LAKO JE BITI ŠEFICA PROTOKOLA U STATE DEPARTMENTU, ALI ZAMISLITE ŠIROKOBRIJEŽANKU NA PANTOVČAKU:)

Chief of the Office of Protocol: Who Is Capricia Marshall?
Thursday, July 16, 2009

(photo: Washington Life)

President Obama nominated a longtime protégée of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Capricia Penavic Marshall, to be Chief of Protocol, a State Department position holding ambassadorial rank. Although the chief of protocol customarily travels with either the Secretary of State or the President, that will not be the case in this administration. Probably in recognition of her close relationship with Secretary Clinton, Marshall will travel with her but not with the President; instead the White House will create a new position for someone to travel with him and direct protocol matters.

Like several other Obama appointees, Marshall ran into tax problems. She and her husband did not file returns for the years 2005 and 2006. However, Marshall’s case differed from those of such notables as Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk and almost Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Daschle because when she did send in her returns she claimed she was entitled to a refund of more than $37,000.

Marshall’s father was born in Croatia and her mother in Mexico. Marshall herself was born circa 1964 in Cleveland, Ohio, and lived with her Mexican grandmother in a racially mixed neighborhood nicknamed “United Nations.”. She earned a B.A. in Political Science and International Studies from Purdue University in 1986 and a law degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Law in 1990.

In 1992, Marshall joined Governor Bill Clinton’s Presidential campaign as special assistant to Hillary Rodham Clinton. When Clinton won the election, Marshall served as Special Assistant to the First Lady, traveling extensively and coordinating her agenda, meetings and public appearances. She was also quite close to Chelsea Clinton, becoming a sort of confidante for the teenager. In October 1997, at the age of 32, Marshall was chosen to be Deputy Assistant to the President and Social Secretary to the White House, becoming the youngest Social Secretary in recent history. Marshall’s official responsibilities included the planning and execution of all White House international and domestic events.

In 2000, as the Clinton Administration wound down, Marshall worked on Hillary Rodham Clinton’s successful New York Senate campaign, although in its aftermath her name figured in charges of campaign finance violations brought before the Federal Election Commission. In 2005, those charges resulted in a criminal trial for Clinton supporter David Rosen, at which Marshall testified. Rosen was acquitted.

In 2001, Marshall began working as a consultant to a number of nonprofit and private sector organizations, including two left-leaning media projects. In 2004, Marshall organized a Washington, DC, screening of director Michael Moore’s documentary Fahrenheit 9/11, and in 2005 she consulted on the short-lived ABC drama series “Commander in Chief,” which starred Geena Davis as the first female President. In 2006, Marshall signed on to be finance director for Clinton’s re-election committee, Friends of Hillary (FOH), and raised money for Clinton’s HiLLPAC. In 2007, Marshall joined Clinton’s presidential campaign as a senior advisor, leading the Surrogate Speakers Program and helping to coordinate women’s outreach. In 2008, in the wake of Clinton’s loss of the primary race to Barack Obama, Marshall became Executive Director of HiLLPAC and Friends of Hillary and oversaw the closure of both committees.

Marshall is married to Dr. Robert Marshall, a cardiologist. The couple has one son.

- Matt Bewig