PRITZKER’S LONG WAIT IS OVER
The Pritzker prize. . .
It finally happened. Billionairess Penny Pritzker finally got a birthday present she really wanted: the job of U.S. Commerce secretary — an appointment Sneed first tipped in January. So what was the hold-up? “Nothing really,” said a top Dem White House source. “They just didn’t want to do her alone. Her vetting was done a month ago, but the White House likes to do such announcements in pairs — and they were waiting for the vetting to be completed on Michael Froman as the new U.S. trade representative.”
The stunner: The absence at Pritzker’s appointment of Marty Nesbitt, President Barack Obama’s best buddy, who introduced Penny to Obama. Back in 1998, Nesbitt pitched a business idea to Pritzker — an airport parking company called The Parking Spot. She bit. He got rich. However, the breakup of the Pritzker fortune brought the sale of the company Nesbitt built. He stepped down last December.
Former White House strategist David Axelrod, who was in attendance at the Pritzker appointment, told Sneed: “It was nice. We and her family gathered in the Roosevelt Room before the announcement.”
Pitching for pennies?
Dealing for dollars? Pritzker, a Hyatt hotel heiress who raised scads of cash for Obama, scaled back her role as national co-chair of the 2012 Obama campaign after dealing with animosity from major donors she recruited who were upset with Obama’s performance — and personal attacks from union leaders based on how Hyatt treated their workers.
The bankshot: Sneed hears Obama, who was worried about Pritzker’s financial commitment, offered her more than a ride on Air Force One last July from San Francisco to Portland, Ore.
Word is Pritzker was given a carrot: the Cabinet spot?