I just logged on to the Houston Chronicle website to check if there were any baseball moves to report and what do I see but a wonderful headline indicating that Rick Noreiga had been to Chicago to interview for a possible position in the Obama Administration.
For those who don't know, Rick Noreiga was our last best chance to unseat the horrendous John Cornyn and to give progressives from Texas an actual voice in Washinton. More from Alan Bernstein of the Houston Chronicle article after the fold.
State Rep. Rick Noriega, of Houston, the unsuccessful U.S. Senate candidate who served in Afghanistan and on the Mexican border as a Texas Army National Guard officer, met with President-elect Barack Obama on Tuesday as Obama worked on filling leadership positions in his administration, confidential sources said.
Noriega declined to comment on the nature of the meeting, but it appeared to be a "potential first step" toward a possible administration postion. Former Clinton administration secretary of transportation and energy Federico Pena acted as a go-between in setting up the meeting.
There has been, as most of you probably already know, some grumbling in the Hispanic community about the relative dearth of information about possible Hispanic appointments so this helps make Noreiga look to be a very attractive addition to the administration. Those of us in Texas know that he is immensely qualified in many capacities.
The Chronicle goes on to discuss the Hispanic concern.
Houston political consultant Marc Campos, a Hispanic Democratic activist, noted on his daily Internet diary on Tuesday that "there is some grumbling going on in Latino political circles nationwide; there haven't been any Latinos announced for key positions in the new Obama administration — nothing, nada, zilch. Unless I am missing something, there haven't been any Texans named either. Stay tuned on this one."
State House Democrat Garnet Coleman of Houston had this to say about Noreiga.
"He's got a lot of areas of expertise, particularly his experience as a soldier and an officer, but he has also worked on utilities (for CenterPoint Energy) and also has an understanding of all the issues that cross the state's desk," Coleman said.
And finally, some biographical info for those who don't know much about Noreiga.
Noriega earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Houston and got a master's degree in public administration from the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government.
After U.S. Army service, he became a lieutenant colonel in the National Guard, through which he served in Afghanistan in 2004 and 2005. His wife, Melissa, became his temporary replacement in the state House during the deployment. She is now a Houston councilwoman.
Noriega also has emergency management experience from serving as incident commander for Hurricane Katrina relief efforts at the George R. Brown Convention Center.
I cannot begin to tell you how happy and proud those of us in Texas would be to have Rick Noreiga in the Obama Administration in any manner he sees fit to use him.