Noriega considered for post as token Hispanic by Obama

Houston Chronicle:

State Rep. Rick Noriega of Houston, the unsuccessful U.S. Senate candidate who served in Afghanistan and on the Mexican border as a Texas Army National Guard officer, met with President-elect Barack Obama today as Obama worked on filling leadership positions in his administration, according to confidential sources.

Democrat Noriega, who lost the Nov. 4 election to Republican incumbent John Cornyn, declined to discuss the meeting in Chicago. Obama's transition team spokesmen also declined to comment.

The meeting appeared to be a potential first step toward consideration of Noriega, 50, for appointment to an administration position, and no specific job was mentioned, according to people close to the process who spoke on the condition of not being identified.

With Clinton administration official Federico Peña as a go-between, Noriega was invited a few days ago to meet with Obama, the sources said.

Peña, secretary of transportation and energy under President Clinton, co-chaired the Obama campaign and was a key Hispanic figure in the drive to elect the Democratic presidential ticket. Noriega is Hispanic.

Houston political consultant Marc Campos, a Hispanic Democratic activist, noted on his daily Internet diary today that "there is some grumbling going on in Latino political circles nationwide; there haven't been any Latinos announced for key positions in the new Obama administration — nothing, nada, zilch. Unless I am missing something, there haven't been any Texans named either. Stay tuned on this one."

...

Hispanics do not appear to be getting much respect from the new Democrat administration. It appears that Obama just used them to get elected.

The fact is that Noriega was not that good a candidate in his race against Sen. Cornyn. It makes you wonder why more qualified Hispanics have not surfaced in the Obama administration.

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