Tell your Senator to vote NO on Pritzker for Commerce. Vote YES on Companies that value workers! #1u bit.ly/10IoNFH

— UNITE HERE (@unitehere) May 21, 2013

Penny Pritzker is an excellent candidate to lead @commercegov. I will be proud to vote for her & urge my Senate colleagues to do the same.

— Tom Harkin (@SenatorHarkin) May 21, 2013

WASHINGTON--Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) said Tuesday he will back Penny Pritzker for Commerce Secretary, the first Republican to make a public statement in support of the Chicago billionaire business mogul who is a close friend of President Barack Obama.

As I reported here Monday, Kirk will help introduce Pritzker at her Thursday confirmation hearing, joining Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) in a traditional role for home state senators.

Meanwhile, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) also announced his support, with the senator, who has a labor following, making his backing public while UNITE HERE Local 1, the hotel workers union, started a drive to urge senators to vote against Pritzker because of long-running union disputes with Hyatt Hotels, the chain controlled by the Pritzker family.

Kirk said in a statement, "I support Penny Pritzker for Commerce Secretary and will introduce her alongside Senator Durbin at Thursday's confirmation hearing. I believe that, based on her extensive experience in business, she will put jobs and economic growth first. I met with Ms. Pritzker and found her to be someone who is willing to take on special interests, and I am confident her successful private-sector record and close ties to the business community will be beneficial to all of Illinois."

WASHINGTON--After first giving her a pass, the union representing Hyatt Hotel workers on Monday protested President Barack Obama's nomination of Penny Pritzker to be Commerce Secretary.

Pritzker's Senate confirmation hearing is Thursday morning. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), a strong Pritzker backer, will be introducing Pritzker at her hearing. Pritzker, I'm told, is expecting Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), who has not committed to supporting her, to also be with her when she is introduced.

"It is a hard assignment to get approved in the Senate, when (Republicans) are determined to filibuster and slow down every appointment," Durbin said.

Pritzker's family founded the giant hotel chain and Pritzker sits on the board, a position she will relinquish if she is confirmed she said in financial disclosure papers filed last week.

After Obama tapped Pritzker, the union, UNITE HERE Local 1 issued a bland release not attacking Pritzker by name.

In a statement released on Monday, Cathy Youngblood, a Hyatt housekeeper who has led a national campaign to elect a hotel worker to Hyatt's Board of Directors said, "The Commerce Secretary's first concern should be to create good, family sustaining jobs for all Americans. Under Pritzker's direction, Hyatt has led the hotel industry in a race to the bottom by aggressively subcontracting out career hotel jobs to minimum wage temps. This is not the model that will lead our country to a bright economic future."

When I wrote last week about organized labor giving Pritzker a pass, I focused on UNITE HERE Local 1 because the union had been waging a battle with Hyatt for years.

What I wrote last week: "However, after Pritzker was nominated, Unite crafted a statement that went out of its way not to lay a glove on Pritzker, noting only that that the role of commerce secretary "requires a serious focus on the challenge of helping workers achieve full-time jobs with decent wages and safe working conditions."

"Tamarin declined an interview through a Unite spokesman, who told me it was premature to comment before Pritzker's confirmation hearing. His son, Nate Tamarin, works in the White House. He is special assistant to the president for public engagement -- who has been a White House liaison to organized labor."

Nate Tamarin left his White House post on Friday, after four years and four months on the job.

The Sun-Times Mike Sneed had the scoop earlier.

Below, from City Hall....

Experienced Business Leader to Guide Tourism Organization toward Mayor's Goal of 50 Million Annual Visitors

Monday morning, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced the appointment of Desiree Rogers as Chair of the Choose Chicago board. Rogers replaces Bruce Rauner, who resigned from the position earlier in May to pursue personal interests.

"Desiree Rogers is a world-class business executive and a truly proud Chicagoan, and her unique talents and experience are a perfect fit for this important role," said Mayor Emanuel. "I am confident that she will help Choose Chicago reach the next level as it continues to find creative ways to lure tourists and convention business. I am excited at the prospect of working alongside Desiree again and I celebrate both her appointment and her success."

]]> http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2013/05/rahm_taps_desiree_rogers_to_ch.html http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2013/05/rahm_taps_desiree_rogers_to_ch.html Rahm Emanuel desiree rogers rahm emanuel white house Mon, 20 May 2013 09:46:39 -0600 http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2013/05/obama_may_20_2013_week_ahead.html http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2013/05/obama_may_20_2013_week_ahead.html President Obama schedule Mon, 20 May 2013 05:34:06 -0600 http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2013/05/president_obama_official_sched_1197.html http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2013/05/president_obama_official_sched_1197.html President Obama schedule Mon, 20 May 2013 05:28:23 -0600
WASHINGTON -- At the first congressional hearing on the IRS scandal, the soon-departing acting IRS chief Steve Miller balked each time lawmakers used the word "target" Friday to describe, well, the targeting of conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.

After a four-hour House Ways and Means Committee hearing, lawmakers never were able to elicit from Miller the name or names of career IRS employees who devised the plan to scrutinize organizations with "Tea Party" or "patriot" in their names. Miller said what they were doing was a "shortcut" to grapple with a heavy workload.

"I want to apologize on behalf of the Internal Revenue Service for the mistakes that we made and the poor service we provided. The affected organizations and the American public deserve better. Partisanship or even the perception of partisanship has no place at the IRS. It cannot even appear to be a consideration in determining the tax exemption of an organization," Miller said.

Other hearings in the coming days and weeks may get to the very bottom of the scandal; nobody was buying Miller's "poor service" line. Friday was the first stab at putting the story together, in public. President Barack Obama announced this week Miller was booted out. Miller revealed at the hearing he will be allowed to retire under civil service rules.

Illinois has three members on the panel, Rep. Peter Roskam and Rep. Aaron Schock, both Republicans, and Rep. Danny Davis, a Democrat, and they all quizzed Miller.

Roskam and Schock -- and the other Republicans -- were prosecutorial. Davis and the other Democrats tried to take a larger view and steer away from GOP suggestions that this led to the Obama White House. All three were highly critical of the IRS for singling out conservative groups.

After a light round of questions, Davis concluded, "You know, after listening to all of the discussion and reading all of the information that I've read, I am not convinced that this is a great big political conspiracy. I would certainly admit that there has been some ineptitude."

Schock tried to broaden the scope of inquiry by submitting a 150-page document from the Thomas More Society with more "revelations" about anti-abotion and other groups being targeted.

Roskam focused on how the news broke about the scandal, a story in itself of bungling.

Four days before the May 14 release of the Treasury Inspector General Report -- which scorched the IRS for "inappropriate and changing criteria that may have led to inconsistent treatment of organizations" -- Miller et al. decided to reveal the Tea Party targeting in what turned out, in hindsight, to be terrible judgment.

Another IRS official, Lois Lerner, was scheduled to speak May 10 at an American Bar Association May meeting on Taxation at the Grand Hyatt Hotel here.

Miller and Lerner arranged for a question by a friendly attorney to be planted to allow Lerner to disclose the targeting in her answer.

First, Roskam brushed aside Miller's objection that targeting was a "loaded term."

"Mr. Miller, you may object to the word 'targeting,' but it's used in the IG report 16 times. So it's a common understanding of the word, and so I would just suggest that it's a well-settled doctrine and we not waste a lot of time parsing on it," Roskam said.

Roskam pressed on: "Can you walk me through the logic that animated in your mind at that time, where you thought it would be a good idea to make a public disclosure to the American Bar Association rather than coming and following up on your duty to disclose that to the House?"

Miller replied, "So we were going to do it at the same time, I believe; that our intent was to talk to you all at the same time."

But it never happened; Miller said they "called" to "get it on the calendar.

Roskam saw the lame answer for what it was. "You called to try and get on the calendar? Is that all you got?"

]]> http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2013/05/roskam_schock_davis_aim_at_irs.html http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2013/05/roskam_schock_davis_aim_at_irs.html Sat, 18 May 2013 09:09:46 -0600 http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2013/05/president_obama_official_sched_1196.html http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2013/05/president_obama_official_sched_1196.html Sat, 18 May 2013 09:07:26 -0600

Comedy Central caption over Lynn Sweet photo taken at Rose Garden press conference with President Barack Obama and Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan

WASHINGTON -- Add sexual assault in the military as another scandal for the Obama White House -- one that is being overshadowed by the three other scandals commanding most of the attention in recent days.

Obama held a press conference with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and was grilled in the Rose Garden about the IRS targeting Tea Party and other conservative groups and the Justice Department snooping on the AP phone records. Still in play is the controversy over the Obama administration response to the Benghazi, Libya attacks.

Later in the day, Obama called a special meeting with military brass to address the sexual assault scandal, with yet another episode of alleged misconduct surfacing.

When it started to rain during the press conference, Obama called over two white-gloved Marines who shielded the leaders with their Mary Poppins umbrellas while standing at near attention. I snapped a photo of the weird umbrella scene and Tweeted it out. Someone at Comedy Central saw it and added a caption over my picture on their website: "The Marines are currently working on a type of umbrella to shield Obama from scandals."

But it is not going to be that easy for the Obama White House.

IRS: No to special counsel

Obama rejected suggestions that a special counsel be appointed to probe the IRS for targeting conservative groups.

With the Justice Department conducting a criminal investigation and the Treasury inspector general recommending an investigation, "I think we're going to be able to figure out exactly what happened, who was involved, what went wrong, and we're going to be able to implement steps to fix it."

No AP apology

Obama defended the Department of Justice and Attorney General Eric Holder over seizing the phone records of some Associated Press editors and reporters.

"Leaks related to national security can put people at risk," Obama said. AP editors held a story that may have triggered the government hunt, running it after the White House said the information at issue was about to be released by the White House.

"And so I make no apologies, and I don't think the American people would expect me as commander in chief not to be concerned about information that might compromise their missions or might get them killed."

Holder vote of confidence

Holder had been rumored to be leaving since the start of Obama's second term. Now he will stay a bit, so it does not look as if he was run out of town by hostile congressional Republicans. "I have complete confidence in Eric Holder as attorney general," Obama said.

Sex assault: Needs to stop

The latest military sexual assault problem came on Thursday, when the top official dealing with sexual harrasment at Fort Campbell was arrested in connection with a domestic dispute. A sergeant at Fort Hood was accused of running a prostitution ring on Wednesday.

Obama, meeting with military brass, Vice President Joe Biden, Defense Secrertary Chuck Hagel, senior adviser Valerie Jarrett and others said about sexual assault, "Not only is it a crime, not only is it shameful and disgraceful, but it also is going to make and has made the military less effective than it can be.

"So this is not a sideshow," Obama said. "This is not sort of a second-order problem that we're experiencing. This goes to the heart and core of who we are and how effective we're going to be."

]]> http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2013/05/military_sexual_assaults_anoth.html http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2013/05/military_sexual_assaults_anoth.html Barack Obama Fri, 17 May 2013 09:46:31 -0600 http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2013/05/president_obama_official_sched_1195.html http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2013/05/president_obama_official_sched_1195.html President Obama schedule Fri, 17 May 2013 05:44:45 -0600 Sen. John Thune, Penny Pritzker.
(photo courtesy office of Sen. John Thune)

WASHINGTON--Commerce Secretary nominee Penny Pritzker met with South Dakota Sen. John Thune on Thursday; the top Republican on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, holding a confirmation hearing on Pritzker on May 23.

Pritzker's first Senate calls have been with members of that committee--with an exception her first visit, with Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) on Tuesday. Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) has been non-commital on the confirmation of the billionaire Chicago business executive, philanthropist and close personal friend of President Barack Obama.

Thune also met with Transportation nominee Anthony Foxx, the mayor of Charlotte, N.C.

"I would like to thank both nominees for taking the time to meet with me in my office today. The confirmation process should be a rigorous, fair, and thorough exercise and I appreciate the nominees sharing more about their backgrounds, qualifications, and vision for both cabinet agencies," Thune said in a statement.

"Americans continue to suffer from weak economic growth and persistent, high unemployment, and I had an opportunity to hear from Ms. Pritzker how she believes the Commerce Department can better work to address those and other issues. I expressed to Mayor Foxx that our nation faces a number of transportation challenges that will require strong leadership and effective communication with Congress to keep our nation moving.

"I will continue to review the paperwork they submitted in preparation for their confirmation hearings next week and expect that they will continue to be open and forthcoming as the process moves forward."

]]> http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2013/05/penny_pritzker_makes_call_on_s.html http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2013/05/penny_pritzker_makes_call_on_s.html Thu, 16 May 2013 17:22:48 -0600

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

]]> http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2013/05/lynn_sweet_on_msnbcs_news_nati_1.html http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2013/05/lynn_sweet_on_msnbcs_news_nati_1.html Thu, 16 May 2013 16:49:00 -0600 http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2013/05/obama_taps_daniel_werfel_as_ac.html http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2013/05/obama_taps_daniel_werfel_as_ac.html Barack Obama Thu, 16 May 2013 14:16:30 -0600