Kenneth Lee "Ken" Salazar is the current United States Secretary of the Interior, in the administration of President Barack Obama. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as a United States Senator from Colorado from 2005 to 2009. He and Mel Martinez were the first Hispanic U.S. Senators since 1977; they were joined by Bob Menendez in January 2006. Prior to his election to the U.S. Senate, he served as Attorney General of Colorado from 1999 to 2005. On December 17, 2008, President-elect Obama announced he would nominate Salazar as U.S. Secretary of the Interior. The... environmentalist movement's reaction to this nomination was mixed. Previously, Salazar supported the nomination of Gale Norton to Secretary of the Interior, President George W. Bush's first appointee who preceded Salazar as Colorado Attorney General. On January 20, 2009, Salazar was confirmed by unanimous consent in the Senate. Ken Salazar was born in Alamosa, Colorado, the son of Emma M. and Henry S. Salazar. He grew up near Manassa, in the community of Los Rincones in the San Luis Valley area of south-central Colorado.
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