Obama's Transportation pick spans aisle (USA Today)
Washington
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By Kathy Kiely,
President-elect Barack Obama is preparing to add to his
Cabinet a Republican with a long history of building bridges across
party lines.
Two Democratic sources briefed on the selection said Wednesday that
retiring Rep. Ray LaHood, R-Ill., has accepted Obama's offer to become
secretary of Transportation. The sources asked not to be identified
because they are not authorized to disclose the selection before a
formal announcement.
LaHood would be the second Republican named to Obama's Cabinet, joining
Defense Secretary Robert Gates, a holdover from the Bush
administration.
The Illinois congressman, who served 10 years as a top aide to House
Minority leader Bob Michel before succeeding him in 1994, is well
respected on Capitol Hill. "He has a great moral compass," Michel said.
"I could always trust Ray's judgment."
A trusted protégé of two top Republican leaders — Michel and former
House speaker Denny Hastert — LaHood, 63, nonetheless managed to
develop close ties with partisan Democrats, including fellow Illinois
Rep. Rahm Emanuel, the incoming White House chief of staff.
"He's a model of bipartisanship," John Feehery, a Republican strategist who worked for Hastert, said of LaHood.
A Catholic schoolteacher before entering politics, LaHood made it his
mission to restore civility to Capitol Hill. He spearheaded a series of
bipartisan retreats in the late 1990s to mend relationships damaged by
the impeachment trial of then-president Bill Clinton. Later, he and
Emanuel issued regular invitations to groups of six Republicans and six
Democrats to dine together in an effort to bridge the partisan divide.
LaHood, who did not run for re-election, served several terms on the
House Transportation Committee before leaving to take a post on the
more influential House Appropriations Committee. In that position, he
worked with his state's Democratic senators, Obama and Dick Durbin, to
obtain funding for Illinois.
"He is a pragmatist who places politics on the back burner in order to
get things done," Rep. Mike Castle, R-Del., said in a statement issued
Wednesday night. "Ray will be an asset to the incoming administration."