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Commerce Secretary nominee Gary Locke, whose job would include approving sensitive exports to China, has performed legal work for companies doing business with Beijing and was forced to refund several political donations that he received in the 1990s from key figures in a Chinese influence-buying investigation. The former Washington state governor is expected to face questions about both issues during his confirmation hearing on Wednesday, Senate aides and an Obama administration official familiar with the vetting told The Washington Times. Mr. Locke was the first Chinese-American to become governor when Washington state voters elected him in 1996, and he served...

Obama's New Commerce Secretary Nominee: Not So "Squeaky Clean" Michelle Malkin Friday, February 27, 2009 Liberal media outlets are doing their best to boost former Washington Gov. Gary Locke, President Obama's third pick for the beleaguered Commerce Secretary job. "Obama's New Commerce Pick Has Clean Reputation," declared National Public Radio's Tom Banse. The Democrat possesses "a largely scandal-free resume" reported The New York Times. He is a "safe choice," the Washington Post asserted, because of his "strait-laced reputation." But repeating the Mr. Clean claim doesn't make it so. Those in his home state who know Locke best paint a far...

Is it possible for Barack Obama to pick a Commerce Secretary nominee who’ll actually make it past first base? Bill Richardson withdrew in the midst of a pay-for-play scandal. Judd Gregg withdrew in the midst of a humiliating power play over the Census and porkulus bill. Now, former Democrat Gov. Gary Locke — a lawyer for international firm Davis, Wright, and Tremaine who specializes in China — is rumored to be the next nominee for the post. The MSM is pulling for him. WaPo writes: “Locke is regarded as a safe choice by senior officials in the Obama administration given...

WASHINGTON – Hoping the third time will be the charm, President Barack Obama named former Washington Gov. Gary Locke as his nominee for Commerce secretary Wednesday. "I'm sure it's not lost on anyone that we've tried this a couple of times. But I'm a big believer in keeping at something until you get it right," Obama said, standing with the fellow Democrat in the Indian Treaty Room at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building near the White House.

Former Washington governor Gary Locke is likely to be President Obama's choice to head the Commerce Department, according to several administration officials briefed on the decision. Locke would be the third person put forward by Obama for the job, after withdrawals by New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D), because of an ongoing pay-to-play investigation of his administration, and Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), who backed out after concluding that his ideological differences with the administration could not be resolved. Locke did not reply to an e-mail seeking comment, and the White House said no announcement would be made about the post...

President Barack Obama will "likely" name Gary Locke, the first Chinese-American governor in US history as his pick for Commerce Secretary, a senior administration official said Monday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's likely third pick for Commerce secretary is former Washington Gov. Gary Locke, a senior administration official said Monday. Locke, a Democrat, was the nation's first Chinese-American governor when he served two terms in the Washington statehouse from 1997 to 2005.

THOUGHTS ON THE ORIGINS OF FREEDOM IN THESE UNITED STATES What was the driving force that created American freedom? It would be wrong to suppose the incremental steps occurred without the kind of Jeffersonian vision that George W. Bush subscribes to today. GWB didn't invent the philosophical architecture of American freedom and in many ways neither did Thomas Jefferson. John Locke among others articulated it first and arguably, best. What is significant however is that Americans have applied the philosophy of liberty with revolutionary zeal. For their effort, they demonstratively changed the world for the better. Progressive moves towards greater...

In the wake of President Bush's vetoing human experimentation, aka "stem cell research" the Left has unleashed tons of its usual tired verbal flatulence into the air about Christianity being anti-science. Somewhere along the way the Orwellian Left has managed, with much undeserved success, to propagandize that having ethics when dealing with science is somehow "giving in to superstition." This most dangerous lie reminds me of a certain scientist who Liberals would probably love. He did many experiments in the same vein as those who wish to do the embryonic stem cell research. He never let a silly thing like...

Oh, yes, it was legitimate to remove the Indians for they didn’t use money, Locke’s benchmark for a commonweal united by a social contract. Nor did American Indians maximize production, which sinfully wasted what God had provided human kind. The point is not Locke’s quaint coin trick and Calvinist apologia for Indian-removal—that would have happened without his imprimatur—but rather the more historically interesting point that he ballasted parliamentary liberalism by assuming imperial control of exploitable resources of conquered overseas societies. Since Locke, Western societies have promised their discontented non-owning classes more and have looked covetously at their imperial holdings and...

The views of important thinkers become distilled into folk beliefs that shape our societies. John Locke and Karl Marx are two thinkers whose enormous influence can be described using this model.             "the moral authority of parents who bury children killed in Iraq is absolute" -- Maureen Dowd, the New York TimesMaureen Dowd's statement is Marxist. No, she did not advocate revolution by the proletariat. She did not say that we ought to have a Communist state. But her famous remark that someone in a particular class of victims has "absolute" moral authority is derived from "folk Marxism," as will...

Firm takes heat for cons’ crimes Settled suits cost top-tier legal entity $30 million, with more pending By Janet Elliott Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau (10-21-01) Locke Liddell and Sapp is one of Texas’ premier law firms, having represented some of the state’s top corporations and individuals, including George W. Bush when he was governor and general partner of the Texas Rangers baseball team. But it is two other former clients, convicted swindlers Russell Erxleben and Brian Stearns, who have brought unwanted attention to the 426-lawyer firm with offices in Houston and several other cities. In the past two years, Locke...

Texas Monthly November 2001 What happens when a top law firm gets two crooks for clients? At Locke, Liddell, and Sapp, the result was a $30 million settlement for angry investors. by John Spong LOCKE PURNELL ATTORNEY JANE MATHESON'S NOTE ON THE BACK OF A TRADE AGREEMENT her firm was editing for client Russell Erxleben in February 1998 got right to the point: "Tell the truth." Erxleben, an All-American punter and place kicker for the University of Texas Longhorns in the seventies, had enlisted the 110-year-old, blue-chip Dallas law firm to keep his company, Austin Forex Investments (AFI), from running...

In response to a congressional inquiry, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) provided a list of documents detailing the record of political donations by SCOTUS nominee Harriet Miers from 1980 to the present. (It should be noted that the list provided includes two donations recorded by the FEC that do not in fact belong to Ms. Miers). The document provided by the FEC can be linked from the Republican Study Committee (RSC) web site http://johnshadegg.house.gov/RSC/ Page 7 of the document provides Miers' contributions for the 1999-2000 election cycle. On 28 Apr 2000, Miers donated $1,000 to the Bush-Cheney 2000 Compliance Committee,...

Departing Governor Gary Locke says his proposed 2005-07 $26.2 billion budget has been scrubbed clean and only important state priorities are funded. This contention is crucial since his budget calls for a $2.9 billion spending increase over the 2003-05 budget (including a proposed $161 million 2005 supplemental budget) and is built on the assumption of a $598 million tax increase. With inflation for the next biennium forecasted at under four percent, Locke's 12.5 percent spending increase is more than three times the forecasted rate of inflation. Even without a tax increase, forecasted revenue for 2005-07 is actually up by nearly...

Out-going Governor Gary Locke is proposing a $598 million tax increase to fund his $26.2 billion 2005-07 budget request. Locke's budget represents a $2.9 billion spending increase over the current budget, including a requested $161 million 2005 supplemental budget. This is a 12.5 percent increase in spending. Forecasted revenue for the next budget is expected to increase by 1.5 billion (6.7 percent), while the implicit price deflator inflation index is expected to be up 3.7 percent. This means Locke hopes to increase state spending by more than three times the rate of inflation and $1.4 billion higher than forecasted revenue...

OLYMPIA, WA: Lame-duck Gov. Gary Locke on Thursday proposed raising taxes on soft drinks, beer, wine, hard liquor and doctors to avoid cuts to social services and education. Locke said he would gladly pay a nickel more for a can of his favorite beverage, Pepsi, to keep Washington from sliding into a state of "haves and have-nots," where students can't get into college and low-wage workers don't have health insurance. "I simply cannot recommend these kinds of cuts," Locke said in presenting a two-year, $27.7 billion spending proposal. "We have to keep investing in education, and we can't tur* our...

OLYMPIA—What a difference a year makes! In a June 26, 2003, press release announcing the signing of a no-new taxes budget, Governor Gary Locke had this to say: "While other states are resorting to creative accounting, tax increases and other short-term solutions, we're making the hard choices that the public expects from its leaders. This will serve us well next year when we will continue to face budget challenges." Today, Governor Locke abandoned this fiscal prudence and is now advocating a $598 million tax increase to fund his $2.9 billion spending increase. This spending increase is more than three times...

Twelve years ago, when the four policemen implicated in the beating of Rodney King were acquitted, a riot erupted in Los Angeles, a riot that eventually took the lives of 54 people and caused more than $1 billion in damage. In the midst of all this, an obviously anguished King asked his now-famous question, "Why can't we all just get along?" Disturbed by the increasing political and social tensions of American society, the more moderate among us are echoing King's question, wondering why it is that we can't somehow figure out how to get along better, how to end some...

OLYMPIA -- Gov. Gary Locke and legislative Democrats proposed Wednesday that Washington adopt California's vehicle-emission standards, the toughest in the world. Locke, a two-term Democrat who leaves office in January, also announced a freeze on state government purchase of four-wheel-drive sports utility vehicles. The state motor pool will begin shifting to hybrid vehicles. The proposal to adopt California's auto standards, effective the 2009 model year, is the centerpiece of the lame-duck governor's package of bills to combat global warming.