Gary Locke

For other people named Gary Locke, see Gary Locke (disambiguation).

Gary Locke 駱家輝
36th United States Secretary of Commerce
Incumbent
Assumed office March 24, 2009
President	Barack Obama
Preceded by	Carlos Gutierrez
21st Governor of Washington
In office January 15, 1997 – January 12, 2005
Lieutenant	Brad Owen
Preceded by	Mike Lowry
Succeeded by	Christine Gregoire
5th King County Executive
In office January 4, 1994 – January 15, 1997
Preceded by	Tim Hill
Succeeded by	Ron Sims
Member of the Washington House of Representatives from the 37th district
In office January 10, 1983 – January 3, 1994
Preceded by	Peggy Joan Maxie
Succeeded by	Vivian Caver
Personal details
Born	(1950-01-21) January 21, 1950 Seattle, Washington
Political party	Democratic Party
Spouse	Mona Lee
Alma mater	Yale University Boston University

Gary Locke
Traditional Chinese	駱家輝
Simplified Chinese	骆家辉
Jyutping	Lok3 Gaa1-fai1
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Luò Jiāhuī Yue: Cantonese Jyutping Lok3 Gaa1-fai1

Gary Faye Locke (born January 21, 1950) is an American politician. He is the current United States Secretary of Commerce and was the 21st Governor of Washington, serving from 1997 to 2005. Locke was the first, and remains the only, Chinese American to serve as governor of a state in United States history. On February 25, 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Locke as the next Secretary of Commerce. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 24, 2009, by unanimous consent.

Family and education

Locke was born on January 21, 1950 in Seattle, Washington. A third-generation American with paternal ancestry from Taishan, Guangdong in China, Locke is the second of five children of James, a native of the United States, and Julie Locke from Hong Kong, which at that time was a dependent territory of the United Kingdom. His parents gave him the Chinese name of 駱家輝 (pronounced Lok Gaa-Fai in Cantonese).

He graduated with honors from Seattle’s Franklin High School in 1968. Locke achieved Eagle Scout and received the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award from the Boy Scouts of America.

Through a combination of part-time jobs, financial aid and scholarships, Locke attended Yale University, earning a bachelor’s degree in political science in 1972. He then earned a law degree from the Boston University School of Law in 1975.

On October 15, 1994, Locke married Mona Lee, a former television reporter for the NBC affiliate KING 5 television in Seattle. Her father was from Shanghai, China and her mother from Hubei, China. The Lockes have three children: Emily Nicole, born in March 1997, Dylan James, born in March 1999 and Madeline Lee, born in November 2004.

Career

In 1982, Locke's South Seattle district elected him to the Washington House of Representatives, where he served as chairman of the Appropriations Committee. Eleven years later, in 1993, Locke made history by becoming the first Chinese American to be elected King County's County Executive, defeating incumbent Tim Hill. In 1996, he won the primary and general elections for governor, becoming the first Chinese American state governor in United States history. His political committee was fined $2,500 by regulators in 1997 after admitting to state campaign finance law violations during his successful 1996 campaign. Locke easily won re-election in the 2000 governor's race.

Democrats criticized Locke for embracing the Republican Party's no-new-taxes approach to dealing with Washington's budget woes during and after the 2001 economic turmoil. Among his spending-reduction proposals were laying off thousands of state employees; reducing health coverage; freezing most state employees' pay; and cutting funding for nursing homes and programs for the developmentally disabled. In his final budget, Locke suspended two voter-passed, pro-school initiatives while cutting state education funding. That same state budget, though, had record-high allocations for construction projects.

Supported by the state's political left, former Washington Supreme Court Justice Phil Talmadge announced his plans to challenge Locke in the 2004 Democratic primary. Talmadge ended his campaign early for health reasons.

On the national stage, Democrats saw Gary Locke as a rising star and a possible vice-presidential pick. He was chosen to give his party's response to George W. Bush's 2003 State of the Union address. In 1997, Gov. Locke was a guest at that year's State of the Union.

Leaving office

In a surprise move, Locke announced in July 2003 that he would not seek a third term, saying, "Despite my deep love of our state, I want to devote more time to my family."

Susan Paynter, a columnist at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, suggested that slurs, insults, and threats that Locke and his family received, especially the large number which came after his rebuttal to George W. Bush's 2003 State of the Union address, played a role in Locke's decision to leave office after two terms. The governor's office received hundreds of threatening letters and e-mails; others threatened to kill his children.

Locke left office on January 12, 2005. If the disputed 2004 election between Christine Gregoire and Dino Rossi had not been resolved by then, the state constitution mandated that Locke would have remained in office.

After leaving office, Locke joined the Seattle office of international law firm Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, in their China and governmental-relations practice groups. During the leadup to the 2008 Democratic presidential primary, Governor Locke signed on as Washington co-chairman of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton's bid for president.

United States Secretary of Commerce nomination

See also: Confirmations of Barack Obama's Cabinet

Then-Commerce Secretary-designate, former Governor Gary Locke with U.S. President Barack Obama and U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden

On December 4, 2008, the Associated Press reported that Locke was a potential candidate for Secretary of the Interior in then-President-elect Barack Obama's cabinet. Eventually, Ken Salazar was nominated instead.

On February 25, 2009, Locke was announced as President Barack Obama's choice for Secretary of Commerce. His nomination was confirmed by the United States Senate by unanimous consent on March 24, 2009. Locke became the first Chinese American Secretary of Commerce, and the third Asian American in Obama's cabinet, joining Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Veteran Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki, the most of any administration in United States history. Locke was confirmed by the United States Senate, with unanimous consent, on March 24, 2009.

External links

• Bio of Gary Locke, Washington State Digital Archives
• "Searching for Asian America", PBS
• "Was Someone Plotting To Kill Governor Locke?", KOMO TV News
• Gary Locke video profile from The White House on YouTube
• "Searching for Department of Commerce"

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