US President George W. Bush on Monday chose Carlos Gutierrez as his new commerce secretary to succeed Donald Evans, who announced his resignation shortly after Bush won reelection early this month.
Gutierrez, chief executive officer of the cereal company Kellogg Co, became the fourth candidate that Bush has nominated for his new cabinet since his successful reelection on Nov. 2. The nomination needs Senate confirmation.
Terming Gutierrez, 51, "a great American success story," Bush said in a brief statement at the White House that his nominee "has been an effective visionary executive" who "understands the world of business from the first rung on the ladder to the very top."
Gutierrez was "one of America's most respected business leaders " and "knows exactly what it takes to help American businesses grow and create jobs," Bush said.
The move, which came after Bush had tapped three White House insiders to replace departing cabinet members including the attorney general, the secretary of state and the education secretary, appeared to indicate that the president was planning to revitalize his economic team and bring in well-regarded outsiders.
Bush planned to overhaul his economic team for the second time in two years and wanted to tap some prominent replacements from outside the administration to help sell rewrites of Social Security and the tax laws to Congress and the country, a Washington Post report said Monday.
Changing four of the five top economic officials -- including the Treasury and Commerce secretaries, with only budget director Joshua B. Bolten likely to remain -- was part of Bush's preparation for sending Congress an ambitious second-term domestic agenda, the report quoted White House aides as saying.
Evans and chief economic adviser Stephen Friedman have announced their resignations, and Treasury Secretary John Snow could stay as long as six months into the new term, officials were quoted as saying. N. Gregory Mankiw, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, was also expected to depart.
Bush would almost certainly go outside the government for some substitutions for his economic team, which some Republicans viewed as a weak link during a campaign that was run on the president's image and national security credentials, the report said.