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Loading ...GOP threatens Obama AG pick; Pressure mounts for gay Commerce Sec.
01.08.2009 2:55pm EST
(Washington) As one LGBT political group presses for the appointment of a gay man to replace Commerce Secretary-nominee Bill Richardson, another is coming to the defense of Attorney General-nominee Eric Holder Jr.
Holder goes before the Senate Judiciary Committee Jan. 15. For conservative Republicans, he is the liberal face of nominees to come as Obama remakes the federal judiciary, and possibly the Supreme Court.Republicans also want to show they still have some clout in the Senate – enough votes to stop a nomination with a filibuster.
Holder is expected to eventually win the AG job, but not without a fight.
The Human Rights Campaign and other human and civil rights groups have begun a campaign to ensure Holder gets through the nomination process. HRC President Joe Solmonese joined leaders from the NAACP, the National Council of La Raza, and the National Women’s Law Center on Capitol Hill to show their support for Holder.
Holder has a strong LGBT rights record.
After graduating from Columbia Law School, Holder joined the Department of Justice’s Attorney General’s Honors Program.
In 1988, he was nominated for and confirmed as Associate Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. In 1993, President Clinton nominated Holder for United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, and he was confirmed later that year.
In this role, he worked vigorously to reduce crime and increase neighborhood safety. Notably, he emphasized hate crimes enforcement to ensure that bias-motivated crimes would receive adequate resources, attention, and punishment. Hate crimes continued to be a priority for Holder after his 1997 appointment by President Clinton to Deputy Attorney General.
In a 1999 appearance before the House Judiciary Committee, Holder called for LGBT inclusion in federal hate crime law, noting that currently the law “provides no coverage whatsoever for violent hate crimes committed because of bias based on the victim’s sexual orientation, gender or disability, and these crimes pose a serious problem for our nation.”
The Matthew Shepard Hate Crime Act was named for the 21-year-old college student who was murdered in an anti-gay hate crime in Wyoming in October 1998. It would add sexual orientation to the list of categories covered under federal hate crime law.
The bill will be reintroduced in the next session of Congress and President-elect Obama has said that if it passes, he will sign it.
Meanwhile, a grassroots movement has begun to have Fred P. Hochberg nominated to be the next Secretary of Commerce. The openly gay Hochberg is dean of the New School for Management in New York.
The Obama transition team is scrambling to find a replacement for Bill Richardson who withdrew his name from the nomination.
“Hochberg is the most qualified candidate for the job,” the Boston-based Equal Rep said in a statement. Equal Rep works to get LGBT candidates placed in office.
From 1998 through 2000, Hochberg served as deputy, then acting administrator, of the Small Business Administration, an agency elevated to cabinet rank by President Bill Clinton, with more than 4,000 employees and 100 offices across the country.
At the SBA, he directed the delivery of a comprehensive set of financial and business development programs for entrepreneurs, with particular outreach to women and minorities. He also served on President Clinton’s Management Council.
From 1994 to 1998, Hochberg worked as founder and president of Heyday Company, a private investment firm managing real estate, stock market investments, and venture capital projects. Prior to that, he was president and chief operating officer of the Lillian Vernon Corporation, where he led the transformation of a small family mail order company into a publicly traded direct marketing corporation, one of the great success stories of American entrepreneurship.
“It was devastating to learn that gay Americans wouldn’t have a seat at the table within Barack Obama’s Cabinet administration. They are the only minority group to have never been appointed in the history of the United States.” said Paul Sousa, Equal Rep founder. “Hochberg is supremely qualified and this opening is the perfect opportunity for our President-elect to show gay Americans they have not been forgotten and he is truly committed to equal representation.”
Latino groups want the Obama transition team to pick another Hispanic to replace Richardson – who had been the new administration’s most prominent Latino official.Women’s groups have said they want another female in the Cabinet.
While — from what I have read — it seems Holder would make an excellent cabinet member, I cannot dismiss the closing paragraph of the article.
“Latino groups want the Obama transition team to pick another Hispanic to replace Richardson… Women’s groups have said they want another female in the Cabinet.”
Each group certainly has a right and a need to be represented in the cabinet as well. I wonder if we should not content ourselves that the Obama team is making a good-faith effort to field a diverse group of people and support the choices and not focus so closely on ‘who gets a bigger piece of pie?’ Let’s not start a war between minority-groups; we’re in this together.
I intended to add: As long as he (or anyone else) is not disqualified BECAUSE of his/her support for our community.
Okay, let’s look for the latina lesbian who has strong commerce credentials.
Why are these gay rights groups so adamant over a cabinet pick. This is a distraction for them and us. Work for gay marriage. This is your job. Not telling someone who to hire so that someone gets a job. Can most of us remember who is replacing? Can you remember not being allowed to marry? Nuff said
Window dressing.
I could care less if a gay or lesbian person serves in the Cabinet. My concerns are the issues on the ground effecting gay and lesbian Americans every day, not if some sell out gets a position in Obama’s Cabinet.
We need to be focusing on marriage equality, eliminating DOMA, passing a comprehensive ENDA/SONDA, ending the ban on gays in the military, dealing with issues effecting gay youth(ie bullying and hate crimes) and issues of gay aging.
The Gay and Lesbian Lobby is among the largest if not the largest lobby in Washington. Yet what the h*ll do we get for this?!?!?!?!?!!!!!!!!! Where is the meaningful legislation? The Gay orgs are jammed packed with career politicians and gradualists who seek to keep our community dependent on them. I say we need to abandon pricey gay orgs(NGLTF, HRC, Stonewall Dems, etc) and work for our rights on a grassroots level. We get far more done, when we’re not being held hostage to gay “leaders” like Ethridge, HRC and Stonewall Democrats.
We have been given absolutely no signal that Obama has any concern about moving forward on any issue of concern to GLBT people or any real representation in his administration.