Salazar, K

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</div><div><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body css-listicle-body-2659336651"><div class="body-description">The highly controversial and highly unpopular <a href="https://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/?s=U.S.+Supreme+Court" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked">U.S. Supreme Court</a> isn’t just facing <a href="https://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/2022/12/gee-i-wonder-why-top-political-science-professor-mocks-supreme-court-as-approval-rating-drops-to-lowest-on-record/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked">a historic loss of confidence</a>,

it’s now facing yet another ethics scandal that is likely to lower even

further public opinion of the far-right institution that in under two

decades has <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/4732/supreme-court.aspx" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="rm-stats-tracked">seen its approval rating slashed</a>.Although

it will not hear arguments, the issue before the Supreme Court and the

American people’s view of it, is, should a justice’s spouse – in this

case the spouse of Chief Justice John Roberts – be able to make millions

of dollars recruiting attorneys who are placed into top law firms that

argue cases before it?That’s the latest allegation, and already a spokesperson for the Court has issued a statement denying any ethical violations.<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/31/us/john-roberts-jane-sullivan-roberts.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="rm-stats-tracked">The New York Times</a>

reports that “a former colleague of Mrs. Roberts has raised concerns

that her recruiting work poses potential ethics issues for the chief

justice. Seeking an inquiry, the ex-colleague has provided records to

the Justice Department and Congress indicating Mrs. Roberts has been

paid millions of dollars in commissions for placing lawyers at firms —

some of which have business before the Supreme Court, according to a

letter obtained by The New York Times.”Jane Sullivan Roberts left a law firm where she was a partner after her spouse was confirmed as Chief Justice.READ MORE: <a href="https://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/2023/01/failed-leak-probe-will-add-to-public-distrust-and-accelerate-partisan-rancor-surrounding-supreme-court-analyst/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="rm-stats-tracked">Failed Leak Probe Will ‘Add to Public Distrust’ and ‘Accelerate Partisan Rancor’ Surrounding Supreme Court: Analyst</a>“Mrs.

Roberts, according to a 2015 deposition,” The Times reports, “said that

a significant portion of her practice was devoted to helping senior

government lawyers land jobs at law firms and that the candidates’ names

were almost never disclosed.”Documents in that case “list

six-figure fees credited to Mrs. Roberts for placing partners at law

firms — including $690,000 in 2012 for one such match. The documents do

not name clients, but Mr. Price recalled her recruitment of one

prominent candidate, Ken Salazar, then interior secretary under

President Barack Obama, to WilmerHale, a global firm that boasts of

arguing more than 125 times before the Supreme Court.”That case

involves “a former colleague of Mrs. Roberts,” Kendal Price, a

66-year-old Boston lawyer, who “has raised concerns that her recruiting

work poses potential ethics issues for the chief justice.”“According

to the letter,” sent by Price to DOJ and Congress, which the Times

reports it obtained, “Mr. Price was fired in 2013 and sued the firm, as

well as Mrs. Roberts and another executive, over his dismissal.”Doug Lindner, Advocacy Director for Judiciary & Democracy for the League of Conservation Voters <a href="https://twitter.com/DougLindner/status/1620507678530486272" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="rm-stats-tracked">remarked</a>:

“Another day, another ethics concern about another life-tenured

conservative justice on the most powerful court in the world, which has

no binding ethics rules.”READ MORE: <a href="https://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/2023/01/marshal-spoke-with-supreme-court-justices-excluded-them-from-signing-sworn-affidavits-in-leak-probe/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="rm-stats-tracked">Marshal ‘Spoke With’ Supreme Court Justices, Excluded Them From Signing Sworn Affidavits in Leak Probe</a>Indeed,

the lack of a Supreme Court code of ethics has been repeatedly

condemned for years, including by some of the nation’s top critics.On Sept. 1, 2022, The Washington Post’s Jennifer Rubin <a href="https://twitter.com/JRubinBlogger/status/1565366132256686081" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked">tweeted out</a> her opinion piece: “Ginni Thomas pressed Wisconsin lawmakers to overturn Biden’s 2020 victory .. just another insurrectionist.”Norman Ornstein, an emeritus scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and a contributing editor for the Atlantic, <a href="https://twitter.com/NormOrnstein/status/1565369335971020801" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked">responded</a>:“Another

reminder of how unethical is Justice Clarence Thomas, while Chief

Justice Roberts turns a blind eye and continues to resist a code of

ethics for a Supreme Court now distrusted by a majority of Americans.

This defines the Roberts Court.”The following month Ornstein slammed the Roberts Court once again.“It

is a stain on the Supreme Court that Chief Justice Roberts refuses to

support a Judicial Code of Ethics, and stands by silently while Clarence

Thomas flouts ethical standards over and over and over,” Ornstein <a href="https://twitter.com/NormOrnstein/status/1584658140099846144" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked">charged</a>.Less than one month later he again <a href="https://twitter.com/NormOrnstein/status/1594024345638092800" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked">unleashed on Roberts</a>.“Roberts

is culpable,” he tweeted. “He has resisted over and over applying the

Judicial Code of Ethics to the Supreme Court. This is Alito’s court, and

it is partisan and corrupt.”Ornstein is far from the Court’s only critic.“If

Chief Justice Roberts really wanted to address Supreme Court ethics, he

would have immediately worked to implement a Code of Conduct after

Clarence Thomas failed to recuse from cases involving January 6th

despite having a clear conflict of interest,” the government watchdog

group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington <a href="https://twitter.com/CREWcrew/status/1522169246041710592" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked">tweeted</a> a year ago in May. The following month CREW published <a href="https://www.citizensforethics.org/news/analysis/justice-roberts-gets-it-wrong-federal-judges-conflicts-of-interest-threaten-the-entire-judiciary/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked">an analysis</a> titled: “Chief Justice John Roberts is wrong: the American judicial system is facing a major ethics crisis.”Meanwhile, in late November <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/11/20/supreme-court-roberts-whitehouse-johnson-00069673" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="rm-stats-tracked">Politico</a> reported that Democrats in Congress were outraged at the Roberts Court.“Two

senior Democrats in Congress are demanding that Chief Justice John

Roberts detail what, if anything, the Supreme Court has done to respond

to recent allegations of a leak of the outcome of a major case the high

court considered several years ago,” PoliticoJosh Bernstein reported,

referring to the leak of the Dobbs decision that overturned the Roe v. Wade decision – itself a massive ethics crisis for the Court.READ MORE: <a href="https://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/2022/11/revealed-four-supreme-court-justices-attended-right-wing-gala-further-endangering-scotus-credibility/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="rm-stats-tracked">Revealed: Four Supreme Court Justices Attended Right-Wing Gala — Further Endangering SCOTUS Credibility</a>“Sen.

Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) are also

interested in examining claims about a concerted effort by religious

conservatives to woo the justices through meals and social engagements.

They wrote to Roberts on Sunday, making clear that if the court won’t

investigate the alleged ethical breaches, lawmakers are likely to launch

their own probe.”Whitehouse and Johnson “also criticized the high court’s response to <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/11/20/justice-alito-birth-control-leak-allegations-2014-supreme-court-00069603" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked">a letter they sent Roberts</a> in September, seeking information about the court’s reaction to reports in <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/07/08/religious-right-supreme-court-00044739" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked">POLITICO</a> and <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/roe-supreme-court-justices-1378046/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="rm-stats-tracked">Rolling Stone</a> about a yearslong campaign to encourage favorable decisions from the justices by bolstering their religiosity.”Nothing has changed.When the Roberts Court earlier this month announced its lengthy investigation did not find the draft Dobbs

decision leaker but also did not include the Justices themselves,

Stokes Prof. of Law at NYU Law School Melissa Murray, an MSNBC host, <a href="https://twitter.com/ProfMMurray/status/1616295952373153792" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="rm-stats-tracked">tweeted</a>,

“This is a Roberts Court leitmotif–The Chief loves to handle

things–even big things–in-house. Ethics issues? No need to get involved,

Congress. We’ll sort it out ourselves. Leak needs investigating? No

need to call in an actual investigative body, the Marshal will handle

it.”Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times investigative reporter

Jodi Kantor, pointing to how the Justices were not thoroughly

investigated during the leak probe, in earlier this month said: “Last

week the court released statements that confirmed the gap between how

the justices and everyone else were treated.”“The whole situation

amplifies a major question about the court: are these nine people,

making decisions that affect all of us, accountable to anyone?”</div></div>=</div>=
http://www.ecowatch.com/hillary-clinton-ken-salazar-fracking-1975622123.html...Though not an official lobbyist, Salazar <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2013/06/ken-salazar-to-work-for-international-law-firm-in-denver-092364" target="blank" style="line-height: 1.4; text-decoration: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">took a job</a> as partner at WilmerHale after leaving the Department of the Interior in 2013, a law and lobbying firm working on energy and environmental issues amongst other things. Salazar's track record has illustrated time and time again that he is on the side of big industry, and not the people. <a href="http://www.ibtimes.com/political-capital/hillary-clinton-appoints-ken-salazar-lead-white-house-transition-2402567" target="blank" style="line-height: 1.4; text-decoration: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">He is pro</a>-Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), pro-fracking and pro-Keystone XL pipeline. If Clinton plans to effectively tackle <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" style="line-height: 1.4; text-decoration: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">climate change</a>, the last thing her team needs is a fossil fuel industry friend like Salazar.<div class="article-body selectionShareable" style="line-height: 1.44;"><div class="article-description">A <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/nasa-methane-hot-spot-1974927801.html" style="text-decoration: none;">NASA study</a> released this week identified fracking as responsible for a <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/methane-emissions-from-onshore-oil-and-gas-equivalent-to-14-coal-plant-1891179510.html" style="text-decoration: none;">methane</a> "hot spot" in the Four Corners region of Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah, the largest concentration of the potent greenhouse gas in the country. Methane, the primary component of natural gas, is 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide, yet Salazar has actually <a href="http://fuelfix.com/blog/2014/02/05/former-obama-official-fracking-has-never-been-an-environmental-problem/" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">made the statement</a> that "there's not a single case where hydraulic fracking has created an environmental problem for anyone." The truth is fracking is devastating his home state of Colorado, yet he has chosen to side with industry.Most recently, Salazar <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/greens-colorado-fracking-226975" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">came out in opposition</a> to <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/colorado-anti-fracking-initiatives-move-november-ballot-1965393677.html" style="text-decoration: none;">ballot initiatives</a> to restrict fracking in Colorado. Communities throughout the state <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/fracking-fight-continues-in-colorado-1924538438.html" style="text-decoration: none;">spent months</a> collecting signatures for the ballot measures that would establish setbacks for drilling operations from schools and hospitals and empower communities to vote on fracking. Organizers on the ground were fought tooth and nail by the industry, which spent more $75 million since 2014 on PR firms and front groups intent on defeating the ballot measures. Earlier this month, people power overcame its first major hurdle by gathering enough signatures to submit the ballot measures to the Colorado Secretary of State. The office is now officially counting the signatures for qualification for the ballot in November.A massive fight remains for Colorado activists in the months leading into November. As more oil and gas money flows into the state to mislead voters on the ballot initiatives, it is more important than ever for Secretary Clinton to pick the side of the people over the industry and its mouthpieces. Clinton has indicated support for local control over fracking, but picking an industry insider like Salazar who is fighting against the people's will sends the wrong message about which side she is truly on.If Secretary Clinton wants to be the environmental leader that she claims to be in campaign speeches, she has to put the people before industry insiders.Molly Dorozenski is the campaign director for Greenpeace Democracy.
</div></div><div class="around-the-web" style="margin-top: 28px; margin-bottom: 12px; line-height: 25.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="around-the-webheadline" style="font-weight: 700; text-transform: uppercase;">FROM AROUND THE WEB</div><ul class="around-the-weblist" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; list-style: none;"><li style="margin-top: 15px;"><a href="https://theintercept.com/2016/08/16/hillary-clinton-picks-tpp-and-fracking-advocate-to-set-up-her-white-house/" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Hillary Clinton Picks TPP and Fracking Advocate To Set Up Her ...</a></li><li style="margin-top: 15px;"><a href="http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/08/16/clinton-transition-team-headed-anti-climate-powerbroker" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Clinton Transition Team Headed by Anti-Climate 'Powerbroker ...</a></li><li style="margin-top: 15px;"><a href="http://www.coloradoindependent.com/160740/ken-salazar-hillary-clinton" class="around-the-web__link" target="_blank" style="text-decoration: none;">5 takeaways from Clinton's pick of Colorado's Ken Salazar to lead ...</a></li></ul></div>

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<a href="http://coloradoindependent.com/127051/as-salazar-heads-back-to-colorado-friends-and-foes-reflect-on-his-time-at-interior" target="_hplink" style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-decoration: underline; overflow: visible; outline: 0px; cursor: pointer; text-indent: 0px !important;">From The Colorado Independent's Scot Kersgaard.</a>

Like any good — or bad — Secretary of the Interior, Colorado’s Ken Salazar will leave Washington in a few weeks with a long list of both friends and enemies. Thing is though, they’re pretty much the same friends and enemies he had when he got there.

While liberals and environmentalists tend to view Salazar as a centrist, moderate and level-headed pragmatist, conservatives and people in the oil and gas business sometimes have viewed him as an obstacle to the American Way.

“Secretary Salazar assumed the job with an attitude that the oil and gas industry needed to be reined in, and we have certainly seen the results,” said Kathleen Sgamma, vice president for government and public affairs at the Denver-based <a href="http://westernenergyalliance.org/" target="_hplink" style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-decoration: underline; overflow: visible; outline: 0px; cursor: pointer; text-indent: 0px !important;">Western Energy Alliance</a>.

“Production of oil and gas on federal lands is down even as it is up dramatically on private lands,” Sgamma added. “He pursued a conservation-only agenda at a time of economic stagnation and low job growth, and that is not meant to be a complement,” Sgamma said.

Scandal

When Salazar stepped down from his U.S. Senate seat to accept President Obama’s appointment as Interior Secretary in early 2009, the agency was just emerging from a lurid sex, drugs and money scandal involving employees of the Lakewood-based Minerals Management Service, the Interior agency responsible for regulating oil and gas on public lands and waters. Given that the scandal involved not just government employees but also their friends and cohorts in the oil and gas business, Salazar started reining in.

“Any analysis of Salazar’s tenure needs to be prefaced by the fact the office was plagued by scandal when he got there, so keeping that in mind, he did a pretty incredible job and put through a really aggressive reform agenda with really tough enforcement measures,” said Rick Palacio, executive director of the Colorado Democratic Party.

Before Salazar took over, the top people at Interior were “super cozy with the oil and gas industries,” says Pete Maysmith, executive director of Conservation Colorado. “The Department was a mess when he came in. The oil and gas industry could get anything they wanted, so today when the industry screams about regulation, it rings hollow.”

“From my perspective, the <a href="http://www.eia.gov/analysis/requests/federallands/" target="_hplink" style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-decoration: underline; overflow: visible; outline: 0px; cursor: pointer; text-indent: 0px !important;">protests of the oil and gas industry</a> are unfounded. They aren’t using the leases they have, but they want more. They have nothing to gripe about,” Palacio said.

In the past, oil and gas companies could secure leases for exploration and development on public lands and hold the leases for as long as they wanted without actually using them. Salazar implemented a policy in which <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/11/washington/11royalty.html?pagewanted=all&r=1&" target="hplink" style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-decoration: underline; overflow: visible; outline: 0px; cursor: pointer; text-indent: 0px !important;">leases expire</a> if they aren’t used within set periods of time.

Salazar’s office did not respond to interview requests.

Family Ties

Political consultant Mike Stratton, a close friend of Salazar’s and the chair of his 2004 U.S. Senate campaign, said Salazar was asked to stay on at Interior but is leaving to take care of family business. Stratton said Salazar’s five-year-old autistic granddaughter has needs that he can best meet by moving back to Colorado. Salazar and his wife own a home in Denver.

“The President absolutely wanted him to stay, but Ken decided to take care of his family first,” Stratton said.

“Ken found the Secretary’s position to be a huge and humbling job. You can never get everything done that you would like to in a job like that even if you work countless hours, which he did. He would say that he worked very hard at a very big job and I think anyone can see that is true.”

Salazar’s brother John, who served three terms in the U.S. House from Colorado’s Third Congressional District, said Salazar is coming back to Colorado primarily to help care for his granddaughter. He said Salazar tried to move his family to D.C. when he became Secretary but found his granddaughter couldn’t get the therapy she needed in Washington, so the family came back to Denver.

“That therapy costs more than $100,000 a year,” John said. “That’s difficult on a public servant’s salary.” Salazar earns $180,000 a year at Interior. Even had Salazar stayed in the Senate, John Salazar figures his brother likely would have left. “I don’t know that being in the Senate would have made it any easier.”

In his first weeks in office, <a href="http://www.doi.gov/news/speeches/2009_01_22_speech.cfm" target="_hplink" style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-decoration: underline; overflow: visible; outline: 0px; cursor: pointer; text-indent: 0px !important;">Salazar gave two speeches</a> to employees — one in Washington and one in the Lakewood offices of

MMS – in which he referred to “criminal activity at the highest levels” in the Department and vowed change.

One of his first orders of business was laying out a set of ethical standards designed to make it clear that there was a new sheriff in town and that cozy relationships between regulators and the regulated would be a thing of the past. He then split the Minerals Management Service into three separate entities to reduce or eliminate the kinds of conflicts of interest that were exposed by the scandal.

Alternative Energy Takes Off

Though the Department was wracked by scandal, he quickly promised “a moonshot to energy independence” in the first speech he gave as Secretary. In that same speech, he reached back nearly 40 years to quote President Jimmy Carter calling on America to look at energy independence as “the moral equivalent of war.”

He said America had dropped the ball since then, and promised that under Obama’s watch curbing reliance on foreign fuel sources would become a priority not only for environmental reasons but also for reasons of national security. He said independence would require both continued development of oil, gas and coal as well as aggressive development of alternative energy — themes echoed by Obama in last week’s State of the Union speech.

Salazar’s legacy on development of traditional energy sources is open to debate, with some saying he was too restrictive and others arguing he was too permissive. Claims that he shut down development on public lands and waters, though, are simply wrong. The U.S. today gets more than half of its oil from domestic sources and oil imports are down about 10% since Obama took office in 2008.

On alternative energy, Salazar leaves a legacy of opening federal lands — and waters — to large-scale alternative energy development. The Department approved 34 utility-scale renewable energy installations on public lands, including solar, wind and geothermal facilities. When built out, these projects will be amongst the largest of their types in the world and could produce more than 10,000 megawatts of electricity — or enough power for about 3.4 million houses. The Department has also mapped out additional public lands — including some in Colorado — for future development of renewables. It says development of renewables has doubled in the U.S. since 2009. The Department has also proposed leases for the nation’s first offshore wind projects which, if developed, could power an additional 1.4 million homes.

“I think Ken joined Obama’s team hoping to do as much as he could to advance a clean energy agenda on public lands. There has always been a tie between public lands and energy but it is only under Ken’s leadership that we’ve seen public lands being used for clean energy on a large scale and that is because of Ken. He has a lot to be proud of,” said former Colorado Governor Bill Ritter, now director of the Center for the New Energy Economy at Colorado State University.

Ritter says there is no doubt that Salazar would like to have accomplished more in the realm of clean energy, but he says prior to Salazar there was no national clean energy agenda for America’s public lands and that Salazar took the first step toward giving clean energy producers the same access to public lands that has long been enjoyed by the oil, gas and coal industries.

“Time and energy are finite, but Ken is indefatigable. This is not a guy who tires. I don’t think it would have been humanly possible to do more than Ken did,” Ritter said.

“I think he has done a lot on renewables, but I don’t think he has gotten enough credit for it,” said Palacio, noting that Salazar helped the country take its first steps toward “energy self-sufficiency.”

Maysmith said that when it comes to renewable energy, Salazar was really starting from scratch. “The Department was at ground zero on renewables and has taken significant steps under Salazar. He has done the groundwork for the next generation of projects.”

Even environmentalists have their criticisms when it comes to renewable energy. Chief among those is that utility-size plants have footprints that mar the landscape.

Dave Nickum, executive director of Colorado Trout Unlimited, said Salazar has taken environmentalists’ concerns to heart when siting energy plants on public lands. “The Department did a great job on balancing the need for renewable energy with protecting habitats,” he said.

In a widely publicized move, <a href="http://coloradoindependent.com/104077/salazar-one-critical-step-closer-to-banning-new-uranium-mining-claims-near-grand-canyon" target="hplink" style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-decoration: underline; overflow: visible; outline: 0px; cursor: pointer; text-indent: 0px !important;">Salazar blocked new uranium development</a> on a million acres near the Grand Canyon. That decision was greeted by cheers from the environmental community but was panned by energy developers and is now <a href="http://coloradoindependent.com/115387/conservation-groups-tribe-defend-feds-in-grand-canyon-uranium-mining-lawsuit" target="hplink" style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-decoration: underline; overflow: visible; outline: 0px; cursor: pointer; text-indent: 0px !important;">the subject of litigation</a>.

The Loyal Opposition

Mountain States Legal Foundation, a conservative property rights oriented non-profit law firm, is one of the groups most unhappy with Salazar. Its website currently lists numerous cases against Salazar or Interior.

“We are in litigation challenging his million-acre lock-up of public lands,” said MSLF President William Perry Pendley. “There is simply no environmental basis for withdrawing that land from development.”

<a href="http://mountainstateslegal.org/legal_cases.cfm?legalcaseid=252" target="_hplink" style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-decoration: underline; overflow: visible; outline: 0px; cursor: pointer; text-indent: 0px !important;">Pendley said Salazar has overreached</a> with his wild lands proposals and with his oil and gas rules. “His regulations are killing hydraulic fracturing and will cost this country hundreds of millions of dollars for no reason, and will lead to lawsuits. He has abused his position.”

Sgamma agreed. “He has locked up plenty of land that is appropriate for development. It is the development of our resources that allowed the U.S. to build wealth and create jobs.”

She said Salazar has gone too far toward preservation at the expense of development. “I don’t believe Secretary Salazar has achieved that balance. I believe it is the oil and gas business that has actually achieved the appropriate balance.”

While environmentalist may not want to knock Salazar publicly, Stratton said he has critics on both sides of the energy debate. “He tried to take a balanced approach or an ‘all of the above’ approach to energy and he probably angered as many people on the left as on the right. Ultimately he may not have satisfied either side.”

<a href="http://wilderness.org/article/report-president-obama%E2%80%99s-record-public-lands-favors-drilling-above-conservation" target="_hplink" style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-decoration: underline; overflow: visible; outline: 0px; cursor: pointer; text-indent: 0px !important;">The Wilderness Society</a> is one of the groups that has publicly blasted the Obama administration for bending over backwards for the oil and gas industries while not working hard enough to preserve the environment. Among their criticisms are de-listing the gray wolf in some states and his decision to allow drilling in the Arctic.

“He worked with both the conservation people and the energy people. He allowed the industry to participate in discussions on rulemaking in order to create balance between energy development and conservation. We now have rules in place, thanks to Ken, that are environmentally sound but also allow the industry to move forward,” said Ritter.

John Salazar said his brother has always been good at consensus building. “When it comes to the work Interior does, especially on energy, everybody has a side, but Ken was able to bring both sides together. If there are people in oil and gas who are angry with Ken, I really don’t understand that. They’ve issued more permits than ever before. They’ve opened more public land for development than ever before, so I don’t know what people are angry about.”

Salazar, himself, has referred to complaints from industry and Beltway Republicans as being <a href="http://www.doi.gov/news/speeches/Salazar-Addresses-National-Press-Club-on-All-of-the-Above-Energy-Strategy.cfm" target="_hplink" style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-decoration: underline; overflow: visible; outline: 0px; cursor: pointer; text-indent: 0px !important;">“imaginary.”</a>

Deepwater Horizon

The Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010, which killed 11 people and spewed roughly five million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, was a defining moment for Salazar, distracting him from other priorities.

“There is no question that pulled him off-message for a period of time, and that is not a criticism,” Maysmith said. “That took 100% of his focus, but he moved quickly to establish an independent agency to prevent things like this from happening again.”

The Deepwater Horizon disaster was catastrophic and should have been prevented. It was preventable. To his credit, Ken used it as an opportunity to create more rigorous safety and permitting standards and people there thank him for that,” Palacio said.

Stratton agreed that the oil spill was all-consuming for Salazar over a period of months. “A lot of people asked if he was big enough to handle that and looked at it as something that would really test his mettle.”

In the aftermath of the spill, Salazar instituted new, more difficult permitting requirements for off-shore development, including the requirement that lessees prove in advance they are prepared to deal with worst case scenarios. Rules were also implemented that require permit holders to remove drilling platforms when no longer in use and permanently cap wells that are no longer in use. Salazar beefed up ranks of enforcement and compliance staff. He proposed the establishment of an <a href="http://energy.about.com/b/2010/11/06/ocean-energy-safety-institute-proposed.htm" target="_hplink" style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-decoration: underline; overflow: visible; outline: 0px; cursor: pointer; text-indent: 0px !important;">Ocean Energy Safety Institute</a>, which has yet to be created.

He also implemented an immediate moratorium on offshore drilling, which was in effect for about 18 months. Since the moratorium was lifted in late 2010, drilling has returned to pre-spill levels.

John Salazar noted that when the spill occurred, his brother vowed to make sure British Petroleum paid for all the costs of the clean-up, including reimbursing the federal government for anything spent.

“Not a single penny of tax money was spent on the clean-up,” he said.

In speaking to Congress shortly after the spill, Salazar acknowledged that reforms — especially holding industry accountable for environmental disasters — had not been popular.

“I came to the Department of the Interior to change the direction of the Department and to restore the confidence of the American people in the ability of their government to carry out the functions under my charge. That confidence had been seriously eroded by well-publicized examples of misconduct and ethical lapses. This kind of fundamental change does not come easily, and many of the changes we have made have raised the ire of industry. In the past 16 months our efforts at reform have been characterized as impediments and roadblocks to the development of our domestic oil and gas resources.

“But we have not, and we will not, back down on our reform agenda,” he told lawmakers.

He went on to say that the oil spill made his reforms all the more necessary.

“This tragedy and the massive spill for which BP and others are responsible have made the importance and urgency of this reform agenda ever more clear. With this in mind, I announced last week a set of reforms that will provide federal inspectors more tools, more resources, more independence, and greater authority to enforce laws and regulations that apply to oil and gas companies operating on the (Outer Continental Shelf).”

Respect for Science

When Salazar took office, one of his promises was to implement science-based, rather than politics-based decision making, and to take climate change into account when making policy.

Interior has collaborated with other federal agencies and universities to open a number of <a href="http://revampclimate.colostate.edu/consortium-leaders" target="_hplink" style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-decoration: underline; overflow: visible; outline: 0px; cursor: pointer; text-indent: 0px !important;">regional Climate Science Centers</a> around the country, including one in Ft. Collins.

“The Department today has a lot more respect globally and is seen as a place of bold leadership on climate and other issues,” said Maysmith. “Salazar has been a leader in that shift.”

Not every global issue grabs headlines like climate change. But Will Gartshore, senior program officer for U.S. government relations at the global World Wildlife Fund, said Salazar was instrumental in quieter issues such as cracking down on the trafficking of wildlife and parts poached from wildlife around the world. “He was consistently supportive of the need to stop rhino horns from entering the country.”

Gartshore said Salazar has also been instrumental in speeding up efforts to consider animals for endangered species inclusion and in taking climate change into account when looking at whether a species is endangered or not.

During Salazar’s tenure, Interior established seven new national parks and ten national wildlife refuges. As Stratton tells it, Salazar visited more National Parks than any Interior Secretary in history. “He understands the value of tourism.”

On water issues, Salazar juggled the interests of fish and wildlife, parks and tourism, Native American lands and people and facilities such as the Glen Canyon dam — and that’s just within the Department of Interior. Then there are the interests of cities, agriculture and various other non-federal players that were brought to the table.

<a href="http://www.denverwater.org/AboutUs/BoardAndOrganization/Manager/JimLochhead/" target="_hplink" style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-decoration: underline; overflow: visible; outline: 0px; cursor: pointer; text-indent: 0px !important;">Jim Lochhead, water attorney</a> and CEO of Denver Water, said one of Salazar’s signature accomplishments was negotiating a major Colorado River agreement with Mexico that allows Mexico to store more water in the U.S. and also encourages more environmentally sound practices.

Lochhead said that with all the competing interests among the seven states who rely on Colorado River water, one thing he noticed was that Salazar elevated the role of parks and recreational uses. Interior also produced a major report on the Colorado River and its future that raises the question of whether the river will be capable of handling future demand. The answer, Lochhead suggests, is that the region’s water future will be determined largely by the ability and resolve of all the parties to continue working together and forging partnerships. While he said the influence of Interior is significant, in the end it all comes down to the states.

“I’m glad to have him back in Colorado,” Lochhead said, suggesting that Salazar’s influence on water issues would continue.

John Salazar said the one thing Salazar is likely to be remembered for is the establishment of the <a href="http://americasgreatoutdoors.gov/" target="_hplink" style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-decoration: underline; overflow: visible; outline: 0px; cursor: pointer; text-indent: 0px !important;">Great Outdoors America</a> program in 2009, which created more than two million acres of wilderness areas, added more than 1000 miles of river to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers program and put a conservation agenda front and center in the Administration.

As for what happens next in Salazar’s career, insiders expect him to spend some time in private legal practice, but also say they anticipate him taking another political role. Among the positions that get mentioned are governor, Supreme Court justice, vice president and even president.

“We haven’t seen the last of Ken Salazar in Colorado politics,” said Stratton. “He’s young enough at 57 to run for president. He has the experience as an attorney, Colorado attorney general, U.S. senator to be a solid Supreme Court justice. He’s a very young man.”

===

<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Ken_Salazar">http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Ken_Salazar</a>

Kenneth Lee Salazar, a <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/United_States_Democratic_Party" title="United States Democratic Party">Democrat</a>, represented <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Category:Members_of_the_U.S._Congress_from_Colorado" title="Category:Members of the U.S. Congress from Colorado">Colorado</a> in the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/United_States_Senate" title="United States Senate" class="mw-redirect">United States Senate</a> from 2004-2009. Salazar currently serves as Secretary of the Interior for the Obama administration.

<h2>Contents</h2>

[<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Ken_Salazar#" class="internal" id="togglelink">hide</a>] </div>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Ken_Salazar#Record_and_controversies">1 Record and controversies</a>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-3"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Ken_Salazar#Environmental_record">1.2 Environmental record</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-4"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Ken_Salazar#Controversy">1.3 Controversy</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-6"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Ken_Salazar#2008_elections">2.1 2008 elections</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-7"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Ken_Salazar#Secretary_of_the_Interior">2.2 Secretary of the Interior</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-8"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Ken_Salazar#Money_in_politics">3 Money in politics</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-9"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Ken_Salazar#Committees_and_Affiliations">4 Committees and Affiliations</a>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-10"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Ken_Salazar#Committees">4.1 Committees</a>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-11"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Ken_Salazar#Committee_assignments_in_the_109th_Congress_.282005-2006.29">4.1.1 Committee assignments in the 109th Congress (2005-2006)</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-12"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Ken_Salazar#Coalitions_and_Caucuses">4.2 Coalitions and Caucuses</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-13"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Ken_Salazar#Boards_and_other_Affiliations">4.3 Boards and other Affiliations</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-14"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Ken_Salazar#More_Background_Data">5 More Background Data</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-15"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Ken_Salazar#Contact">6 Contact</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-16"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Ken_Salazar#Articles_and_resources">7 Articles and resources</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-17"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Ken_Salazar#Sources">8 Sources</a>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-18"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Ken_Salazar#Resources">8.1 Resources</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-19"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Ken_Salazar#Local_blogs_and_discussion_sites">8.2 Local blogs and discussion sites</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-20"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Ken_Salazar#External_articles">8.3 External articles</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-21"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Ken_Salazar#Articles_by_Salazar">8.4 Articles by Salazar</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

</ul>

</td></tr></tbody></table>

<h2>Record and controversies</h2>

<div style=" margin: 0.5em 0.75em 0.5em 0.75em; border-collapse: collapse; background: #dce8f8; border: 1px solid #5c79b5; padding: .25em .25em 0.25em .25em;">General information about important bills and votes for can be found in Congresspedia's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Category:U.S._legislation" title="Category:U.S. legislation">articles on legislation</a>. You can add information you find on how Ken Salazar voted by clicking the "[edit]" link to the right and typing it in. Remember to <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Help:References" title="Help:References">cite your sources</a>!</div>

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.

<dl>

<dd>Main article: <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Iraq_Study_Group_Recommendation_Implementation_Act_of_2007" title="Iraq Study Group Recommendation Implementation Act of 2007">Iraq Study Group Recommendation Implementation Act of 2007</a></dd>

</dl>

<div style=" margin: 0.5em 0.75em 0.5em 0.75em; border-collapse: collapse; background: #dce8f8; border: 1px solid #5c79b5; padding: .25em .25em 0.25em .25em;">For more information see the chart of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/U.S._Senate_votes_on_the_Iraq_War" title="U.S. Senate votes on the Iraq War">U.S. Senate votes on the Iraq War</a>.</div>

<h3>Environmental record</h3>

For more information on environmental legislation, see the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Portal:Energy_and_Environment_Policy_%28U.S.%29" title="Portal:Energy and Environment Policy (U.S.)">Energy and Environment Policy Portal</a>

<h3>Controversy</h3>

Soon after arriving in the Senate Salazar generated controversy within his party by introducing Attorney General nominee <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Alberto_R._Gonzales" title="Alberto R. Gonzales">Alberto R. Gonzales</a> 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 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/filibuster" class="extiw" title="w:filibuster">filibuster</a>, thus blocking the Republican leadership's attempt to implement the so-called "<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Nuclear_option" title="Nuclear option">nuclear option</a>". 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 (<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Janice_Rogers_Brown" title="Janice Rogers Brown">Janice Rogers Brown</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Priscilla_Owen" title="Priscilla Owen">Priscilla Owen</a> and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/William_H.Pryor,Jr." title="William H. Pryor, Jr.">William H. Pryor, Jr.</a>) would receive a vote by the full Senate.

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 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Romer" class="extiw" title="w:Roy Romer">Roy Romer</a>; 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 <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Ben_Nighthorse_Campbell" title="Ben Nighthorse Campbell">Ben Nighthorse Campbell</a>. After easily defeating Mike Miles in the Democratic primary, Salazar narrowly defeated beer executive <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Peter_Coors" title="Peter Coors" class="mw-redirect">Peter Coors</a> of the Coors Brewing Company to win. His elder brother <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/John_Salazar" title="John Salazar">John Salazar</a> also had an electoral victory in 2004, winning a race for the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/U.S._House_of_Representatives" title="U.S. House of Representatives" class="mw-redirect">U.S. House of Representatives</a> from Colorado's third congressional district.

He and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Mel_Martinez" title="Mel Martinez">Mel Martinez</a> are the first Hispanic Senators since 1977. They were joined by <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Bob_Menendez" title="Bob Menendez">Bob Menendez</a> 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 <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.northdenvernews.com">feuding with</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Focus_on_the_Family" title="Focus on the Family">Focus on the Family</a>, 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.

<h4>2008 elections</h4>

</td><td style=" width: 100%; border-left: 0px; padding: 0.5em 0.5em 0.5em 0em;">This information was gathered by volunteer researchers as part of the Superdelegate Transparency Project on the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Superdelegates" title="Superdelegates" class="mw-redirect">superdelegates</a> for the 2008 Democratic presidential primary. For more info see the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Colorado_2008_presidential_primary_and_superdelegates" title="Colorado 2008 presidential primary and superdelegates">Colorado superdelegate tracker</a> or visit the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Portal:Superdelegate_Transparency_Project" title="Portal:Superdelegate Transparency Project">STP homepage</a>.</td></tr></tbody></table>

Before <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Hillary_Clinton" title="Hillary Clinton" class="mw-redirect">Hillary Clinton</a> conceded the race, Ken Salazar, as a <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Superdelegate" title="Superdelegate" class="mw-redirect">superdelegate</a>, had not endorsed a candidate for President.

<ul>

<li>For more information and sources, see the state page for this superdelegate linked to in the blue box above.</li>

</ul>

</div>

<h4>Secretary of the Interior</h4>

Ken Salazar currently serves as Secretary of the Interior for the Obama administration. On January 3, 2009, Colorado Governor Bill Ritter appointed <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Michael_Bennet" title="Michael Bennet">Michael Bennet</a>, 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.

<h2>Money in politics</h2>

This section contains links to – and feeds from – money in politics databases. <crpcontribdata>cid=N00026892&cycle=2006</crpcontribdata>

<table class="prettytable"><tbody><tr><th colspan="3">Links to more campaign contribution information for Ken Salazar

from the Center for Responsive Politics' <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.opensecrets.org">OpenSecrets.org</a> site.</th></tr><tr><td>Fundraising profile:</td><td><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.asp?cycle=2006&cid=N00026892">2006 election cycle</a></td><td><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/allsummary.asp?cid=N00026892">Career totals</a></td></tr><tr><td>Top contributors by organization/corporation:</td><td><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/contrib.asp?cycle=2006&cid=N00026892">2006 election cycle</a></td><td><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/allcontrib.asp?cid=N00026892">Career totals</a></td></tr><tr><td>Top contributors by industry:</td><td><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/indus.asp?cycle=2006&cid=N00026892">2006 election cycle</a></td><td><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/allindus.asp?cid=N00026892">Career totals</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

<ul>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.opensecrets.org/revolving/search_result.asp?mem=Salazar%2C+Ken">Revolving door profile for Ken Salazar</a> from the Center for Responsive Politics' <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.OpenSecrets.org">OpenSecrets.org</a> website.</li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/travel.asp?CID=N00026892">2006 privately funded travel profile for Ken Salazar</a> from the Center for Responsive Politics' <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.OpenSecrets.org">OpenSecrets.org</a> website.</li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.opensecrets.org/pfds/candlook.php?CID=N00026892">Personal finance profile for Ken Salazar</a> from the Center for Responsive Politics' <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.OpenSecrets.org">OpenSecrets.org</a> website.</li>

</ul>

<h2>Committees and Affiliations</h2>

<h3>Committees</h3>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Senate_Committee_on_Agriculture,Nutrition,and_Forestry" title="Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry">Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry</a>

<ul>

<li>Subcommittee on Energy, Science and Technology</li>

<li>Subcommittee on Domestic & Foreign Marketing, Inspection, & Plant & Animal Health</li>

<li>Subcommittee on Rural Revitalization, Conservation, Forestry and Credit</li>

</ul>

</li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Senate_Committee_on_Finance" title="Senate Committee on Finance">Senate Committee on Finance</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Senate_Special_Committee_on_Aging" title="Senate Special Committee on Aging">Senate Special Committee on Aging</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Senate_Committee_on_Energy_and_Natural_Resources" title="Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources">Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources</a>

<ul>

<li>Subcommittee on Water and Power</li>

<li>Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests</li>

<li>Subcommittee on National Parks</li>

</ul>

</li>

</ul>

<h4>Committee assignments in the 109th Congress (2005-2006)</h4>

<ul>

<ul>

<li>Subcommittee on Forestry Conservation and Rural Revitalization</li>

<li>Subcommittee on Marketing Inspection and Production Promotion</li>

</ul>

</li>

<ul>

<li>Subcommittee on Energy</li>

<li>Subcommittee on National Parks</li>

<li>Subcommittee on Water and Power</li>

</ul>

</li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Senate_Select_Committee_on_Ethics" title="Senate Select Committee on Ethics">Senate Select Committee on Ethics</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Senate_Committee_on_Veterans%27_Affairs" title="Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs">Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs</a></li>

</ul>

<h3>Coalitions and Caucuses</h3>

<ul>

<li>Colorado Water Conservation Board</li>

<li>Chair, Conference of Western Attorneys General</li>

<li>Chair, Great Outdoors Colorado Board</li>

<li>National Association of Attorneys General</li>

<li>Chair, Peace Officers Standards and Training Board</li>

<li>Chair, Rio Grande Compact Commission</li>

</ul>

<h3>Boards and other Affiliations</h3>

<ul>

<li>President's Council, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/American_Farmland_Trust" title="American Farmland Trust">American Farmland Trust</a></li>

<li>Board of Trustees, Colorado College</li>

<li>Chair, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/National_Park_Foundation" title="National Park Foundation">National Park Foundation</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Ken_Salazar#cite_note-0">[1]</a></li>

</ul>

<h2>More Background Data</h2>

<ul>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.vote-smart.org/bio.php?can_id=BCO69455">Background information on Ken Salazar from Project Vote Smart</a></li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.vote-smart.org/issue_rating_category.php?can_id=BCO69455">Interest group scorecard ratings for Ken Salazar from Project Vote Smart</a></li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/members/s001163">Voting record for Ken Salazar from the Washington Post database</a></li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.congressmerge.com/onlinedb/cgi-bin/newmemberbio.cgi?lang=&member=COJR&site=congressmerge">Information on Ken Salazar from Congress Merge</a></li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://whereistand.com/KenSalazar/wizard">See how you compare to Ken Salazar</a></li>

</ul>

<h2>Contact</h2>

Salazar, K

Attachments