Despite his high profile and history in government Federico Pena says he has no aspirations for political position and is instead focused on the Barack Obama campaign for president.
The former Mayor of Denver who takes the stage at the Democratic National Convention tonight, has supported Obama since the beginning of the campaign and faced some heat from other Latinos who highly favored Hillary Clinton.
His decision is what political watchers say is “vision.”
It’s because of that style and not his choice for Obama that the Latino Leaders Network honored Pena today with a Nambe Eagle Leadership Award given for outstanding service to the Latino community, said Mickey Ibarra, founder and chairman of Latino Leaders Network.
Pena was selected to receive the award last fall, long before it was known the convention would be in Denver or that his candidate, Obama, would be the presumptive nominee.
“I felt so strongly that he was worthy to be honored in his own right never realizing at the time that Federico would demonstrate again his vision with his early support of Obama,” Ibarra said. “It took leadership. Federico felt strongly that Obama was the right choice.”
The organizers have had to add capacity to nearly 700 because of the amount of interest from attendees. The event iwill also be streamed live online at .
Pena was Clinton’s secretary of transportation from 1993-1997 and his energy secretary from 1997-1998.
He returned to Denver because he wanted to spend more time with his children, he said.
Now, nearly a decade later and just two years since he re-emerged on the public scene with a rousing speech at the May 1, 2006, immigration rallies, many have speculated about his future in politics.
But Pena wants to dispel that idea.
“I’ve been very clear that my focus is just getting him elected,” Pena said. “I have no interest in getting a government position.”
Once the election is over Pena plans to focus on his work, his family and other issues that are close to his heart including education and immigration.
