Pritzker portrait unveiling brings bipartisan civility
WASHINGTON — Former Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker returned to her old digs Wednesday for her official portrait unveiling, sharing a stage with Trump Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and providing, for a brief time, an oasis of civility in a city churning with chaos.
With controversies dogging President Donald Trump — the latest over his contacts with families of troops killed in action, and his Twitter posts and comments taking on the NFL, Hillary Clinton, Republicans, the Russia probe and the news media, just to name a few — Ross talked about how Pritzker, who served under President Barack Obama, helpfully passed the baton during a ceremony in the Commerce Department auditorium.
Pritzker left her successor “a very thoughtful note to help my transition into the job. I still refer to it. One thing I quickly discovered when I took office was that the secretary had left some big shoes to fill, but those shoes turned out to be track shoes,” said Ross, a reference to Pritzker, a triathelete.
Actually, that Pritzker note was a 22- page detailed memo on the inner workings of the department.
Pritzker decided not to have her portrait painted, departing from tradition. Rather, photographer Mark Seliger, whose covers include Vogue, Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone, shot her picture.
Pritzker made a statement on where she wanted the photo taken: The photo shoot was last summer at the high- tech UI Labs on Goose Island in Chicago, an innovation center created in 2014 under Obama — a university, government and industry consortium.
“We need the Department of Commerce now more than ever,” Pritzker said in her remarks. “The forces of automation and digitalization and globalization are transforming our economy and the nature of work itself.”
Before the event, Pritzker met with Ross, where they avoided divisive matters and instead talked about, she told the Sun- Times, “the complexity of working with Congress” and topics where they shared common ground.
The Pritzker event was a mini- reunion of Obama administration players: William Daley, a former Obama chief of staff who was Commerce secretary between 1997 and 2000 ( yes, he has a portrait) was there, and so was Judge Merrick Garland, the Lincolnwood-raised Obama Supreme Court pick whose nomination was blocked by Senate Republicans in one of the most partisan chapters of the Obama era.
Also, former HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan, former HHS Secretary Sylvia Burell, former National Security Adviser Tom Donilon, former U. S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and Cindy Moelis, the president of the Chicago- based Pritzker Traubert Foundation and former director of the Commission on White House Fellowships.
Since returning to Chicago, Pritzker has jumped back into private business; her PSP Capital invests in high- tech services and data analytic companies. On Monday, Microsoft announced Pritzker would be joining its board. She is also on the board of the Obama Foundation and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.