Published: October 09, 2008 11:44 am         

Chao talks about past, husband

U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao visited London Monday as the guest speaker at the London-Laurel County Chamber of Commerce’s “Women in Business” celebration.

In an interview before dinner, Chao spoke about her husband, her childhood and her greatest achievement.

She has been married for 15 years to Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

“I waited 39 years before I found my husband,” she said. “I wanted a man who loved God and who was going to be someone of great integrity and principles. Mitch is really easy to be around. He’s a lot of fun. He’s very low-key, very steady and I value that in him. We met through some mutual friends. When I first met him, I just knew I like him because he had a very good reputation. He was known to be a person of great integrity and that meant a great deal to me. He’s my soul mate, my best friend and I have tremendous trust because, again, he’s the leader of great integrity and strength.”

Chao said McConnell is an effective leader of the Republicans in the Senate and his seniority in the U.S. Senate gives Kentucky clout and influence. He brings in a lot of money for a lot of the projects that benefit the commonwealth.

“We’re a small state,” Chao said. “We’re not like California, Texas or New York. By our very size we can just ask for things and get them. For a small state like ours, we need seniority and someone like Mitch to help us get the resources we need to develop our state.”

Chao talked about the difficult times her family had when they came to America.

Her father came to the United States from Taiwan when she was 5. The family had fled Communist China to Taiwan, where Chao was born. Her father left his pregnant wife, Chao and her two sisters behind because he was the only one who could come to the United States.

“It was really, really courageous of my parents to make that move because my mother was seven months pregnant at the time,” Chao recalled. “He had this chance to come to America and they both decided they would take that opportunity without question because it was a big deal to come to America. They believed in the American dream.”

After working at three jobs for three years , her father was able to bring his family by cargo ship to the United States.

Chao greatest achievement is being the first secretary of labor in the 21st century. She is very focused in increasing the competitiveness of America’s work force in a world-wide economy. She emphasized the need for job training and re-training because a skilled work force will attract new employment.