John Salazar accepts ag commissioner job

By Charles Ashby
Wednesday, January 5, 2011

U.S. Rep. John Salazar will be agriculture commissioner when Gov.-elect John Hickenlooper takes office next week, the Democrat’s transition team confirmed minutes ago.

Salazar, the Manassa Democrat who lost his re-election bid last fall, officially accepted the job, Hickenlooper spokesman Eric Brown said. Sources inside the transition team previously told GJSentinel.com that Salazar said that if he took the job, he would commit to it for Hickenlooper’s entire four-year term. As a result, he likely won’t seek to challenge U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton, the Republican, who defeated him in November.

Hickenlooper also announced that Mike King, of Montrose, would continue to serve as executive director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources.

King had been deputy director of DNR for several years before being named by Gov. Bill Ritter to the Cabinet post.