His term expiring, Garcetti pushes hard for job as ambassador to India
Gov. Jerry Brown’s choice to become ambassador to India has drawn criticism from both sides of the political aisle. He’s received praise from left-wing advocacy groups, including the California Teachers Association, while others have criticized him for not being progressive enough for some votes.
His selection is seen by some as a symbolic vote against the Trump administration.
At his confirmation hearing to be the permanent ambassador to India, Garcetti said he would be “doing my best” to serve as ambassador in the Trump administration.
He said he would be traveling to the India-Pakistan border as a representative of the Trump administration.
Garcetti, who has never held public office, became the first Latino to serve in the California governor’s mansion after beating out two other candidates in a primary for his party’s nomination.
Brown appointed him in 2013 to fill a diplomatic vacancy in the State Department, and he’s been a regular on the international stage ever since.
Garcetti has spent 10 years in the Indian Foreign Service, with a focus on South Asian affairs since the agency’s founding under President Richard Nixon in 1972. He has also been twice awarded the Secretary’s Distinguished Service Medal for his efforts on South Asia. He worked in the White House in 2011 as ambassador to Nepal.
Garcetti’s confirmation hearing to be ambassador to India took place on Feb. 13 and was briefly interrupted by a heckler who yelled and waved a large American flag. His confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations was televised live on C-SPAN.
Garcetti, an outspoken advocate of gay rights and immigration rights, comes to the job with no political or prior governmental experience.
But he’s received some praise from the California Teachers Association, the nation’s largest teachers union, and from the advocacy group Students for Justice in Palestine, which has also praised him for his efforts on LGBTQ issues.
The Teachers Association has also praised him for his support of the California Dream Act, a 2017 ballot measure that would have granted undocumented
