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Friday, November 21, 2008

From N.M. 'Geek' to Homeland Chief?

FOR THE RECORD: Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano wasn't born in Albuquerque as reported in this story. She was born in New York and her family moved to Albuquerque in 1964.

By Leslie Linthicum
Journal Staff Writer
       If the vetting process is under way for the next Homeland Security secretary, widely rumored to be Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, the report from her father should pose no problem.
    "Never had to post bond," Leonard Napolitano, the retired dean of the University of New Mexico Medical School, likes to joke when asked about his overachieving, honor-roll only daughter.
    Several news outlets have reported that Janet Napolitano, 50, will be Barack Obama's pick to head Homeland Security, which includes terrorism deterrence as well as immigration, customs, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Coast Guard.
    Napolitano was among the first governors to endorse Obama and the president-elect's advisers have said she is the top contender for the job of heading the massive agency created by Congress after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
    Napolitano's political career has played out in Arizona, where she has been state attorney general, United States attorney and, since 2003, governor. She's now in her second term.
    But Napolitano's roots are New Mexican through and through.
    Although she was born in New York, she and her family moved to Albuquerque in 1964, where she grew up on Palo Duro NE and began her education as a Cub at Comanche Elementary School.
    At Sandia High School, Napolitano was class vice president, was a member of the National Honor Society and played clarinet in the high school band and in the Albuquerque Youth orchestra.
    She was a Girl Scout and was elected lieutenant governor at Girls State. When she graduated from Sandia in 1975, Napolitano was voted the girl most likely to succeed.
    She was described by high school chum Andy Schultz, an Albuquerque lawyer, as "one of the hot shots of our class."
    "It was basically 'The Wonder Years' in Albuquerque," Napolitano told the Journal in an interview shortly after she was elected Arizona governor. "I was Polly Purebred. I was an overachiever. Some would say geek."
    She picked up her law degree from the University of Virginia, headed to Phoenix in 1983 to clerk for a federal appeals judge and stayed there, becoming a precocious Democratic rising star.
    Napolitano has been a down-to-earth — some would say geeky — chief executive, one who doesn't care about fashions or hairstyles, who knows the lyrics to all of the popular songs she grew up with and who loves to laugh.
    She is a breast cancer survivor and an outdoor enthusiast who has climbed Mount Kilimanjaro.
    She took over the Arizona governor's office with a Republican-controlled statehouse.
    As a border governor, she has been closely involved in a major Homeland Security issue — immigration.
    Napolitano has fought to curb illegal immigration, but she has been skeptical that building a fence along the border will solve the problem. She once said, "You build a 50-foot wall, somebody will find a 51-foot ladder."
    She and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson called for National Guard troops to secure the border with Mexico in 2005, both declaring states of emergency along their porous and increasingly dangerous borders.
    Last year, her state passed a law that requires all Arizona businesses to use the federal online database, E-Verify, to confirm that new hires have valid Social Security numbers and are eligible for employment. This has been a cornerstone of the Bush administration's immigration policy.
    The Associated Press contributed to this report