By Jonathan Allen and Karoun Demirjian CQ Staff
Published: 12-19-08
California Rep. Hilda L. Solis is President-elect Barack Obama ’s pick to become secretary of Labor a senior Democrat confirmed Thursday.
A formal announcement is expected Friday along with the selections of Illinois Rep. Ray LaHood as Transportation Secretary and former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk as Trade Representative.
The 51-year-old Solis a leader in the environmental justice movement is the daughter of immigrants from Mexico and Nicaragua who became naturalized American citizens.
She is the first Latina chosen for Obama’s Cabinet and the third Hispanic person joining New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson in the Commerce Department and Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar at Interior.
The selection of Solis for the Labor Department was a surprise on Capitol Hill where she serves on the House Energy and Commerce Committee as well as the House Natural Resources panel. But she has nearly unblemished ratings from the AFL-CIO and is a frequent recipient of donations from organized labor groups.
Labor union officials applauded her record on issues such as raising the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 per hour.
“We’re thrilled at the prospect of having Rep. Hilda Solis as our nation’s next Labor secretary” said John Sweeney president of AFL-CIO. “We’re confident that she will return to the Labor Department one of its core missions — to defend workers’ basic rights in our nation’s workplaces.”
Her father who worked at a battery recycling plant organized fellow immigrants to win better health care benefits.
“When union workers earn higher wages to support their families that income helps to strengthen their community. It helps to provide a vibrant economy. It helps to send their children like me a daughter of immigrants and a union household to college and to eventually run for office. This is the American Dream” Solis wrote on her Huffingtonpost.com blog in March in support of “card check” legislation that would ease union organizing rules.
“Hilda is an outstanding public servant who is committed to protecting the rights of workers and I know she will work hard to not only secure but and enhance their benefits” said fellow California Rep. Loretta Sanchez . “I look forward to working with Hilda in her new capacity and commend President-elect Obama on his wise choice.”
Her selection may also calm some distress among liberals who have expressed displeasure at Obama’s more centrist Cabinet appointments. Solis is among the most liberal members of the House earning perfect ratings from Americans for Democratic Action.
But with the business community Solis is a near-unknown.
“We hope to work together with whoever’s over there” said Randy Johnson vice president at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce adding that he had expected the Obama transition team to pick a someone with a more high-profile record on labor issues or an academic.
He expects Solis to push the department to adopt a liberal stance on labor issues. “California employment laws are widely recognized as the most liberal and burdensome in the country” Johnson said. “Given that background someone coming out of the California legislature is a matter of concern.”
Like the president-elect Solis has demonstrated a willingness to rattle the status quo.
She first won her seat in 2000 after knocking off then-Rep. Matthew Martinez in a primary. Previously she served in the California House from 1992 to 1994 and in the state Senate from 1994 until her election to Congress.
In the 2000 House race she captured 62 percent of the vote against the incumbent who held more centrist views on gun rights and abortion rights before cruising to an easy general election victory in the overwhelmingly Democratic district which covers parts of East Los Angeles and the San Gabriel Valley.
It is majority-Hispanic and heavily Democratic backing Obama over John McCain by 68 percent to 30 percent in the presidential election last month.
So Solis’ successor who would be chosen in a special election early next year almost certainly will be a Democrat.
Like most of the Latinas in Congress Solis sided with incoming secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Democratic presidential primary. But she quickly switched gears when the primary was over and became an ardent advocate for Obama.
In Congress Solis has long been close to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi a fellow California Democrat.
She was preparing a run for the vice chairmanship of the Democratic Caucus after Obama offered the post of U.S. Trade Representative to Rep. Xavier Becerra the current occupant of that job.
But Becerra declined the offer leaving no leadership vacancy for Solis and rival candidates to pursue.
Solis previously worked in the Carter administration’s White House Office of Hispanic Affairs and briefly in the civil rights division of President Reagan’s Office of Management and Budget.
In 2000 she became the first female recipient of a “Profile in Courage” award from the John F. Kennedy Library for her work in enacting environmental protections for minorities as a member of the California Senate.
Greg Giroux contributed to this story.
