Penny Pritzker: Commerce Secretary?

UPDATE: Penny Pritzker has withdrawn herself from consideration for the Commerce Secretary post. She emailed the following statement to the Chicago Sun-Times' Lynn Sweet:

"Speculation has grown that I am a candidate for Secretary of Commerce. I am not. I think I can best serve our nation in my current capacity: building businesses, creating jobs and working to strengthen our economy. It has been my great privilege to serve in the Obama campaign. I look forward to helping our new President in every way possible and am excited about the future under his leadership." Penny Pritzker, Chair, TransUnion"

UPDATE: The Chicago Tribune reports that Penny Pritzker, as Democratic insiders predicted, has taken herself out of the running:

Chicago billionaire Penny Pritzker has told Barack Obama's team she does not want to serve as Commerce Secretary, said a senior Obama official.

"Penny Pritzker ultimately has decided she does not want to do the Commerce thing," the senior official said.

More news has come out about the makeup of Obama's Cabinet. The New York Times reports that Penny Pritzker is a leading candidate for Commerce Secretary:

Two other leading contenders for cabinet positions emerged late Wednesday, Democrats with knowledge of the process said. Gov. Janet Napolitano of Arizona was poised to be offered the position of homeland security secretary, and Penny Pritzker, a Chicago businesswoman and national finance chairman of the Obama campaign, was in the final stages of vetting for commerce secretary.

A longtime friend of Mr. Obama, Ms. Pritzker was a chief architect of his record-breaking fund-raising efforts during the presidential campaign. Ms. Priztker is one of three cousins who manage their dynasty's financial empire, which includes the Hyatt hotel chain, casinos and many other ventures. But some of Ms. Pritzker's business dealings may also raise tough questions during any confirmation process. She was involved in running and overseeing Superior Bank, an Illinois institution co-owned by her family that was at the forefront of turning subprime loans into securities, the risky practice at the heart of the financial crisis. The bank collapsed in 2001 after regulators discovered accounting irregularities that overstated its assets.

CNN also reports that Pritzker is the leading candidate to head the Commerce department:

Also, multiple Democratic sources say billionaire Chicago businesswoman Penny Pritzker is Obama's choice for commerce secretary.

The sources say she will accept the job, which would be formally offered after vetting is complete. Pritzker ran Barack Obama's record-breaking fundraising effort, serving as the campaign's finance chair.

But the Washington Post's Democratic sources say her business dealings pose too many obstacles:

"The issue is whether she ultimately wants to do this, and it may be - and probably will be - possible that for business reasons, she probably can't do it," said a Democratic source familiar with Obama's Cabinet selection process.

The early favorite for the job, Pritzker may take herself out of the running soon, sources said. Pritzker was the first campaign insider and "Friend of Barack" to surface as a possible Cabinet pick.

Read more about Obama's potential Cabinet here.

Comments

[nogimmicks]

The first name fits the position well.

[JimboSlice]

Good, if we are going to have a rich b*tch be commerce secretary at least have it be someone who earned their $$, not someone whose daddy gave them $$. People like Penny Pritzker are a fine example why the estate tax should be 95%

[l.blissett]

"Penny Pritzker ultimately has decided she does not want to do the Commerce thing,"

do the commerce thing????

too beneath her eh?

or maybe too many skeletons, not enough closets?

good riddance

thanks for raising all that moola though

[arvay]

re; the moola

she was just buying influence, and has apparently succeeded, see the Hillary and Emanuel appointments. She was also a major financial figure for Hillary, as all her ilk put their money everywhere so they can run the show from behind the scenes

[KillBillV2]

Penny Pritzker GOOD LOOKING? Are you guys being sarcastic here? I've seen more than a few posts here saying she's hot and good looking, not that looks matter but have you guys seen her lately? She isn't even all that great looking in that photo but I just seen her giving an interview on CNN and yeesh.

[yorkie]

O needs to appoint next SEC OF TREASURY now !!!!!! I hear LAURA TYSON of CA may be tapped for COMMERCE,,,,,,, I WANT A LIBERAL AT TREASURY like ROBERT REICH or someone who is like minded and is of the SCHOOL OF JOHN K GALBRAITH or JOHN MAYNARD KEYNES,,,,, I also like econ model of SWEDEN,,,,,,in an emergency O may need to have fmr FED CHIEF PAUL VOLKER step in for a yr or so,,,,,,,,

[dontomas]

Lets not have any billionaires in a cabinet that wants to restore fairness to the middle and lower income classes. Having a billion dollars suggests one might be out of touch with life in the US. I cannot believe she is an Obama choice.

[BeefSupreme]

Anyone who lived in Orlando, Fla., in 1999 could tell you about how Pritzker swept into town and snapped up its old U.S. Navy base for pretty much pennies on the dollar from the not-ready-­for-prime-­time yokels who run the town. She sweet-talked Republican Party hack Glenda Hood, who was mayor at the time, and got the deal of a lifetime for $7.6 million. The upscale mixed-use development, Baldwin Park, this year has $1.1 billion in taxable property. She should not have been considered for this post for even one second.

[obidennvr]

How come you people aren't angry about how much she pays for clothes? or where she bought them? And her lack of quaifications for public service?

[Beantownbadboy]

Maybe she paid for everything herself? Lack of qualifications like say.. Sarah Palin? Hmm.I'd say the circumstances are rather different, wouldn't you? You lost, deal with it. Imagine how we felt the last eight years.

[Joeblue]

Because she probably bought them herself with her own money. She declined the job offer bozo, that tells me she can think unlike Palin who knew she wasn't qualified but accepted anyway.

[rfa3232]

has she gotten plastic surgery?

[Carolab]

No doubt.

[Beantownbadboy]

Meow!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Sparty1]

Money, money, money, money, money.....MONEY!

Said to the O'Jays classic song.

[jerrypl]

I am glad that Penny has taken herself out of the spotlight. She has too much baggage. Her family and her were in deep in predatory lending issues.

http://eye-on-washington.blogspot.com

[Carolab]

GOOD.

[Beantownbadboy]

Good? What good?

[Carolab]

She's withdrawn. Good.

[rtks]

The labor department need to start classifying, jobs in the news media as, manufactoring jobs.
The news media seem more interested in manfactoring news, than reporting it

[Beantownbadboy]

I don't know who Penny Pritzker is and I don't care. All I do know is that she's good looking and LOADED. That's good enough for me. After all, I'm a man and quite shallow.

[Carolab]

She isn't on most eligible bachelorette. This is a cabinet position. Jeesh.

[Beantownbadboy]

Hey, lighten up will ya?

[steamboat]

Like her or not, Sarah Palin looks damn good........I'm really shallow.

[conscioushope]

Steam~

At least you know you're shallow.

[KillBillV2]

Penny Pritzker good looking? Have you seen her lately? Yeah she might look alright in that photo there but these days she is NOT even good looking. I just saw her talking on CNN to Don Lemon.

[learnsomething]

What she said is, she was never in the running. I wish the media would stop making up lies. And let Obama announce when he is has appointed someone.

[aubrey8]

Man the media doesn't make stuff up.

[Carolab]

She said she took herself out.

[aubrey8]

the story said she was in the final stages of vetting. I'd say she was in the running.