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New Hampshire Sen. Gregg Nominated for Commerce Secretary
The United States Senate may be known as the most exclusive club in the world, but the public advisory board of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics is fast becoming exclusive itself.
Announced in June, 2008, the board then had one sitting senator, Judd Gregg, R-N.H. In the November elections, former New Hampshire Gov. Jeanne Shaheen was elected to the Senate. Ms. Shaheen's husband, Bill, is an accomplished lawyer, state presidential campaign chair, and member of the advisory board.
On February 3, President Barack Obama announced -- confirming widespread speculation -- Sen. Gregg as his pick for secretary of commerce.
"This is a time to govern, and govern well, and therefore when the President asked me to join his administration and participate in trying to address the issues of this time, I believed it was my obligation to say yes," Gregg said at the White House announcement.
Gregg, who has served in the Senate since 1993 and is a former executive councilor, governor and congressman -- the only person in state history to hold all four positions -- is the ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee.
"He has seen from all angles what makes our economy work for communities businesses and families and what keeps it from working better," Obama said of Gregg.
The politics of resigning were particularly loaded. Gregg was the sole Republican in the New Hampshire delegation to Washington, and had Gov. John Lynch named a Democrat to fill the vacancy, Senate Democrats would have numbered 60 votes -- the so-called "magic number" necessary to overcome a filibuster and invoke cloture, which places a time limit on consideration of business.
"I have made it clear to the Senate leadership on both sides of the aisle and to the governor that I would not leave the Senate if I felt my departure would cause a change in the makeup of the Senate," Gregg said on February 2.
The balance did not shift, as Gov. Lynch named Jane E. "Bonnie" Newman to fill the seat. Ms. Newman is also a member of the NHIOP board. She has years of experience in business, government, and education; in addition to serving as chief of staff for Gregg in his House of Representatives days, Ms. Newman was interim president of the University of New Hampshire and was dean of Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. She also worked within the White House under the administration of both Presidents Reagan and Bush.
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