New Secretary of Commerce Sought through Google

The Obama administration is considering Google CEO Eric Schmidt among possible candidates for secretary of commerce. According to the Bloomberg agency, they are also considering former CEO of Pfizer Jeffrey Kindler and the former Vice President of IBM and the current CEO of Symantec, John W. Thompson.

The position of secretary of commerce became available when current secretary Gary Locke was recently named as the new Ambassador to China. He will take the place of the current ambassador, John Huntsman, on April 30. As Bloomberg reported, “The president will consider a range of qualified candidates.” However, they are still “at a very early stage in the process and no decisions have been made.” Nevertheless, information about the possible candidates is already being widely discussed in media sources.

Citing sources familiar with the agency, Bloomberg reported that the president may find a new secretary of commerce among the leaders of the country’s business community. Among the likely candidates was the CEO of Google, Eric Schmidt. Schmidt already has experience working with Obama; he offered consultation on Obama’s first presidential campaign and also gave $25,000 to the Inaugural Committee. Additionally, the White House consulted Schmidt several times on the issues of technological and economic policy. In January, Schmidt announced that in April he intends to leave his post as CEO of Google, which he has headed for 10 years.

Another potential candidate for the position of secretary of commerce is the former CEO of Pfizer, Jeffery Kindler. He has also worked with the current administration as part of the President’s Export Council, which was created in July of last year. Also under consideration is the former Vice President of IBM and current CEO of Symantec, John W. Thompson. Since 2009 he has worked as part of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission.

Assigning someone from the business community to the position of secretary of commerce is not a rare occurrence. The secretary of commerce under George W. Bush was the former CEO of Kellogg, Carlos Gutierrez, and before him was Donald Evans, the head of the independent oil and gas company Tom Brown Inc. Such an assignment would strengthen Obama’s administration, which is rushing to set up a closer partnership between the government and business.