Brown breezes through Hill confirmation test - Secretary of Commerce-designate Ron Brown

Jet, Jan 25, 1993

He will become "the poorest American" ever to serve as secretary of commerce, but as the first Black in the traditionally staid business post, he well may become the most remembered.

First to run the gamut of Cabinet confirmation hearings, Commerce Secretary-designate Ron Brown capitalized on a three-hour Commerce committee hearing before a standing-room-only audience.

By the time chairman Sen. Ernest Hollings (D., S.C.) rapped his gavel to adjourn, dapper Washington lawyer Brown had breezed through the questions, dropped a few jokes, mentioned a goal to improve minority enterprise, and called for beefing up American business abroad - "not with research honors but with profits."

Downplaying charges that his past experience highlighted foreign businesses more than American ones, Brown cracked, "I'm a good advocate who gets things done. I don't think there's going to be a problem with conflict or ethics."

"As Chairman of the Democratic Party, I brought divergent interests together," he stated. "As the advocate of American commerce, I will bring the same approach to the Commerce Department-reaching across old lines of division between business, government and labor."

At one point, Sen. Hollings described Brown as "the poorest American" ever to serve in the Cabinet post. Other senators,, however, applauded the lawyer with the service-oriented record with the National Urban League, for turning down a yearly million-plus private legal salary to enter federal service. His annual Cabinet salary will not reach $150,000 a year.

Further illustration of his dedication came when senators noted that for four years he received $85,000 for his DNC chairmanship while he masterminded the political comeback of the decade.