Mary Beth Maxwell as Potential Secretary of Labor

By Ben Trott

A Wall Street Journal blog yesterday reported that Mary Beth Maxwell was being considered for the post of Secretary of Labor. Maxwell has written several pieces for the Huffington Post over the last year. In her biography on the site, she describes herself as follows,

'Mary Beth Maxwell is the Executive Director of American Rights at Work, a national advocacy organization launched in 2003 to advance workers’ rights to freely and fairly form unions. In its brief history, she has led the organization in exposing unionbusting in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, monitoring decisions of the National Labor Relations Board, and informing the policy debate on workers’ freedom to form unions through original research studies. In all her work, she strives to place workers’ rights more squarely on the progressive political agenda.'

She would, according to the Huffington Post, be the first openly gay cabinet member.

The Wall Street Journal report that Maxwell, who is a strong supporter of the Employee Free Choice Act, has been endorsed for the post by the AFL-CIO, the Change to Win Federation and the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights group, Human Rights Campaign.

Jennifer Granholm and Kathleen Sebelius, Democratic Governors for Michigan and Kansas respectively, are also reportedly being vetted for the role.