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Gary Plastic Surgery - Gary breast augmentation - Gary, Indiana (IN) lwgatz.com | Gary Cosmetic Dentists - Gary Cosmetic Dentistry - Gary Cosmetic Dentist merrillvillecosmeticdenti... |
For other persons named Gary Locke, see Gary Locke (disambiguation).
Gary Faye Locke (born January 21, 1950) is an American politician. He is the current United States Secretary of Commerce and was the 21st Governor of Washington, serving from 1997 to 2005. Locke was the first, and remains the only, Chinese American to serve as governor of a state in United States history.[2]
[edit] Family and educationLocke was born on January 21, 1950 in Seattle, Washington. A third-generation American with paternal ancestry from Taishan, Guangdong in China, Locke is the second of five children of James, a native of the United States, and Julie Locke from Hong Kong, which at that time was a dependent territory of the United Kingdom. His parents gave him the Chinese name of 駱家輝 (pronounced Lok Gaa-Fai in Cantonese). He did not learn to speak English until he was five years old.[3] He graduated with honors from Seattle’s Franklin High School in 1968. Locke achieved Eagle Scout and received the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award from the Boy Scouts of America.[3][4] Through a combination of part-time jobs, financial aid and scholarships, Locke attended Yale University, earning a bachelor’s degree in political science in 1972.[5] He then earned a law degree from the Boston University School of Law in 1975. On October 15, 1994, Locke married Mona Lee, a former television reporter for the NBC affiliate KING 5 television in Seattle. Her father was from Shanghai, China and her mother from Hubei, China. The Lockes have three children: Emily Nicole, born in March 1997, Dylan James, born in March 1999 and Madeline Lee, born in November 2004.[6] [edit] Career In 1982, Locke's South Seattle district elected him to the Washington House of Representatives, where he served as chairman of the Appropriations Committee. Eleven years later, in 1993, Locke made history by becoming the first Chinese American to be elected King County's County Executive, defeating incumbent Tim Hill. In 1996, he won the primary and general elections for governor, becoming the first Chinese American state governor in United States history. His political committee was fined $2,500 by regulators in 1997 after admitting to state campaign finance law violations during his successful 1996 campaign.[7] Locke easily won re-election in the 2000 governor's race. Democrats criticized Locke for embracing the Republican Party's no-new-taxes approach to dealing with Washington's budget woes during and after the 2001 economic turmoil. Among his spending-reduction proposals were laying off thousands of state employees; reducing health coverage; freezing most state employees' pay; and cutting funding for nursing homes and programs for the developmentally disabled. In his final budget, Locke suspended two voter-passed, pro-school initiatives while cutting state education funding. That same state budget, though, had record-high allocations for construction projects. Supported by the state's political left, former Washington Supreme Court Justice Phil Talmadge announced his plans to challenge Locke in the 2004 Democratic primary. Talmadge ended his campaign early for health reasons. On the national stage, Democrats saw Gary Locke as a rising star and a possible vice-presidential pick. He was chosen to give his party's response to George W. Bush's 2003 State of the Union address.[8] In 1997, Gov. Locke was a guest at that year's State of the Union.[9] [edit] Leaving officeIn a surprise move, Locke announced in July 2003 that he would not seek a third term,[10] saying, "Despite my deep love of our state, I want to devote more time to my family."[10] Susan Paynter, a columnist at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, suggested that slurs, insults, and threats that Locke and his family received, especially the large number which came after his rebuttal to George W. Bush's 2003 State of the Union address, played a role in Locke's decision to leave office after two terms.[11] The governor's office received hundreds of threatening letters and e-mails; others threatened to kill his children.[11] Locke left office on January 12, 2005. If the disputed 2004 election between Christine Gregoire and Dino Rossi had not been resolved by then, Locke would, under Washington's constitution, have remained in office until a successor qualified.[12] After leaving office, Locke joined the Seattle office of international law firm Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, in their China and governmental-relations practice groups. During the leadup to the 2008 Democratic presidential primary, Governor Locke signed on as Washington co-chairman of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton's bid for president.[13] [edit] United States Secretary of Commerce nominationSee also: Confirmations of Barack Obama's Cabinet  On December 4, 2008, the Associated Press reported that Locke was a potential candidate for Secretary of the Interior in then-President-elect Barack Obama's cabinet. Eventually, then-Colorado Senator, Ken Salazar, was nominated for that position instead. On February 25, 2009, Locke was announced as President Barack Obama's choice for Secretary of Commerce.[7] His nomination was confirmed by the United States Senate by unanimous consent on March 24, 2009.[14] Locke was sworn in March 26, 2009, by District judge Richard A. Jones.[1] He was sworn in by President Obama on May 1, 2009. He is the first Chinese American Secretary of Commerce, and the third Asian American in Obama's cabinet, joining Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Veteran Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki, the most of any administration. [edit] References
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Categories: 1950 births | Living people | Baptists from the United States | Boston University School of Law alumni | Chinese American politicians | Distinguished Eagle Scouts | Governors of Washington (U.S. state) | United States Secretaries of Commerce | Obama Administration cabinet members | Members of Committee of 100 | People from Seattle, Washington | Taishanese people | Washington (U.S. state) Democrats | Yale University alumni | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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