Obama To Nominate Penny Pritzker Commerce Secretary

By Chuck Sudo in News on May 2, 2013 2:15PM

Penny Pritzker in 2011. (Image via YouTube screen grab.)

As expected, President Barack Obama is set to nominate Penny Pritzker as his next Commerce Secretary this morning. Obama has a news conference scheduled as of post time to make the nomination official.

Pritzker, one of the heirs to the Hyatt hotel chain, was touted by the president, according to a source cited by the Sun-Times, for being “one of the most accomplished and highly respected women in business today. With more than 25 years of experience in the real estate, hospitality, senior living, financial services and other industries, Penny knows what it takes to build, grow, and invest in a business, and will be a strong advocate for policies that help grow the economy and create jobs.”

The source added, “She also is an effective manager and successful entrepreneur, helping to build five companies from the ground up, and creating thousands of jobs. These are all skills that will be extremely valuable for the Commerce Department and the Administration.”

Pritzker was national finance chair for Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, co-chaired his re-election campaign and was instrumental in Obama’s rapid ascent from Illinois State Senator, to U.S. Senate, to President.

But Pritzker comes with some baggage. She has tense relationships with labor unions as a member of the Hyatt Hotels board and as an advocate for education reform. Pritzker was instrumental in the drafting and passage of a 2011 state law that makes it harder for teachers unions in Illinois to strike by requiring 75 percent of a union’s membership to vote for authorize one. The law has seemingly had the reverse effect, with several teachers unions in the Chicago area, most notably the Chicago Teachers Union, overwhelmingly voting to authorize strikes. Pritzker resigned from the Chicago School Board in March and Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis wasn’t sad to see her go.

Pritzker and her family were part owners in Superior Bank, which was one of scores of banks that failed during the subprime loan crisis. 1,400 Superior Bank customers were left without parts of their savings.

An Obama administration official told the Tribune the president picked Pritzker because of her business experience and that she should be “definitely confirmable” after being vetted by the administration.