated for the position of US Secretary of Commerce after then-Governor of New Mexico Bill Richardson withdrew his nomination, citing the grand jury investigation into claimed ‘pay to play’ dealings in his home state. Locke will appear before the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee for hearings before his nomination is voted on by the full senate. Assuming that Locke is confirmed as ambassador, who is on Obama’s shortlist to replace Locke as the next US Secretary of Commerce? Given the recent political re-alignment, the administration may try to get a current or former CEO into the role, failing that a number of politicians may be considered for the position.

Possible Candidates:

Ron Kirk (United States Trade Representative) – Ron Kirk is considered the frontrunner for the position of United States Secretary of Commerce, succeeding Gary Locke. Kirk is a former Mayor of Dallas, and was in late 2008 strongly considered to be Obama’s choice for Secretary of Transportation. Kirk was known to have been lobbying for Commerce when the job went to Locke in early 2009. Ron Kirk has been serving as US Trade Representative since March of 2009 and has been instrumental in convincing South Korea in adopting the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, Kirk has also been a key negotiator for trade agreements with the People Republic of China.

Jeffrey Immelt (CEO, General Electric) – Jeffrey Immelt is the current Chairman and CEO of General Electric. Immelt is on very good terms with the administration; in February of 2009 he was named as part of the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board. Then in January of 2011 he was named as chairman of the Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. Immelt is one of only a handful of CEOs who may be willing to jump from the private sector to the Department of Commerce.

Rebecca Blank (Acting Deputy Secretary of Commerce) – Rebecca M. Blank has been serving as Acting Deputy Secretary of Commerce since November 18th 2010, succeeding Dennis Hightower who resigned to return to the private sector. Before taking on the position of acting Deputy Secretary, Blank had been serving Secretary Locke as Under Secretary for Economic Affairs. If Rebecca Blank is not selected for the top job, it is widely believed that she will be nominated for the position of Deputy United States Secretary of Commerce.

Jacob Lew (Director, Office of Management and Budget) – Jacob Lew is serving as the Director of OMB and is currently engaged with difficult negotiations with the Republican-controlled House of Representatives regarding the budget for the federal government (FY 2011) in the hopes of avoiding a government shutdown. Prior to his service as OMB director, Lew was serving in the State Department under Hillary Clinton as a Deputy Secretary of State. Prior to this Lew had served in the administration of Bill Clinton in a variety of positions before ultimately ending up in the post of Director of OMB from 1998 – 2001.

Dennis Hightower – Dennis Hightower served as the Deputy United States Secretary of Commerce under Secretary Locke and President Obama until late 2010. Hightower resigned to return to the private sector and has since been appointed to the board of Accenture, a post he had held prior to his job in the Department of Commerce. Despite his stated desire to remain in the private sector he may be convinced to return to the department for the top job.

Bill Richardson – Bill Richardson is the former Governor of New Mexico (having left office in January of 2011), and served as UN Ambassador and Secretary of Energy during the administration of Bill Clinton. Richardson was Obama’s first choice to serve as Secretary of Commerce, however he withdrew his nomination in January of 2009 citing the on going grand-jury investigations into supposed pay-to-play dealing in New Mexico while Richardson was serving as Governor. The Investigation into Richardson was dropped in August of 2009.

Norman Minetta – Norman Minetta is largely known as George W Bush’s Secretary of Transportation from 2001 – 2005. He is arguably famous for uttering the words “Screw pilot discretion, get those [EXPLETIVE] planes down” to the FAA deputy administrator on September 11th, 2001. However, Minetta is a registered Democrat and had served as Secretary of Commerce in the final eight months of Bill Clinton's second term as President. There are some concerns that he is too closely linked to the policies of the Bush administration to be an effective nominee.

Obama’s new Secretary of Commerce will have a difficult task in front of him. With such a massive deficit and a steady rate of unemployment, whoever is heading the commerce department will have the unenviable task of instilling confidence in business to help stimulate the economy and create jobs.