John Kerry's position on Cabinet Members

Cabinet Members: Throughout history, the presidents' cabinet members have always been in just enough focus to be seen by the public while advising our presidents on complex problems. When a president is elected, sixteen department heads are also elected who solve problems related to the duties of their respective offices. Each has strong influence in deciding policy of the president.

Description of candidate's position: Senator Kerry, of course, will not have a cabinet unless or until he is elected so all we can do is speculate. Possible choices thought of by the Associated Press include UN Ambassador Richard Holbrooke as Secretary of State, General Wesley Clark as Defense Secretary, Jamie Gorlick (Department of Justice), Florida Senator Bob Graham (Homeland Security), Roger Altman (Treasury), Gateway co-founder Ted Waitt (Department of Commerce), New Hampshire Gov. Jeanne Shaheen (Health and Human Services), North Carolina Gov. Jim Hunt (Education), California Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald (Transportation), Richard Gephardt (Labor), Iowa Gov. Vilsack (Agriculture), Mark Gearan (Interior), former Georgia Senator Max Cleland (Veterans Affairs), Maria Cantwell (Energy) and of course John Edwards as Vice President. Link In addition, Kerry would create a true Director of Intelligence and Small Business Administration position at the cabinet level. Senator Jamie Gorlick, who was on the 9/11 Commission supports revising the Patriot Act. General Wesley Clark was a presidential candidate who says the war in Iraq has been handled poorly. Also, Mark Gearan would not support drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge.

Quotation from candidate: "As president, I will restore the credibility of our intelligence community by ensuring the basic integrity of the intelligence process. Our intelligence personnel serve our nation with great dedication, often doing an incredibly difficult job at significant personal risk. We should honor their service by ensuring that they are able to live up to their duty to "speak truth to power". To get the most accurate information possible, we must assure diversity of thought and dissent, forceful challenging of assumptions and better use of open source, publicly available information. We must also keep those experts who do analysis fully separated from those who conduct operations, while maintaining full transparency about the information analysts use. As president, I will insist that they be allowed to operate independently, without political pressure or bias." (Putting a cabinet-level Director of Intelligence position) Link

Assessment of Proposal:

Positive: The League of Conservation Voters endorses John Kerry. As a pro-environment group, they claim that he has voted with them over 90% of the time, the highest of any presidential candidate. Link

Negative: The Fraternal Order of Police have endorsed President Bush claiming he and his administration has done more for law enforcement than anyone in the last five decades. Link

Comparison: The policies of the Bush Administration and the would-be policies of a Kerry Administration would differ in many areas. Each of their cabinets clearly would advocate their different ideas on the war in Iraq, the Patriot Act, the decision to drill in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge, and many more.

Link to Bush's Cabinet Members brief