Commerce Nominee Reports Seven-figure Income

By SHARON THEIMER

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's nominee for commerce secretary will take a pay cut should he get the job. Gary Locke's income topped $1 million over the past year, according to a financial report released Thursday.

The former Washington governor earned $533,000 in salary from the Seattle law firm Davis Wright Tremaine from January 2008 to the present and a state pension of about $121,000. He also received $101,000 in director's fees from Seattle-based Safeco Insurance Co., $467,000 from deferred Safeco fees and a stock cashout, $15,000 in director's fees from Key Technology Inc. in Walla Walla, Wash., and $19,250 from consulting work for Waggener Edstrom, a Bellevue, Wash., public relations firm.

Cabinet secretaries earn $196,700 a year. The Senate Commerce Committee on Thursday unanimously approved the nomination of Locke, Obama's third choice for the post.

Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said he wants Locke on the job as soon as possible.

"The American people deserve to know that the person working with Congress and this committee every day, to determine the best way to reboot this economy, is a person who — simply put — gets it," Rockefeller said.