Penny Pritzker, President-elect Barack Obama’s lead fundraiser, was
never vetted for the Commerce secretary job after she indicated she was not
interested in the position, according to a Democratic source.
{mosads}”Penny Pritzker was never submitted for a vet, because she
indicated she was not interested in serving at this time,” the source
said. “The reports over the last 24 hours are simply not true.”
Pritzker, the Chicago billionaire whose family founded the Hyatt hotel
chain, helped Obama shatter every fundraising record during his presidential
run. Several media reports labeled her the front-runner for the Commerce spot.
But she could have faced a difficult confirmation, one Democratic insider
said, because of her one-time chairmanship of Chicago’s Superior Bank. The bank
went under as a casualty of the sub-prime lending meltdown.
The Obama transition team said Thursday that Pritzker “is a
trusted adviser and valued friend to the president-elect, and played a critical
role in his campaign.”
“She would be an enormous asset to an Obama administration given
her experience in business and economic growth, but has decided that given her
family and business commitments she is not interested in serving at this
time,” spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said in a statement. “She’ll
continue to be a close economic adviser to the president-elect and his
team.”