Elaine Chao

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Elaine L. Chao 趙小蘭
24th United States Secretary of Labor
In office January 29, 2001 – January 20, 2009
President	George W. Bush
Preceded by	Alexis Herman
Succeeded by	Hilda Solis
12th Director of the Peace Corps
In office 1991 – 1992
President	George H. W. Bush
Preceded by	Paul Coverdell
Succeeded by	Carol Bellamy
Born	March 26, 1953 (1953-03-26) (age 56) Taipei, Taiwan
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Mitch McConnell
Alma mater	Mount Holyoke College Harvard Business School Massachusetts Institute of Technology Dartmouth College Columbia University

Elaine Lan Chao (traditional Chinese: 趙小蘭; pinyin: Zhào Xiǎolán; Wade-Giles: Chao Hsiao-lan;^[1] born March 26, 1953) served as the 24th United States Secretary of Labor in the Cabinet of President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2009. She was the first Chinese American and the first Asian American woman to be appointed to a President's cabinet in American history.^[2] Chao was the only cabinet member to serve under George W. Bush for his entire administration.^[3] She is married to U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky), the current U.S. Senate Minority Leader.

Contents 1 Childhood and education 2 Career 2.1 George H.W. Bush Administration 2.2 United Way and Heritage Foundation 2.3 Labor Secretary 2.3.1 Controversy 2.4 Timeline 3 Family 4 Notes and references 5 External links

[edit] Childhood and education

The eldest of six daughters, Chao was born in Taipei, Taiwan, to James S.C. Chao (趙錫成 Zhào Xīchéng), a Shanghainese entrepreneur, and Ruth Mu-lan Chu (朱木蘭 Zhū Mùlán), a historian. Her parents had fled to Taiwan from mainland China after the Chinese Communists took over as a result of the Chinese Civil War in 1949. At the age of eight, Elaine Chao and her family immigrated to the United States, where her father had already settled a few years earlier. She attended Syosset High School on Long Island, New York.

Chao received her B.A. in Economics from Mount Holyoke College in 1975 and her MBA from the Harvard Business School in 1979. Chao also studied at MIT, Dartmouth College, and Columbia University.

[edit] Career

[edit] George H.W. Bush Administration

In 1986, Chao returned to Washington D.C. as Deputy Administrator of the Maritime Administration in the US Department of Transportation. From 1988 to 1989, she served as Chairwoman of the Federal Maritime Commission.

In 1989, President George H. W. Bush nominated Chao to be Deputy Secretary of Transportation, the number two position in the department. From 1991 to 1992, Chao was Director of the Peace Corps. She was the first Asian American to serve in any of these positions. She expanded the Peace Corps's presence in Eastern Europe and Central Asia by establishing the first Peace Corps programs in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, and other newly independent states of the former Soviet Union.

[edit] United Way and Heritage Foundation

Following her service in the government, Chao worked for four years as President and Chief Executive Officer of United Way of America. She is credited with returning credibility and public trust back to the organization after an embarrassing financial mismanagement scandal involving former United Way of America president William Aramony. From 1996 until her appointment as Secretary of Labor, Chao was a Distinguished Fellow with the conservative Heritage Foundation, a Washington think tank.

[edit] Labor Secretary

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During Secretary Chao's tenure, the Department of Labor updated the white collar overtime regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act, which has been on the agenda of every Administration since 1977. Complaints from the business community about overtime-related litigation spurred the Bush Administration to update the regulations.^[4] In 2003, the Department achieved the first major update of union financial disclosure regulations in more than 40 years, giving rank and file members enhanced information on how their dues are spent. The Department has set new worker protection enforcement records, including recovering record back wages for vulnerable low-wage immigrant workers. The Department has also launched comprehensive reform of the nation's publicly funded worker training programs. In 2006 and 2007, the Department successfully implemented the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act of 2006 (MINER Act). On August 17, 2006, President Bush signed the Pension Protection Act, which protects the 44 million workers whose retirement security rests upon private sector defined benefit pension plans.

The longest-serving Secretary of Labor since Frances Perkins, 1933-45, under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Secretary Chao placed great emphasis on staffing, often stating that "personnel is policy." Presidential appointees and non-career members of the Senior Executive Service reporting to Secretary Chao served on average far longer than the typical 18-month tenure associated with executive branch political appointees. The average stay for the Department's presidential appointees under Secretary Chao was 5.3 years. The average tenure for non-career members of the Senior Executive Service at the Department serving under Secretary Chao was 5.4 years. Secretary Chao’s sustained focus on strategic management of human capital helped the Department achieve record results in its enforcement programs and 12 straight clean audit opinions.

After Donald Rumsfeld had stepped down from his position as Secretary of Defense in November 2006, she became the only original Cabinet member still serving in the Bush Administration in the same position to which she was appointed.

[edit] Controversy

Chao's Labor Department gave Congress inaccurate and unreliable numbers that understated the expense of contracting out its employees' work to private firms, according to a Government Accountability Office report issued a report on November 24, 2008.^[5] In its response to the report, the Labor Department noted that it was already working on improving its accounting system to better track costs and that the vast majority of DOL employees retained their positions as part of the competitive process.

Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao began having some agency workers compete for their jobs in 2004, but since then few employees have actually lost their jobs and had their pay cut as a result of the privatizing effort, GAO found. Of the 314 federal workers who had a job change as a result of competitions with private firms, 263, or 84 percent, were either reassigned to positions with the same title and pay or were promoted. Of the 16 workers who were demoted, 14 kept their same professional grade or pay.

Twenty-two employees were demoted or laid off, and all were African American.

—The Washington Post, "GAO: Labor Dept. Misled Congress"^[5] According to a Department of Labor's Inspector General audit report, the High Growth Job Initiative at the Department's Employment and Training Administration could not fully document that certain grant awards were awarded with competition.^[6]

The Employment and Training Administration responded that it would better document competition in grants in the future and noted that policies were followed. The Center for American Progress, which reported on this topic, did not note that completely non-competitive grants are earmarked through the Department of Labor to labor unions.^{[citation needed]}

A report by the United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform alleged that Chao and other White House officials campaigned for Republican candidates at taxpayer expense.^[7] The report describes this as a violation of the Hatch Act of 1939, which restricts the use of public funds for partisan gain,^[8] but no action was taken by any entity with responsibility for enforcing the Hatch Act.

[edit] Timeline

• 1983: White House Fellow, Office of Policy Development, the White House
• 1986: Deputy Administrator, Maritime Administration, US Department of Transportation
• 1988–89: Chairwoman, Federal Maritime Commission
• 1989: Deputy Secretary of Transportation
• 1991–92: Director, Peace Corps
• 1992–96: President and Chief Executive Officer, United Way of America
• 1996: Distinguished Fellow, Heritage Foundation
• 2001–09: U.S. Secretary of Labor

[edit] Family

In 1993, Chao married Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican Leader of the United States Senate. She has three stepdaughters from her husband's previous marriage to Sherrill Redmon: Eleanor (Elly), Claire, and Porter.

[edit] Notes and references

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Elaine Chao

• Union Reports, Other Reports, and Collective Bargaining Agreements
• Elaine L. Chao's official website

Government offices
Preceded by Paul Coverdell	Director of the Peace Corps 1991–1992	Succeeded by Carol Bellamy
Political offices
Preceded by Alexis Herman	United States Secretary of Labor Served Under: George W. Bush 2001-2009	Succeeded by Hilda Solis

v • d • e Directors of the Peace Corps Shriver • Vaughn • Blatchford • O'Donnell • Hess • Craw • Dellenback • Payton • Celeste • Ruppe • Coverdell • Chao • Carol Bellamy • Gearan • Schneider • Vasquez • Tschetter

v • d • e United States Secretaries of Labor Secretaries of Commerce & Labor Cortelyou • Metcalf • Straus • Nagel Secretaries of Labor Wilson • Davis • Doak • Perkins • Schwellenbach • Tobin • Durkin • Mitchell • Goldberg • Wirtz • Shultz • Hodgson • Brennan • Dunlop • Usery • Marshall • Donovan • Brock • McLaughlin • Dole • Martin • Reich • Herman • Chao • Solis

v • d • e Cabinet of President George W. Bush (2001–2009)   Cabinet Secretary of State Colin Powell (2001–2005) • Condoleezza Rice (2005–2009) Secretary of the Treasury Paul O'Neill (2001–2002) • John Snow (2003–2006) • Henry Paulson (2006–2009) Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld (2001–2006) • Robert Gates (2006–2009) Attorney General John Ashcroft (2001–2005) • Alberto Gonzales (2005–2007) • Michael Mukasey (2007–2009) Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton (2001–2006) • Dirk Kempthorne (2006–2009) Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman (2001–2005) • Mike Johanns (2005–2007) • Ed Schafer (2008–2009) Secretary of Commerce Donald Evans (2001–2005) • Carlos Gutierrez (2005–2009) Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao (2001–2009) Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson (2001–2005) • Mike Leavitt (2005–2009) Secretary of Education Rod Paige (2001–2005) • Margaret Spellings (2005–2009) Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Mel Martinez (2001–2003) • Alphonso Jackson (2003–2008) • Steve Preston (2008–2009) Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta (2001–2006) • Mary Peters (2006–2009) Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham (2001–2005) • Samuel Bodman (2005–2009) Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony Principi (2001–2005) • Jim Nicholson (2005–2007) • James Peake (2007–2009) Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge (2003–2005) • Michael Chertoff (2005–2009)   Cabinet-level Vice President Dick Cheney (2001–2009) White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card (2001–2006) • Joshua Bolten (2006–2009) Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Christine Whitman (2001–2003) • Mike Leavitt (2003–2005) • Stephen Johnson (2005–2009) Director of the Office of Management and Budget Mitch Daniels (2001–2003) • Joshua Bolten (2003–2006) • Rob Portman (2006–2007) • Jim Nussle (2007–2009) Director of National Drug Control Policy John Walters (2001–2009) Trade Representative Robert Zoellick (2001–2005) • Rob Portman (2005–2006) • Susan Schwab (2006–2009) Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency Joe Allbaugh (2001–2003)

Persondata
NAME	Chao, Elaine
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Chao, Elaine Lao
SHORT DESCRIPTION	24th United States Secretary of Labor
DATE OF BIRTH	March 26, 1953
PLACE OF BIRTH	Taipei, Taiwan
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH