E-mail a friendGary Locke
airdate April 8, 2009
Last month, Gary Locke was sworn in as the U.S. Secretary of Commerce. He previously served two terms as governor of Washington State—the nation's first Chinese American governor. He also served in the state legislature and as chief executive and deputy prosecutor of King County. Before returning to public service, Locke was partner and co-chair of the China Practice at the international law firm of Davis Wright Tremaine LLP. He holds a bachelor's degree from Yale and a J.D. from Boston University.
New Commerce Secretary says that working with China on clean energy is a win-win situation. (1:09)
Full interview. (12:02)
Gary Locke
Tavis: Just two weeks ago Gary Locke was confirmed and sworn in as the new U.S. secretary of Commerce. Previously he served as governor of Washington State, the first Chinese-American to serve as a state chief executive. He joins us tonight from the Commerce Department. Mr. Secretary, congratulations on your new post. I'm honored to have you on the program.
Gary Locke: Well, thank you very much, Tavis. A pleasure to be on your show.
Tavis: So what do you make of your first couple of weeks on the job?
Locke: Well, there's a lot to cover and the Department of Commerce actually has a wide range of portfolio and a lot of different agencies, all the way from the health of our oceans and weather satellites to airplanes that fly into the eye of a hurricane to the Census Bureau to the Patent and Trademark Office, and a very high quality, scientific laboratory with several Nobel laureates among the staff.
And then of course a lot of activities regarding trade and manufacturing and helping companies in the United States.
Tavis: Now, where you ended that list, on trade and manufacturing and the commerce of the nation, is I think what most people think when they think of the Commerce Department.
Where you began that list must be shocking to some Americans. I had no idea myself that you did so much work on oceanography, that the National Weather Service comes under the Commerce Department, that you have scientists working for the - why is all that in the Commerce Department?
Locke: Well, I think there really is a connection in all these activities because the Commerce Department is really a repository of a lot of knowledge. It's going to have a focus on innovation, helping companies innovate with that knowledge that we have, and it's all with the goal and the objective of growing our economy, providing jobs throughout the United States.
And so actually you need all these statistics, whether it's the census, statistics of what companies do and how Americans interact and how they spend when they travel, to what are the ingredients for successful companies over time.
All that is collected, actually, by the Census Bureau, and then we have these scientific laboratories that focus on standards as well as - standards, let's say, for cell phone and telecommunications industry, standards with respect to cyber security, and innovation and best practices that will help companies thrive, be successful, compete and ultimately employ more people.
So all these are really tied together, and for instance, the Office of Patent and Trademark, it's to help inventors protect their discoveries, their inventions, their great ideas, and to enable them to go into the marketplace, to be commercialized, but also to benefit our society - whether it's medical breakthroughs or manufactured goods that will help improve the quality of life or the efficiency of companies and American people.
Tavis: Before I talk more in a moment, Mr. Secretary, about public policy vis-à-vis the Commerce Department, let me ask right quick why you decided to accept this position. Most of us may not know all that the Commerce Department does, but this position that you now hold as the guy who leads the department became a story unto itself, as you well know.
Bill Richardson, governor of New Mexico, was supposed to be the first choice; he backs out. Senator Gregg, supposedly the second choice; he backs out. So you end up essentially being the third guy in line. Tell me, being number three in line and not the first choice, why you accepted Mr. Obama's, the president's invitation to accept this post?
Locke: Well, first of all I'm a big supporter of the president and he's got an incredibly difficult job leading our country at a time in which so many millions of people are concerned about their future, worried about the economic security of themselves and their families, wondering if they can put food on the table, wondering if they'll have healthcare insurance for their children and for their families.
In these tough economic times it's really important that we help the president succeed, and quite frankly I'm just proud and honored to be considered along with Bill Richardson and Senator Gregg. I'm sure that for every position in government there are hundreds, if not thousands, of very capable, high-quality people who could serve and do a great job. I'm just really humbled and honored that the president would call on me.
And these are tough times and I want to help him succeed, because if he succeeds, America succeeds. And if America succeeds it means a better future for all of us, and certainly the Department of Commerce is going to play a very critical role in the economic rebooting revitalization of our country.
Tavis: Thank you for answering that. Let me go back now, as I promised, to some of the public policy issues I wanted to address with regard to the Commerce Department. You know, even though this happened prior to your being nominated, the Obama administration got kicked around pretty good and got accused of playing politics with the census that we know is taken every 10 years.
It'll be taken again in 2010 so we're just a year away from taking this annual snapshot, this Polaroid picture, if you will, of what America looks like. And the Obama administration, some weeks ago, accused of playing politics with who was going to run that, how it was going to be done this time around again.
To your credit, that story kicked up before you arrived. But what can you tell me now about the way this is going to be done in 2010 and whether or not these accusations against the administration of playing politics with how we take this picture have dissipated.
Locke: Well, first of all I think there's been a lot of misunderstanding about those so-called statements, and we haven't really been able to track who made those statements - I'm not sure that they were ever made. But the president has assured me that the Commerce Department will run the census and that the census director reports to me, and of course I ultimately report to the president.
But every administration in the past, Democratic, Republican administration, and to the members of Congress, Democrats and Republicans, have a keen interest in the results of the census, and we're going to do the count. We're going to do it as accurately as possible; we're going to supply those numbers to the president, the White House, as well as the members of Congress.
It's then up to the political leaders all across the country in the various states to decide what they do with those numbers. For instance, in my home state of Washington, redistricting, the drawing of the boundaries, is not done by the politicians, it's actually done by a citizen's commission. In other states, it's done by the legislature. In other states, it's actually done by the courts. We simply provide the numbers and each state will do what they will do with those numbers.
Of course, it's of immense interest to the members of Congress because as our population grows we have a set number of seats in the House of Representatives and if some states are growing faster and becoming larger than other states, those states might actually gain seats in the United States Congress and some states may lose seats.
So obviously it's of immense interest to the members of Congress, both Democratic and Republican. But our job is to do a nonpartisan count as accurately as possible. We supply the numbers, and then it's up to others to do what they will with those numbers.
Tavis: When the census started being taken many, many, many, many years ago, the process, as you know, was to go around knocking on doors, trying to get an accurate count. There is still, obviously, to a large degree, a reliance on that process of going door-to-door, asking people to fill out the form, sending the form back in via mail, et cetera. So that's a part of it, going door-to-door.
I raise this only because every 10 years, as you know, there kicks up this huge debate about how it's going to be done and whether or not we have the technology to do it - that is to say, to do the count - take the count more accurately. Does technology allow us to do a better job of that every 10 years?
I say that to ask whether or not there's anything you can tell me about how you're going to conduct the count this year, and whether or not technology is going to be used in a way that allows this count to be done more accurately.
Locke: Well, every year the Department of Census is trying to improve their processes, and of course they're every year getting ready for the decennial census, which occurs every 10 years. And a lot of preparation has gone into this and they're always looking at the use of technology to improve the accuracy of that count.
Most people will actually send their forms back in via the mail. Perhaps some 80, 85 percent will be returning those forms, and this year it's going to be even simpler than ever before. Ten questions that really should not take more than 10 minutes to fill out and to send it back to the federal government, and all of that information is absolutely private, will not be shared with any other agency in government, and so people should feel really assured about that.
And then for the remainder of the population, that's where we call on over a million people. We'll hire over a million people to knock door-to-door and urge people who have not sent back the forms to fill it out right then and there. And we're going to have, using technology, a constant updating of our lists to know which households have not yet returned the forms, and that's where we send people out to make sure we have an accurate count.
We're less than a year away. The census will occur on April 1, 2010, and within a few weeks, if we have no received it and everything will be coded by census track, communities, et cetera, et cetera, we'll know exactly who has not yet responded. And that's where we send out people into the neighborhoods to do the count.
Tavis: Got about 45 seconds to go here. Tell me where you start, now that you're on the job, helping the president specifically on these economic issues that fall under your purview as secretary of the Commerce Department.
Locke: Well, I think it's really important that the Department of Commerce get out away from Washington, D.C. and really meet with the companies, large and medium and small companies, whether they manufacture wood windows or toys, manufactured goods, to really focus on what their needs are and how we in the Department of Commerce, with all the expertise and the innovation and the knowledge and the statistics that we have, can hook them up so they can innovate, so they can really be more competitive, so they can be stronger as a company.
Because if they're strong as a company they will continue to hire people and they will support their communities. That's what the Department of Commerce is all about - providing good-paying jobs for the people of America.
Tavis: And quickly here, given that you are the first Chinese-American to do so many things in state government and now at the national level, the conversation that we ought to be having with China where these matters are concerned ought to center around what?
Locke: Well, I think that for instance the president is really focused on climate change and reducing our dependence on foreign oil, and really, China has incredible pollution problems, environmental problems, and clearly needs the latest technology of clean energy, of energy efficiency, alternative energy.
And we have so many great companies in America that excel in that domain, and what we want to do with China is to introduce China to these great American companies, great ideas that are producing jobs here in America but then can help the Chinese improve the quality of life and address the global challenge of climate change.
That's a win-win situation - jobs for people here in America and raising the standard of living for the people of China and elsewhere around the world. It's not just China, but throughout Asia and the developing countries, to really address climate change and really improve the quality of life for our planet.
Tavis: We do now have a Commerce secretary. His name is Gary Locke, former governor of Washington State. Mr. Secretary, congratulations again. Nice to have you on, and have a great rest of the evening.
Locke: Thank you very much, Tavis.
Tavis: Thank you.
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