US President-Elect Appoints Four More Cabinet MembersUS President-elect George W. Bush Friday chose Rod Paige, the Houston superintendent of schools, to be secretary of education and named former Colorado Attorney General Gale Norton to be secretary of the interior.He nominated Anthony Principi to be secretary of veterans affairs, the department in which he once served as deputy. Meanwhile, Bush, who will be inaugurated as the 43rd US president on January 20, also named Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson to become secretary of health and human services. The four Cabinet appointments left only three slots to be filled in the new year, the secretaries of labor, energy and transportation. Paige becomes the second black member of the Bush Cabinet. The other is former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell, the designated secretary of state. Thompson, in his fourth term in Wisconsin, is the nation's longest-serving Republican governor, and was an early leader in the reform movement to cut welfare rolls. Norton served eight years as Colorado attorney general. "It is with great pride that I announce these four candidates today," Bush told a press conference at his transition headquarters in Washington. On Thursday, Bush said that he hoped to complete his Cabinet selections by the end of next week. He was scheduled to leave Washington shortly after his news conference to return to Texas State to celebrate the New Year, and no new appointments were expected to be announced until next Tuesday. |
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