Colorado: Tom Strickland

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced Tuesday afternoon that fourth-generation Colorado resident Will Shafroth, who ran unsuccessfully for Congress last summer, will be the department’s deputy assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks. A few weeks ago Salazar nominated another Colorado politician as Shafroth’s boss, naming former Senate candidate and one-time U.S. Attorney Tom Strickland as his assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks.

The announcement from Salazar’s office:

Salazar Names Land Conservation Leader Will Shafroth Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has named Will Shafroth, a land conservationist executive and founding director of the Colorado Conservation Trust and Great Outdoors Colorado Trust Fund, as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

WASHINGTON — Newly minted Interior Secretary Ken Salazar named former U.S. Attorney Tom Strickland as his chief of staff Wednesday, bringing in a high-powered ex-prosecutor to help him clean up the troubled department.

Salazar was sworn in as interior secretary at a White House ceremony Wednesday morning after resigning as Colorado's senior senator at 5 p.m. Tuesday. He spent his first day meeting with assistant secretaries and senior staff members.

He has promised to assemble a team of marquee names to help him run a department that lords over millions of acres of public lands in the West. And in Strickland, the new interior secretary has picked a wily political operator who knows how to navigate the corridors of Washington.

WASHINGTON — Newly minted Interior Secretary Ken Salazar named former U.S. Attorney Tom Strickland as his chief of staff Wednesday, bringing in a high-powered ex-prosecutor to help him clean up the troubled department.

Salazar was sworn in as interior secretary at a White House ceremony Wednesday morning after resigning as Colorado's senior senator at 5 p.m. Tuesday. He spent his first day meeting with assistant secretaries and senior staff members.

He has promised to assemble a team of marquee names to help him run a department that lords over millions of acres of public lands in the West. And in Strickland, the new interior secretary has picked a wily political operator who knows how to navigate the corridors of Washington.

Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper on Monday confirmed that he is interested in Colorado's looming U.S. Senate vacancy.

In a brief interview, Hickenlooper touted his experience as a business owner and his time as mayor as pluses for Gov. Bill Ritter to consider when weighing whom he should appoint to replace Sen. Ken Salazar, who has been nominated for secretary of the Interior Department.

Ritter will appoint the person to serve out the remainder of Salazar's term. An election would be held in 2010.

"I love my job," Hickenlooper said. "I'm in that unique position in that I've got one of the best jobs that a person like me can have.