Obama expected to tap Perez for labor post

Thomas Perez, head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, is expected to be nominated as U.S. labor secretary, the White House said. Word of Perez's possible selection -- which President Obama is expected to announce Monday -- comes soon after a Justice Department inspector general's report found the Civil Rights Division's voting rights unit was divided by "deep ideological polarization" between liberal and conservative factions that dated to President George W. Bush's administration, The New York Times reported. Perez would succeed Hilda Solis, who ran the Labor Department during Obama's first term. Most of the issues in the inspector general's report occurred before Perez was confirmed in October 2009. Perez has said the report indicated the problems were cleared during his watch. The report also raised questions about testimony Perez gave before Congress, and Republicans said they would examine his handling of some cases since his confirmation. Among questions critics are expected to raise is whether Perez acted inappropriately in getting St. Paul, Minn., city officials to drop a lawsuit seeking to limit fair housing claims when intentional bias is missing, the Times said. If confirmed, Perez, 51, would be the only Hispanic in the Cabinet. He is the son of immigrants from the Dominican Republic.