CU Alum Tapped for Commerce Secretary

In the face of economic crisis, President Barack Obama, CC ’83, called upon Columbia alumnus and third-term U.S. Senator Judd Gregg, CC ’69, (R-N.H.) to be the next Secretary of Commerce.

No stranger to economic issues, Sen. Gregg’s resume includes experience as a member of the Senate Budget Committee and a long-standing record as a staunch fiscal conservative.

While on campus in the late sixties, Gregg attended the college during some of its most turbulent years, as violent and derisive riots erupted over the Vietnam War, civil rights, and Columbia’s Morningside Gym planning.

Nonetheless, Gregg has been a long-time ally of Alma Mater. In May of 2000, he attempted to amend legislation being passed through Congress in order to extend the life of a lucrative biotechnology patent belonging to Columbia. The patent protected a technique pioneered at the University, which uses animal cells to manufacture proteins used in drug production. From 1983 until 2000, the patent generated Columbia University $100 million in royalties per year from pharmaceutical companies.

Throughout his campaign, President Obama promised to put aside partisan bickering in order to solve more pressing issues such as climate change, the “war on terror,” and the economic recession. The nomination of Sen. Gregg, whose voting record puts him opposite to President Obama on many issues, would appear to be a delivery on that pledge.

Yet this move may also be interpreted as a well-disguised partisan power play. If Sen. Gregg is confirmed as Secretary of Commerce, his senate seat will be filled with an appointment from New Hampshire’s democratic governor, John Lynch. Another democratic senate seat would spell a 60-vote, filibuster-proof democratic majority.