China's man at Commerce

On September 2, 1998, the Seattle Weekly reported this about President Obama's latest nominee to head the U.S. Department of Commerce:

If congressional investigators really wanted to know about Gary Locke's campaign finances that evening, they were asking the wrong guy: Gary Locke. "I don't recall . . . I don't remember," the governor repeatedly answered, unable to recollect some of the now-most-important places and faces from his 1996 gubernatorial campaign fund-raising efforts. As he explained to the six attorneys gathered around him: "I wouldn't know virtually 80 percent of the people who contributed to the campaign." That, apparently, is one of the perils of running for governor in the state of Washington and raising funds partly in New York, DC, and California: You meet, and forget, lots of strangers. This even more so for Locke, who has become one of the country's leading Asian-American politicians, a possible vice presidential candidate, and a cash magnet for a constituency that ranges far beyond Washington state.

"I don't know," "I don't recall," "I wouldn't know," "Not that I know of." Those were the answers Gary Locke gave when he was asked about his contacts with Charlie Trie, Pauline Kanchanalak, John Huang, Ted Sioeng and others who donated large sums to his 1996 campaign, illegally.

Lucky for Gary Locke, his contacts in China didn't forget him.

After he left the governor's mansion, he was able to make a nice living helping American businesses get in touch with China's top officials, and helping Chinese contacts do business in the United States.

Former Governor Locke helped Boeing, he helped Microsoft, and he helped "multiple Chinese clients seeking to establish presences in Washington state, though he wouldn’t name them," according to a 2006 story in the Seattle Times, reported this week in Politico.

The congressional committee investigating illegal fundraising from Chinese donors was not able to find evidence that Gary Locke knowingly accepted illegal contributions. But Governor Locke told a Seattle Times reporter in 1998, "I'm not about to go around asking every single person who contributes . . . 'Are you a U.S. citizen?' . . . 'Was this check reimbursed?'"

Ignorance is bliss. And 'hope.' And 'change.'


Copyright 2009

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