Tag: Inez Moore Tenenbaum

Returning a political favor, President Barack Obama has nominated Inez Moore Tenenbaum to be the new chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Tenenbaum, the former state superintendent of education in South Carolina, was an early backer of Obama’s presidential race and helped him win the crucial South Carolina presidential primary.

Hint: Doubleclick on boxes with plus signs to expand, or click the tool bar at left for more options.

If confirmed by the Senate, Tenenbaum, a lawyer, will take over an agency that has been faulted for not protecting the public from unsafe toys and other products. She would replace Nancy A. Nord, a George W. Bush nominee.

Tenenbaum, 58, served two elected terms as South Carolina’s education chief from 1999 to 2007. Test scores rose while she was in office, and she brought full-day kindergarten to the state.

In 2004, she ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate, losing to Republican Jim DeMint.

In April 2007, Tenenbaum endorsed Obama for president. At the time, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York was the favorite to win the Democratic nomination.

During the Democratic primary, Tenenbaum served as the steering committee co-chair of Obama’s campaign in South Carolina, where the primary proved critical.

Obama won easily, gaining his second primary victory. He also regained the momentum he established by winning in Iowa but had lost by losing in New Hampshire.

On primary night in South Carolina, Obama’s gratitude toward Tenenbaum was obvious, wrote columnist Howard Fineman in Newsweek.

“When he climbed down off the stage … the first person he embraced (after his wife, Michelle) was Tenenbaum,” Fineman wrote in December.

Fineman went on to predict correctly that, even though Obama had a debt to Tenenbaum, he wouldn’t name her U.S. secretary of education, despite her background in the field.

That proved to be the case, the post going to Arne Duncan, the CEO of Chicago public schools, as Fineman wrote it might.

In announcing the nomination of Tenenbaum, the White House stressed that the Consumer Product Safety Commission will have a high priority in the Obama administration.

“We must do more to protect the American public – especially our nation’s children — from being harmed by unsafe products,” Obama said in a statement.

The president has increased the number of commissioners from three to five and he hopes to double the commission’s budget.

Obama has also nominated Robert S. Adler, a lawyer and former adviser to the commission, to serve as a commissioner.

Adler, who is now a professor at the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School, served on the Obama’s presidential transition team.

Click here to sign up for the Muckety Newsletter

• Smoot rakes in millions for Obama campaign – February 21, 2008
• Of the many pardoned by Bill, few give to Hillary – May 1, 2008
• Echoes of Camelot as a Kennedy endorses Obama – January 26, 2008
• Six seek Republican National Committee chair – January 11, 2009
• Nugen quietly courts Obama superdelegates – March 18, 2008
• Robert Gibbs, another tough guy in Obama inner circle – November 9, 2008
• Is Tim Kaine too much like Barack Obama to be VP choice? – August 1, 2008
• Joe Lieberman’s donations to Democrats may help mend fences – November 13, 2008
• Leo Hindery’s generosity helped cause Daschle’s woes – February 2, 2009
• Mattel’s experts in consumer trust – August 16, 2007