10 Things You Didn't Know About Ken Salazar
Salazar is President Obama's secretary of the interior
1. Ken Salazar was born on March 2, 1955, in Alamosa, Colo., to Henry and Emma Salazar. During World War II, Salazar's father was a staff sergeant in the Army and his mother worked in the War Department.
2. Salazar is one of eight children and grew up on a family farm in Colorado's San Luis Valley without a telephone or electricity.
3. Salazar attended Colorado College, where he received a political science degree in 1977. Four years later, he received a law degree from the University of Michigan Law School.
4. For more than a decade, Salazar practiced environmental and water law in the private sector. In addition, he has worked as a rancher and a farmer.
5. Ken and Hope Salazar have been married for more than 20 years. They have two daughters and a granddaughter.
6. From 1987-1990, Salazar served in the Colorado governor's cabinet as chief legal counsel. He left that position to become executive director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources.
7. First elected in 1998, Salazar served six years as Colorado's attorney general.
8. In November 2004, Ken and his older brother, John, were both elected to Congress as Democrats. Ken was elected to the Senate, and John was elected to the House of Representatives.
9. Salazar was on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and was involved in the Renewable Fuels, Consumer Protection, and Energy Efficiency Act of 2007.
10. While in the Senate, Salazar chose Republican Sen. John McCain as his mentor. The two worked together on immigration reform.
Sources:
- Associated Press State & Local Wire
- Denver Post
- New York Times
- Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO)
- Senate.gov
- Washington Post
Reader Comments
Wolves
They mate for life. There is only one breeding pair in the pack and they mate only once a year. The litter is usually fewer than 5 pups. If the mother wolf is shot the pups will die. If the alpha male is shot, the pack will be displaced and probably die. These are facts. The wolves have been on the endangered list since 1973. So now, 30 something years later, there are still only 1000 animals. Why????? Because of the facts listed above. It won't take long to wipe them out again. So very sad. Salazar is a huge disappointment. I was on the Obama campaign...I am so sad that he has turned out to be nothing more than a politician who lies. Change we can believe in? I don't think so.
Appointment of Salazar was a BIG MISTAKE
He's not an advocate for the environment--he's an advocate for people first, people and their rights to their property above all. He'd have been a good choice for commerce secretary maybe--not for interior. Such a disappointment from Obama here. Our native species and habitats deserve so much more.
Wolves - get'em outta my backyard
Just in case you are all unfamiliar with wolf kills.
Wolves kill animals that are otherwise healthy, without need.
They will kill whatever they can, and then move on, making a new kill every chance they get.
The best comparison of a wolf are the payday loan businesses...there is never an interest rate too high, and never a kill that should not be made.
While on the subject of seeing animals, I have been hiking in Idaho for the last 25+ years, and last year I saw the most wolf sign, and the fewest animals ever...coincidence? I think not.
Managing wolves does not mean giving them carte blanche on whatever they want to do. There are other wild animals out there that are losing their foothold in the ecological arena because they are being forced out/killed off. Coyotes are one of the animals, as are the elk, deer, and other big game and small game.
As in all cases, we can have the wolves, and ranches, and big game. But it seems that any time someone wants wolves, it is only in some other state for the sake of their "posterity" to have the chance to "see a wolf in the wild".
How about re-introducing wolves to the hills around L.A. or in Lower Manhattan/Central Park as well? There are plenty of places where New York has taken away or impacted the environment.
Let's give a break to the guy in Wyoming who has to change his life because a someone else (who has no idea about the long-term impact of his feel-good idea) wants to see something in the wild.
It is true that too much of anything is NOT a good thing; whether it be McDonald's french fries, Ben & Jerry's ice cream, or the wolves in the environment.
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