ShareThisYou can't talk about Ken Salazar without talking about the off- white Stetson cowboy hat.
You can't talk about the hat without talking about the San Luis Valley, one of the Colorado's poorest regions.
You can't talk about the valley without talking about five generations of the Salazar family ranching and farming before Colorado was a state.
And so it goes.
Colorado's native son makes good. Again.
The news became official earlier this week: U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar is President-elect Barack Obama's pick for Interior secretary.
Salazar -- who as a teen decided against becoming a Catholic priest after attending a Franciscan seminary for two years, who ran a couple of bilingual radio stations and a Dairy Queen with his wife -- broke into the political sphere in 1986. That's when Democratic Gov. Roy Romer hired the then 31-year-old water lawyer and rancher as his chief legal counsel.
Four years later, Romer tapped Salazar as director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources.
"He is an excellent choice," Romer said of Salazar's appointment. "He's a very sincere individual. He believes deeply in a value structure. He is loyal to his family, to his colleagues he works with. He loves Colorado."
In an oft-told story, Salazar and his seven siblings grew up on a ranch with no electricity and no telephone. He never forgot those rural roots.
Ask people about Salazar, 53, a member of the Senate Finance Committee, and they often point to his ability to garner respect from farmers and oil company executives alike.
"He listens to people," Romer said. "He is able to balance one side of an argument with the other and finally come up with a decision that is best."
Salazar resigned from Romer's inner circle in 1994 and returned to private practice.
But he missed public service. He knew then that Colorado Attorney General Gale Norton, a Republican, was term-limited. Salazar decided to go for the job.
He was elected Colorado's first Hispanic attorney general in 1998. His name gained prominence after the slayings at Columbine High School in 1999. He convened a grand jury in an effort to get more answers.
In 2004, he was elected to the U.S. Senate. His brother John, a potato farmer, was elected to the U.S. House. Both dislodged Republicans and became a compelling story inside the Beltway.
On his Web site, Ken Salazar describes himself as a "key leader in creating a clean and renewable energy economy that is less dependent on foreign oil."
He prides himself on his fight to broaden the Children's Health Insurance Program. He also describes himself as a "champion for Colorado's farmers, ranchers, and rural communities."
Salazar has a reputation for reaching across the aisle to get things done.
U.S. Attorney for Colorado Troy Eid recalled meeting Salazar in 1998 when Salazar was elected attorney general. Eid was about to become chief legal counsel for former Republican Gov. Bill Owens.
"One of the very first things he did was give me a call," Eid said. "He said, 'If you'd like to talk about what it's like to be chief legal counsel and how to avoid the mistakes we made, let's meet.'"
Eid accepted. The two talked for more than three hours.
"Out of that discussion a lot of good things Gov. Owens did in terms of his ethics system arose," Eid said. "It turned out to be typical of Ken Salazar. He reached out. He wanted to talk about something he experienced and make sure that worked well for the state of Colorado."
Salazar's life is a rags to riches success story. He and his seven siblings lived on a ranch without electricity or phone service. Yet they all graduated from college.
Restaurateur Paul Sandoval, 64, met the family when he served in the state legislature from 1974 to 1982 and traveled to Alamosa.
"We were discussing bilingual education and he was in high school. We had a community meeting. He approached myself and others."
It wasn't just the young man's confidence that piqued Sandoval's interest, but the "uniqueness" of his questions about "wanting kids educated in the manner where they could graduate and go on into higher education."
Salazar graduated from Colorado College in 1977 with a degree in political science and earned his law degree from the University of Michigan in 1981. He paid his way with scholarships, work study and student loans. All eight Salazar children earned college degrees; four earned graduate degrees.
Ken Salazar said he still calls his mother, Emma, mi santa, or "my saint." His father, Henry, now deceased, also had a major impact on him.
(Julie Poppen writes for the Rocky Mountain News in Denver)
