Ken Salazar

Infobox Senator | name=Ken Salazar
nationality=American

---

jr/sr=Junior Senator
state=Colorado
party=Democratic
term_start=January 3, 2005
alongside=Wayne Allard
preceded=Ben Nighthorse Campbell
succeeded=
title2=36th Attorney General of Colorado
term_start2=January 12 1999
term_end2=January 3 2005
governor2=Bill Owens
preceded2=Gale Norton
succeeded2=John W. Suthers
date of birth=birth date and age |1955|03|02
place of birth= Alamosa, Colorado
dead=alive
residence= Denver, Colorado
alma_mater= Colorado College, University of Michigan
place of death=
spouse=Hope Salazar
profession=Lawyer
religion=Roman Catholic

Kenneth Lee Salazar (born March 2, 1955) is an American politician, rancher, and environmentalist from the U.S. state of Colorado. Salazar, a Democrat, served as state Attorney General before winning a U.S. Senate seat in the 2004 Senate elections. He has been the junior U.S. Senator from Colorado since January 2005. He and Mel Martinez (R-Florida) were the first Hispanic U.S. Senators since 1977. They were joined by Bob Menendez (D-New Jersey) in January 2006. He will become Colorado Senior Senator in January 2009, as his colleague, Republican Senator Wayne Allard, has decided to not seek a third term.

Early Life and Family

Senator Ken Salazar was born in the town of Alamosa and grew up near the town of Manassa, Colorado in the San Luis Valley area of south-central Colorado to his parents, Emma M. and Henry (Enrique) S. Salazar, [ [http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~battle/senators/salazar.htm 1 ] ] Americans of Mexican descent. Salazar can trace his ancestry all the way back from before his family's arrival in North America to 12th century Spain. Ken is a 5th generation Coloradan, 12th generation North American or the family roots go back in what is now classified as North America for 12 generations.

Salazar attended St. Francis Seminary and Centauri High School in Conejos County, graduating in 1973. He later attended Colorado College, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science in 1977, and received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Michigan Law School in 1981. Later Salazar was awarded honorary degrees (Doctor of Laws) from Colorado College (1993) and the University of Denver (1999). After graduating, Salazar started private law practice.

tate Cabinet Member

In 1986, Salazar became chief legal counsel to then Governor Roy Romer; in 1990, Romer appointed him to his cabinet as Director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources. In this position, he authored the Great Outdoors Colorado Amendment, which created a massive land conservation program of which he became chairman. Salazar also created the Youth in Natural Resources program to provide for environmental education in public schools. In his cabinet role, he established reforms that forced mining and oil operatons to better protect the surrounding environment. [http://salazar.senate.gov/bio/index.html]

Colorado Attorney General

In 1994, Salazar returned to private practice. In 1998, he was elected state attorney general; he was reelected to this position in 2002. Police operations were streamlined under Salazar, and serveral new branches of law enforcement were created: the Gang Procescution Unit, the Environmental Crimes Unit, and the General Fugitive Prosecutive Unit, which targeted murderers. He also worked to strengthen consumer protection and anti-fraud laws, as well as to protect children through new policy designed to crack down on sex offenders [http://salazar.senate.gov/bio/index.html] .

U.S. Senator

In 2004, Salazar declared his candidacy for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by retiring Republican Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell. Salazar considers himself a moderate and has at times taken positions that are in disagreement with the base of his party — for a number of years he opposed gay adoption. Salazar lost to Mike Miles at the State nominating convention. In spite of this loss, the national Democratic Party backed Salazar with contributions from the DSCC and promotion of Salazar as the only primary candidate. Salazar came back to defeat Miles in the Democratic primary,and he narrowly defeated beer executive Pete Coors of the Coors Brewing Company to win. His elder brother John also had an electoral victory in 2004, winning a race for the U.S. House of Representatives from Colorado's third congressional district.

He took office on January 4, 2005. Salazar and his wife Esperanza "Hope" have two daughters, Melinda (20)& Andrea (19). They also have one grand daughter named Mireya.

Soon after arriving in the Senate, Salazar generated controversy within his party by introducing Attorney General nominee Alberto Gonzales and sitting by his side during Gonzales' confirmation hearings.

On May 23, 2005, Salazar was one of fourteen moderate senators to forge a compromise on the Democrats' use of the judicial filibuster, thus blocking the Republican leadership's attempt to implement the so-called "nuclear option". Under the agreement, the Democrats would retain the power to filibuster a Bush judicial nominee only in an "extraordinary circumstance", and the three most conservative Bush appellate court nominees (Janice Rogers Brown, Priscilla Owen and William Pryor) would receive a vote by the full Senate. Salazar has been [http://www.northdenvernews.com feuding with] Focus on the Family, a Colorado-based conservative religious group of national stature, over his stance on judicial nominees.

In August 2006, Ken Salazar supported fellow Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman in his primary race against Ned Lamont in Connecticut. Ned Lamont, running primarily as an anti-war candidate, won the primary. Salazar's continued support of Lieberman, who successfully ran as an independent against Lamont, has rankled the anti-war wing of the Democratic party.

Committee Assignments

*Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
**Subcommittee on Domestic and Foreign Marketing, Inspection, and Plant and Animal Health
**Subcommittee on Energy, Science and Technology
**Subcommittee on Rural Revitalization, Conservation, Forestry and Credit
*Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
**Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests
**Subcommittee on National Parks
**Subcommittee on Water and Power
*Committee on Finance
**Subcommittee on Energy, Natural Resources, and Infrastructure
**Subcommittee on Health Care
**Subcommittee on Taxation, IRS Oversight, and Long-Term Growth
*Select Committee on Ethics
*Special Committee on Aging

Electoral History

Election box candidate with party link
party = Democratic Party (US)
candidate = Ken Salazar
votes = 1,081,188
percentage = 51.3
change =Election box candidate with party link
party = Republican Party (US)
candidate = Pete Coors
votes = 980,668
percentage = 47.4
change =

Footnotes

ee also

List of Hispanic Americans in the United States Congress

External links

* [http://salazar.senate.gov/ United States Senator Ken Salazar] , U.S. Senate site
*CongLinks | congbio=s001163 | fec=S4CO00163 | Ontheissuespath=Senate/Ken_Salazar.htm | opensecrets=N00026892 | votesmart=BCO69455
* [http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Ken_Salazar SourceWatch Congresspedia — Ken Salazar] profile
* [http://www.salazarforcolorado.com Ken Salazar for U.S. Senate] , Campaign site
* [http://votimus.com/user/Candidate_nonmember.aspx?UID=12&UT=3 Biography and issue positions] at Votimus.com

U.S. Senator box
before=Ben Nighthorse Campbell
state=Colorado
class=3
start=2005
alongside=Wayne Allard