Press accounts report that the progressive wing of the Democratic Party are striving to select Keith Ellison as the new head of the party while the traditionalists favor former Governor Granholm. Ellison was born in Louisiana but grew up in Detroit and holds degrees from the University of Detroit High School and Wayne State. He has the distinction of being the first person of the Moslem faith to serve in Congress but is no long the only Moslem in that body.
The press also reports that the president-elect has selected Dr. Ben Carson to be head of Housing and Urban Development. This is after Dr. Carson apparently expressed no interest in heading Health and Human Services. Dr. Carson graduated from Southwestern High and the University of Michigan.
The appointment seems inappropriate. There are a tremendous number of key decisions that should be made about federal urban policy and HUD has
an annual budget of 33 billion. So far as I know, Dr. Carson has never administered any major program or written about the urban issues that affect the welfare of about four-fifths of our population.
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