Ken Salazar



Kenneth Lee Salazar, a Democrat, represented Colorado in the United States Senate from 2004-2009. Salazar currently serves as Secretary of the Interior for the Obama administration.

Iraq War
On June 5, 2007, Sen. Salazar introduced the Iraq Study Group Recommendation Implementation Act of 2007, intended to makes the Iraq Study Group's 79 recommendations the policy of the United States, and ask the Bush administration, working with military and diplomatic leaders, to implement those recommendations. The bill is also intended to create conditions that could allow for a drawdown of American combat forces in Iraq by March 2008.

Environmental record
For more information on environmental legislation, see the Energy and Environment Policy Portal

Controversy
Soon after arriving in the Senate Salazar generated controversy within his party by introducing Attorney General nominee Alberto R. Gonzales and sitting by his side during Gonzales' confirmation hearings.

On May 23, 2005, Salazar was one of fourteen moderate senators to forge a compromise on the Democrats' use of the judicial filibuster, thus blocking the Republican leadership's attempt to implement the so-called "nuclear option". Under the agreement, the Democrats would retain the power to filibuster a Bush judicial nominee only in an "extraordinary circumstance", and the three most conservative Bush appellate court nominees (Janice Rogers Brown, Priscilla Owen and William H. Pryor, Jr.) would receive a vote by the full Senate.

Bio
Salazar was born March 2, 1955 in the town of Alamosa, Colorado in the San Luis Valley area of south-central Colorado to Spanish-American parents. Senator Salazar can trace his ancestory all the way back to 12th Century Spain. Five generations of Salazar's family had farmed and ranched in San Luis Valley, since before Colorado was a state; before that, Salazar's ancestors had farmed and ranched in neighboring New Mexico.

Salazar attended St. Francis Seminary and Centauri High School in Conejos County, graduating in 1973. He later attended Colorado College, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science in 1977, and received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Michigan's law school in 1981. Later Salazar was awarded honorary degrees (Doctor of Laws) from Colorado College (1993) and the University of Denver (1999).

Salazar had a private law practice until in 1986, he became chief legal counsel to then Governor Roy Romer; in 1990 Romer appointed him to his cabinet as Director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources.

In 1994 Salazar returned to private practice. In 1998 he was elected state attorney general; he was reelected to this position in 2002.

In 2004, Salazar declared his candidacy the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by retiring Republican Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell. After easily defeating Mike Miles in the Democratic primary, Salazar narrowly defeated beer executive Peter Coors of the Coors Brewing Company to win. His elder brother John Salazar also had an electoral victory in 2004, winning a race for the U.S. House of Representatives from Colorado's third congressional district.

He and Mel Martinez are the first Hispanic Senators since 1977. They were joined by Bob Menendez in January, 2006.

Salazar considers himself a moderate and has at times taken positions which are in disagreement with the base of his party -- for a number of years he opposed gay adoption.

Salazar has been feuding with Focus on the Family, a Colorado-based conservative religious group of national stature, over his stance on judicial nominees.

In January 2009, Salazar was confirmed as Secretary of the Interior for the Obama administration.

Secretary of the Interior
Ken Salazar currently serves as Secretary of the Interior for the Obama administration. On January 3, 2009, Colorado Governor Bill Ritter appointed Michael Bennet, a Democrat and former superintendent of Denver schools, to fill Salazar's vacant Senate seat. Bennet was confirmed by the Senate and took office on January 22, 2009.

Money in politics
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Committees

 * Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
 * Subcommittee on Energy, Science and Technology
 * Subcommittee on Domestic & Foreign Marketing, Inspection, & Plant & Animal Health
 * Subcommittee on Rural Revitalization, Conservation, Forestry and Credit
 * Senate Committee on Finance
 * Senate Special Committee on Aging
 * Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
 * Subcommittee on Water and Power
 * Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests
 * Subcommittee on National Parks

Committee assignments in the 109th Congress (2005-2006)

 * Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
 * Subcommittee on Forestry Conservation and Rural Revitalization
 * Subcommittee on Marketing Inspection and Production Promotion
 * Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
 * Subcommittee on Energy
 * Subcommittee on National Parks
 * Subcommittee on Water and Power
 * Senate Select Committee on Ethics
 * Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs

Coalitions and Caucuses

 * Colorado Water Conservation Board
 * Chair, Conference of Western Attorneys General
 * Chair, Great Outdoors Colorado Board
 * National Association of Attorneys General
 * Chair, Peace Officers Standards and Training Board
 * Chair, Rio Grande Compact Commission

Boards and other Affiliations

 * President's Council, American Farmland Trust
 * Board of Trustees, Colorado College

More Background Data

 * See how you compare to Ken Salazar

Contact
DC Office: 702 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510-0606 DC Phone: 202-224-5852 DC Fax: 202-228-5036 Web Email Website

District Office- Colorado Springs: 3 South Tejon, Suite 300B Colorado Springs, CO 80903 Phone: 719-328-1100 Fax: 719-328-1129

District Office- Denver: 2300 15th Street, Suite 450 Denver, CO 80202 Phone: 303-455-7600 Fax: 303-455-8851

District Address - Durango:''' 835 East 2nd Avenue, Suite 203 Durango, CO 81301 Phone: 970-259-1710 Fax: 970-259-9789

District Office- Fort Collins: 11 Old Town Square, Suite 260 Fort Collins, CO 80524 Phone: 970-224-2200 Fax: 970-224-2205

District Office- Grand Junction: 400 Rood Avenue, Suite 213 Grand Junction, CO 81501 Phone: 970-241-6631 Fax: 970-241-8313

District Office- Pueblo: 129 West B Street Pueblo, CO 81003 Phone: 719-542-7550 Fax: 719-542-7555

Resources

 * Official website
 * Campaign website
 * Technorati Search: Ken Salazar
 * Google News Search: Ken Salazar
 * Yahoo! News Search: Ken Salazar
 * GovTrack Statistics: Ken Salazar

Local blogs and discussion sites

 * Colorado Pols: Politics, News, and Inside Information
 * They Get Letters
 * NewWest.net -- A Refreshing, new kind of journalism.

External articles

 * Valerie Richardson, "Polarized Senate a test for Salazar," Washington Times, January 3, 2005.
 * Jon Sarche and Colleen Slevin, "Salazar Backs Off 'Antichrist' Comment," San Francisco Chronicle, April 27, 2005.
 * Fernando Quintero, "Study dissects Salazars' winning ways," Rocky Mountain News, May 29, 2005.
 * Faith Bremner, "Lawmakers list townhouse, farm, Dairy Queen as assets," The Coloradoan, June 16, 2005.
 * "Salazar Wants To Tax Porn Sites, Add More Restrictions," The Denver Channel, July 27, 2005.
 * Tom Ross, "Salazar praises energy bill," The Steamboat Pilot, August 16, 2005.
 * Bill Theobald, "Salazar turns heads quickly," The Coloradoan, August 21, 2005.
 * Anne C. Mulkern, "Salazar: Dismiss FEMA director," Denver Post, Septmeber 7, 2005.
 * Jesse Harlan Alderman, "Sen. Salazar is not sold on Miers," Durango Herald, October 12, 2005.
 * Kim Spencer, "Salazar: Sad day for our government," Greeley Tribune, October 29, 2005.
 * James Rowley, "Senator Salazar Expresses `Grave Concern' About Alito," Bloomberg, November 17, 2005.
 * M.E. Sprengelmeyer, "Salazar opposes Alito," Rocky Mountain News, January 20, 2006.
 * Ann Imse, "Salazar: Thomas an 'abomination'," Rocky Mountain News, January 26, 2006.
 * Anne C. Mulkern, "Salazar seeks special prosecutor in corruption probe," Washington and the West (Blog for the Denver Post's Washington Bureau), January 27, 2006.
 * M.E. Sprengelmeyer, "Salazar worries about 'crazies'," Rocky Mountain News, March 2, 2006.
 * Dick Foster, "Salazar has message for Iraq," Rocky Mountain News, March 22, 2006.
 * "Salazar Not Happy With New Judicial Nominees," Associated Press, May 3, 2006.
 * Editorial, "Salazar lauds Qwest's refusal to help NSA," Denver Business Journal, May 11, 2006.
 * "Salazar’s English-language measure passes," Washington and the West (Blog for the Denver Post's Washington Bureau), May 19, 2006.
 * John C. Ensslin And M.E. Sprengelmeyer, "Salazar misses big vote," Rocky Mountain News, May 26, 2006.
 * Jim Kirksey, "Salazar votes for family time," Denver Post, May 26, 2006.
 * Phoenix Woman, "The Rubber-Stampers’ Latest Contortion," Firedoglake Blog, July 30, 2007.

Articles by Salazar

 * Ken Salazar, "We can do better for producers than CAFTA," Greeley Tribune, July 12, 2005.
 * Ken Salazar and Sam Brownback, "Energy choices for rural areas," Sacramento Bee, May 24, 2006.