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LaHood Pick for Transportation Has Stakeholders Buzzing (Congressional Quarterly)

Washington, Dec 17 -

Transportation stakeholders were caught off guard Wednesday by news that retiring Rep.


Ray LaHood of Illinois, a centrist Republican who held a seat on the
House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in the 1990s, will be
the next Transportation secretary.

A senior Democrat confirmed Wednesday evening that LaHood would be President-elect


Barack Obama’s choice. Obama has a news conference
scheduled for Thursday, but it is unclear if he will announce LaHood’s
selection then. Obama’s transition team did not comment. Transportation
Department nominations move through the Senate Commerce, Science and
Transportation Committee.

Although LaHood has a reputation for crossing party aisles and
supporting infrastructure investment, transportation advocates had been
hoping for someone with a long resume in the sector who could elevate
infrastructure issues to greater national prominence. In some
transportation quarters, the choice was met with confusion at best, and
disappointment at worst.

“Did the entire A-team drop out?” one transportation lobbyist said.
“I am a little disappointed that even for all of [Obama’s] talk about
infrastructure, once again Transportation’s going to be like the last
Cabinet secretary named. Where’s somebody with some vision? I don’t get
it.”

Obama has announced his selections for 13 of 15 Cabinet positions. Only Transportation and Labor remain to be filled.

The next head of the department will work with Congress on
reauthorizations of highway and transit programs, and a reauthorization
of the Federal Aviation Administration that will include a path forward
for modernization of the air traffic control system.

Obama has pledged to make massive investments in transportation
through an economic recovery package and the creation of a National
Infrastructure Bank that would dedicate funds to national projects.

But many stakeholders said Wednesday that LaHood’s selection, if
made official, appears largely political, calculated to satisfy Obama’s
pledge to have a bipartisan Cabinet. (Holdover Defense Secretary


Robert M. Gates is currently the only Republican among Obama’s
selections.) LaHood is also an Arab-American — a Roman Catholic of
Lebanese descent.

Dan Mattoon, a Washington lobbyist who is LaHood’s friend, said
LaHood’s background would make him an effective lobbyist for the
President-elect


Barack Obama’s top priority, an economic recovery measure that has been projected to cost as much as $600 billion by Speaker


Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. Pelosi said this week that most of the measure’s cost would be for infrastructure funding.

Mattoon said LaHood would be important to the Obama administration
because of his longstanding ties not only to the GOP’s moderate wing
but to the Republican leadership. “Bob [Defense Secretary Robert M.]
Gates is a Republican but not a very active one.


Ray LaHood has been a Republican his whole life. He’s a pragmatic Republican,” Mattoon said.

LaHood, who represents large swaths of central and western Illinois, is a close friend of Rep.


Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., who will serve as Obama’s White House chief of staff.

LaHood as a lawmaker has often played the role of conciliator, working
to narrow the differences between the parties and between factions in
his own party. He was one of three members of the big 1994 Republican
freshman class not to sign the GOP’s “Contract with America.”

He is a former staff member and protege of former House Minority
Leader Robert H. Michel, whose seat he now holds. For years, he
organized bipartisan ‘civility” retreats to try to create personal
bonds between members of the often warring parties. But those have
faded away in recent years, as acrimony has grown.

Michel said Wednesday he was unaware of LaHood’s reported selection
for Transportation secretary, but added, “He certainly fits the bill in
terms of wanting to work with the other side of the aisle.”

Rep.


Michael N. Castle, R-Del., one of a fast-dwindling group
of GOP moderates in the House, hailed LaHood’s selection, calling him
“a pragmatist who places politics on the back burner in order to get
things done. Ray will be an asset to the incoming administration with
his ability to work on the issues that matter,” Castle said.

LaHood may face some opposition from labor unions, particularly
those involved in aviation issues. In 2007 LaHood voted against an FAA
reauthorization bill that included language long sought by the National
Air Traffic Controllers Association that would have helped resolve in
the union’s favor a longstanding and bitter contract dispute with the
FAA.

But other transportation insiders, while surprised, were hopeful
that LaHood would bring the same bipartisan spirit to the
administration as he has in Congress.

Jack L. Schenendorf, vice chairman of the National Surface
Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Committee, said he would feel
comfortable with LaHood in the role.

“I think he will see and understand the national role in
transportation,” he said. “That’s not to say it’s not surprising. But
he’s somebody who would do a good job.”

Rod Nofziger, the director of government affairs for the
Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, said he’d heard from a
few people the LaHood would get the nomination.

And unlike others, Nofziger views it as a perfect choice.

“Lahood is someone who has dealt with the politics of transportation,
knows the dynamics, knows the players,” Nofziger said. “He has in the
past been an advocate for transportation infrastructure investment in
general. And there’s no reason he would change that given how much
focus the President-elect has put on transportation infrastructure.”

Terry O’Sullivan, president of the Laborers’ International Union of
North America, said LaHood has been “a friend to our union when it
comes to construction and transportation issues.”

Senior GOP lawmakers and aides offered high praise for LaHood.

“President-elect Obama said he would appoint Republicans to his
Cabinet, and the addition of Rep. LaHood would be a welcome sign in
helping fulfill that promise,” said Kevin Smith, a spokesman for
Minority Leader


John A. Boehner, R-Ohio. LaHood is a longtime Boehner ally, and was an
early backer in his surprising victory over outgoing Minority Whip


Roy Blunt, R-Mo., in the head-to-head race to succeed former Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, (1985-2006).

LaHood’s close ties to Emanuel were evident in his help with organizing
the regular dinners that a half-dozen Republicans and Democrats had
with Emanuel in Washington restaurants over the last year. Others in
that group included Castle and Rep.


Adam Smith, D-Wash., and Rep.


Fred Upton, R-Mich.

LaHood’s selection also may signal an ambitious effort by Obama and
Emanuel to woo moderate Republicans in both chambers on a broad range
of issues such as a $10 billion expansion of the State Children’s
Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) that President Bush vetoed that many
moderates supported. In addition moderates and pro-union Republicans
from the the nation’s industrial heartland — including LaHood and
Castle — provided many of the 32 GOP votes in favor of the $14 billion
automobile rescue package that passed the House, 237-170, Dec. 10, and
died in the Senate.

Jonathan Allen, David Nather and Alan K. Ota contributed to this story.