Obama Appoints Kolbe to Trade Group

Former congressman Jim Kolbe was appointed by President Barack Obama Wednesday to join the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations.

Kolbe is currently the senior transatlantic fellow at the German Marshall Fund, an adjunct professor in the College of Business at the University of Arizona, and a consultant with McLarty Associates. Kolbe represented Arizona from 1985 to 2007. In 1996 he famously came out after voting in favor of the Defense of Marriage Act, which bans the federal government from recognizing the state-sanctioned marriages or partnerships of gay and lesbian couples.

Kolbe will be joined on the committee by cosmetic guru Bobbi Brown and New Jersey governor Chris Christie.