McKee, Raimondo will work together on office transition
PROVIDENCE — Lt. Gov. Daniel J. McKee on Friday said he is ready to begin a transition with Gov. Gina Raimondo to a new role as her replacement in the Governor’s office.
Raimondo was named by President-Elect Joe Biden to serve as his administration’s Commerce Secretary during a press conference in Delaware she attended.
With Raimondo leaving her office, McKee, former mayor of Cumberland and still a resident of that community, will move up to serve as Rhode Island’s governor for the remainder of Raimondo’s current four-year term of office, her last under the state’s term limits.
McKee addressed the transition in a statement issued by his office on Friday.
“Governor Raimondo and I spoke yesterday, and I congratulated her on her nomination to serve as Commerce Secretary. It was a productive call, and we discussed the importance of a smooth transition,” McKee said. “Crucially, our state’s COVID response will not be impacted. Governor Raimondo and I agreed it is in the best interest of Rhode Island that the team leading our state’s COVID response remains in place throughout the pandemic as we distribute the vaccine and continue Rhode Island’s robust response. Nothing is more important to the success of our state.”
The Lt. Governor went on to describe the importance of a smooth transition in the governor’s office.
“In the coming days, we will be working closely together to plan a smooth transition that prioritizes the needs of Rhode Islanders,” McKee said. “As a lifelong Rhode Islander whose family has owned and operated small businesses in Rhode Island for over one hundred years, I love our state and I’m honored by the opportunity to serve the public as
economy is mighty on the strength of our small businesses and innovative technologies,” Raimondo tweeted Thursday night. She pledged that as commerce secretary, “I will harness that same American ingenuity to create good-paying union jobs and build our economy back better than ever before.”
The Biden administration’s stance on international trade will likely mark a significant shift away from President Donald Trump’s heavy-on-tar
iffs approach. Trump slapped tariffs on Chinese steel and other goods to punish Beijing for what the administration said were unfair currency practices and potential national security threats. Those moves were largely opposed by U.S. allies, including Canada.
Biden opposes Chinese tariffs and has promised to improve U.S. relationships with countries around the hemisphere and globe. But he hasn’t indicated that undoing the tariffs will be a top priority. Instead Biden has promised to oversee an aggressive “Buy American” campaign that would use federal funds to
purchase $400 billion of U.S.made goods and spend another $300 billion on new research and development from domestic technology firms.
Walsh, 53, has been Boston’s mayor since 2014. When the Democrat took the oath of office in 2018 for his second term, Biden presided over the inauguration. Walsh was a state representative for more than a decade before becoming mayor.
He also has a long history with organized labor, formerly serving as president of Laborers Local 223 and heading the Boston Building Trades — a union umbrella organization.
The son of Irish immigrants, Walsh grew up in Boston’s working-class Dorchester neighborhood. He survived a childhood bout with cancer and has been open about his early struggles with alcohol, using his history with addiction to encourage people to get help.
He opened his speech at the 2016 Democratic National Convention by saying: “Good evening. My name is Marty Walsh, and I’m an alcoholic.”
Walsh on Thursday pledged as labor secretary to work as hard for working people and those trying to move into the middle class “as you do for your families and livelihoods. You have my word.”
Leaders of the AFL-CIO and the Service Employees International Union, two major organized labor groups, backed Walsh’s selection.
Biden’s pick for the leader of the Small Business Administration, Guzman, is the current director of California’s Office of the Small Business Advocate in the California governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development.
Guzman has played a role in the state’s economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. She is a former senior adviser and deputy chief of staff at the SBA, the federal agency she’s been tapped to lead, and was an adviser at the first California-chartered, Latino-formed business bank to form in Los Angeles in over 35 years.