Reactions and additional reporting on Rep. Ray LaHood’s apparent appointment as Barack Obama’s Transportation Secretary keep rolling in. Yesterday we noted his guarded support for rail funding as one potential asset the Peoria legislator could bring to the department. But the Peoria Chronicle’s C.J. Summers points out today that LaHood’s record on the issue isn’t all that pristine.
In 2004, LaHood said he was opposed to high-speed rail in Illinois because of cost and the fact that “people in rural Illinois … do not want a train traveling 120, 125, 150 miles per hour through the rural areas.” What was the expense for the upgrade between Chicago and St. Louis? Here’s Summers (via Peoria Pundit):
Nearly $200 million for track and equipment upgrades. Yet he then turned around and supported (nay, fought for) a $499 million project to upgrade I-74 through Peoria and East Peoria, providing us with ten times the capacity we need and literally walling off urban neighborhoods.
Just this past year, LaHood also declined to endorse extending Amtrak service to Peoria, telling a downstate public radio station that “the probability of Amtrak serving Peoria is almost nil when it already serves two communities [Normal and Galesburg] that are 45 minutes away.” Of course, this was before the Illinois Department of Transportation even completed a feasibility study on the proposed route.
FireDogLake’s Ian Welsh writes that “as Republicans go, LaHood’s pretty decent.” That may be true, but as Welsh also notes, his broader environmental record is far from encouraging. The League of Conservation Voters gives him a meager 27 percent lifetime rating and he voted against the environment in 2007 on issues ranging from liquid coal, oil shale, clean air, electric transmission corridors, and global warming.
On the plus, some bicycle advocates are cautiously pleased. LaHood is a member of the Congressional Bike Caucus and the League of Illinois Bicyclists calls him “an active supporter of bicycling and trails,” pointing out that “he has very visibly gone against the wishes of his party leaders on our issues.”
Cycling aside, it seems the selection is largely political. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Oberstar told the Wall Street Journal that “you need a manager” to run the sprawling department.
In short, Obama promised to appoint Republicans, LaHood knows both the president-elect and Rahm Emanuel well, and he’s not one of the toxic figures in his party. But at a crucial juncture for transit policy -- considering the upcoming stimulus and the reauthorization of the federal highway bill scheduled for next year -- a true champion of smart growth and mass transit is needed.
Looking forward, it will be interesting to see who ends up working under LaHood as head of the Federal Transit Administration, where there is apparently a lot of room for improvement.
David Hatch (not verified) on Thu, 12/18/2008 - 21:19
This appointment is a dissaster given that we need an aggessive shift toward rail and green transportation. It is not place for a token republican appointment. This is a huge disappointment.