Kenneth Lee "Ken" Salazar (born March 2, 1955) is an American politician and rancher from Colorado, currently serving as United States Secretary of the Interior in the Obama administration. Salazar, a Democrat, served as Attorney General of Colorado before winning a U.S. Senate seat in the 2004 election. He became the junior Senator from Colorado in January 2005 and became the senior Senator following Wayne Allard's retirement in January 2009. He...
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Kenneth Lee "Ken" Salazar (born March 2, 1955) is an American politician and rancher from Colorado, currently serving as United States Secretary of the Interior in the Obama administration. Salazar, a Democrat, served as Attorney General of Colorado before winning a U.S. Senate seat in the 2004 election. He became the junior Senator from Colorado in January 2005 and became the senior Senator following Wayne Allard's retirement in January 2009. He and Mel Martinez (R-Florida) were the first Hispanic U.S. Senators since 1977. They were joined by Bob Menendez (D-New Jersey) in January 2006.
On December 17, 2008, President-elect Barack Obama announced he would nominate Salazar as Secretary of the Interior. The environmentalist movement's reaction to this nomination was mixed. Previously, Salazar supported the nomination of Gale Norton to Secretary of the Interior, President George W. Bush's controversial first appointee who preceded Salazar as Attorney General of Colorado. On January 20,...
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