Solis at Labor- A Symbol of Labor's Power
Obama's nomination of Hilda Solis to be Labor Secretary was designed to please pro-labor supporters given her strong pro-labor record. Whether Obama meant her nomination to deliver a message, she is a special symbol of the power labor has been willing to exercise within the Democratic Party to hold candidates accountable. As Harold Meyerson recounts in the LA Times:
And in 2000, she did something else that career politicians just don't do: She challenged an entrenched incumbent from her own party for his congressional seat. Marty Martinez, a nine-term incumbent who thought he was cruising to his 10th, was much more conservative than his constituents. He had voted for NAFTA, backed the extension of the 710 Freeway through South Pasadena and opposed abortion rights.Her election put all Democrats on notice that labor would not give incumbents a pass if they voted against labor. Some would argue that labor hasn't supported enough Solis-style challengers, but there is little question that putting her at the Labor Department will help reinforce the message that labor will hold Representatives and Senators accountable for their votes.Against the wishes of the party's national legislative leaders, who never like to see their members challenged, Solis ran against Martinez and, with the assistance of the L.A. labor movement, defeated him by a stunning 69% to 31%.
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I posted this above, but it bears repeating.
Recommendations for Secretary Solis on taking office:
1) Get rid of the CFBCI. They aren't doing anything and its a waste of money.
2) Please, please, PLEASE, appoint a pro-labor professional to head up the OLMS. Stop the abuse going on there and turn that office's mission around 180 degrees.
3) Transfer the moles in MSHA, OSHA,, and ESA to positions where they can't work any mischief.
4) We beg you on bended knees to shake up ECAB and SOL and OIG!!! PLEASE.
5. New broom sweeps clean. You need to really rescue this outfit.
December 19, 2008 1:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks very much, Nathan, for sharing your thoughts on this.
As an aside, Matthew Martinez and my then-boss each chaired a subcommittee of a Congressional committee. I can't help but think that Martinez' constituents were far better served by Solis--and that they're going to have a hard time finding someone as good to replace her. To challenge and then kick the butt of a sitting member of Congress from one's own party takes some stuff. She'll need all that, and more, to be a successful Labor secretary. But it sounds as though she's relishing the challenge.
The single most important thing any Cabinet Secretary can do to improve their chances of success just might be to find themselves a really capable, strong Chief of Staff.
So if you and Jo-Ann and Bonior and others can put your heads together and find her one you'd be doing not only her but all the working people in our country who really need a strong and effective Labor Secretary a great service. :
December 19, 2008 1:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
And I had so much hope.
Geithner, Emanuel, and others had seemed like such smart choices. Solis is pretty 1972. But hey, I suppose you throw the dog a bone so it will go play by itself, not when you want to play with it.
December 19, 2008 1:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
El Presidente: And for Labor Secretary you would have preferred...? Just curious.
December 19, 2008 1:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hmmm...
Robert Reich did a good job under Clinton. I guess my real point was that I would vastly prefer an economist to an activist.
The Short List:
Reich
Daniel Aaronson, Economist at FRB Chicago.
Peter A. Diamond (Economist, was on the Social Security Advisory Council in the 80's-90's)
Janet Yellen, President of the FRB San Francisco
December 19, 2008 2:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
I like Reich as a person, but he was kind of ineffectual as labor secretary. He lost most internal fights for labor priorities in the Clinton administration and even on the pro-labor priorities that Clinton supported, like the anti-striker bill, he didn't play a very dynamic role in working to get it passed.
A Solis who knows Congress is far more likely to be able to push Obama's labor priorities into law.
December 19, 2008 4:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's likely that Solis is to Obama what Reich was to Clinton, a sop to the rest of us while the big boys at Treasury make the decisions.
December 20, 2008 3:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
No question there is a worry to that, but labor, particularly unions like SEIU, had a more critical role in both the primaries and the general than for Clinton-- and Clinton actually never talked much at all about supporting the right to organize, while Obama has.
And Reich was an academic not a real political player like Solis, who will have a lot more tools for fighting it out inside the Obama administration. If Obama himself is actively going to betray the labor movement, then that won't matter, but if it's a question of internal turf fights among internal centers of power, Solis is one that has a chance to hold her own.
December 20, 2008 5:49 PM | Reply | Permalink