Ray Lahood

LaHood Gets It

Josh Kalven — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 07:32:10 -0700

We noted last week that, despite our initial reservations, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood had begun to grow us. Here are some more encouraging words found on his blog:

As I've said before, we need to promote strong and connected communities that provide safe and affordable access to work, medical services, schools, shopping, recreation, and other essential activities.

This is important stuff. Someone commented on these pages the other day about how owning a car was practically a requirement for success in this country -- to get to work, to a doctor, to a grocery -- and how that becomes a disproportionate burden to the poor. Well, we don't want to take anyone's car away; that's for sure, but we also don't want a transportation system where not owning a car threatens one's ability to get by. If we want to improve the quality of life for middle-class Americans, we have to affect them where they spend, and one of the biggest bites out of a household's budget is transportation costs. I want to do something about that.

"We don't want a transportation system where not owning a car threatens one's ability to get by." Amen to that.

LaHood Is Growing On Us

Adam Doster — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 12:26:01 -0700

A few weeks ago, we cheered the news that Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and the Department of Transportation would follow the White House’s lead in advancing President Obama’s climate change agenda. Frankly, we trusted Obama and White House energy and climate coordinator Carol Browner more than LaHood, who is not exactly known for his environmentalism or transit advocacy. But the more we hear from the former Illinois congressman, the more hopeful we are about his potential handling of the upcoming transportation negotiations.

Why the change of heart? Check out LaHood's two latest posts at the Fast Lane, his official blog. Yesterday, after addressing the National League of Cities, the Peoria Republican wrote that cities “provide energy, diversity, and the capacity to drive economic activity.” And today, before his testimony to the House Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Subcommittee, he had this to say about the importance of walkable communities:

[O]ne of my highest priorities is to work closely with Congress, other Federal departments, the nation’s governors, and local officials to help promote more livable communities through sustainable surface transportation programs. By focusing on livability, we can help transform the way transportation serves the American people—and create safer, healthier communities that provide access to economic opportunities.

Then there’s this quote, courtesy of Huffington Post’s Sam Stein:

“My biggest concern is that we don’t get it right,” LaHood said in a recent interview with the Huffington Post. “As a member of Congress for the last 14 years, I know that infrastructure needs in the country were pretty much ignored… There are some huge, huge infrastructure needs in the country, mainly because infrastructure was not a priority for the last eight years. Our job is to change that. Our portion of the recovery plan is very helpful because it will put an enormous number of people to work in good paying jobs.” [...]

As it stands now, LaHood is not merely hoping that the money won’t just get people back to work; he wants to revamp the very essence of transportation in the United States. His vision includes more reliance on public transit and rail, a “very vibrant airline industry,” livable communities where people don’t rely on cars but still use them.

He’s exactly right -- the need for sustained investment is immense. And Congress won’t authorize enough money unless the administration applies the appropriate kind of pressure. Given his institutional knowledge, congressional connections, and apparent pro-transit stance, LaHood could be a big asset for a Democratic administration trying to reframe how the nation’s infrastructure and transportation network operates.

LaHood's Role

Adam Doster — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 13:40:13 -0800

When former GOP Rep. Ray LaHood was initially tapped to run Barack Obama’s Department of Transportation, transit activists were a bit befuddled. Fans of LaHood lauded his bipartisan relationships and grasp of the legislative process while pointing out he had previously bucked his party’s aversion to Amtrak. But he was also on record as opposing high-speed rail in Illinois, had little transportation experience, and had garnered a meager 27 percent lifetime rating from the League of Conservation Voters. With the world facing imminent ecological disaster and a major surface transportation bill slated for reauthorization this year, the prospect of an anti-environmental Republican reshaping the nation’s transit and vehicle emissions policies was a bit disconcerting.

But it appears Obama isn’t letting LaHood deviate too much from the administration’s playbook. ClimateWire reports:

The Transportation Department will follow the lead of the White House’s top climate and environmental officials when it comes to meeting President Obama’s global warming agenda, DOT Secretary Ray LaHood said today.

LaHood said [White House coordinator for energy and climate issues Carol] Browner and U.S. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson would most likely do the heavy lifting when it comes to meeting Obama’s climate goals. DOT is “in the room, we’re at the table, but we probably have less of a role than perhaps some of these other agencies do,” he said at the Washington forum.

That’s unquestionably good news. Browner is a leading voice in the environmental progressive community and likely understands the key connections between climate change, demographic shifts, and the way we move goods and people. So does Vice President Joe Biden, a long-time proponent of rail. And Obama is no slouch on this front either. The nation’s transit riders will benefit greatly if Browner and the inner-circle design policy and LaHood sticks to twisting arms.

Obama Officially Taps LaHood For DOT

Adam Doster — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 12:15:38 -0800

At a press conference in Chicago this afternoon, President-elect Barack Obama formally announced retiring Rep. Ray LaHood as the next Secretary of Transportation. During his introduction, Obama said few Americans understand the nation’s infrastructure challenges better than the seven-term Peoria Republican. Watch Obama’s remarks, as well as LaHood’s acceptance, below:

Two days after Obama’s pick was leaked to the press, Grist’s Kate Sheppard reports today that environmentalists and urban planners remain puzzled with the appointment. Illinois officials who have worked with LaHood, on the other hand, told the State Journal-Register that he’s well-suited for the job:

“(Transportation) hasn’t been (LaHood’s) topmost specialty, but he’s a quick learner and he’s been around long enough to know what the big issues are, whether it’s land, sea or air, in the field of transportation,” LaHood’s Congressional predecessor, former Rep. Bob Michel, said Thursday.

Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reported that House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Oberstar (D-MN) "praised LaHood’s 'temperament' and 'managerial talent,' saying he is an 'excellent' choice to lead a sprawling department that employs more than 53,000 workers ranging from air traffic controllers to railroad inspectors." The Peoria Journal-Star also provides a quick primer on the DOT chief’s primary responsibilities.

Looking Under LaHood

Adam Doster — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 12:47:45 -0800

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.

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"Ray LaHood? Really?" (UPDATED)

Adam Doster — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 11:14:55 -0800

I think I just ruined Jacky Grimshaw’s morning.

“Ray Lahood? Really?!?” That was the reaction from the transportation and community development coordinator at the Chicago-based Center for Neighborhood Technology when I relayed the news that the retiring seven-term Republican congressman from Peoria was being considered as Secretary of Transportation in the incoming Obama administration. “You’ve left me totally dumbfounded. Ray LaHood?”

Since our last post noting the initial rumors, both the Peoria Journal-Star and the Tribune have heard from GOP sources that the president-elect will announce Lahood as his pick on Friday.

You can't blame Grimshaw for being caught off-guard. As she explained, she’s never “seen or heard anything he’s done” with regards to mass transit from his first election in 1994 until now, including the negotiations over SAFETEA-LU four years ago.

So what can we glean about LaHood's record on this issue? The moderate Republican has broken with his party over Amtrak funding, voting yes last summer to expand passenger rail service. In 2005, he told the Peoria Journal-Star that “we’ve got a good Amtrak system in Illinois and I don’t think we want to destroy it by talking about privatization.” In 2006, he received a 66 percent rating from the American Road and Transportation Builders Association, a major transportation construction lobby. He also voted in favor of the Saving Energy Through Public Transportation Act of 2008, a bill to promote increased public transportation use that garnered string bi-partisan support. Other than that, we know very little.

As Ryan Avent notes, there are now two possible conclusions one can draw from the choice: either Obama doesn’t intend the DOT secretary to do the heavy lifting on his transportation policies or he doesn’t really care about transportation. During the campaign, Obama made some bold statements about transit and the energy economy, so I’m not convinced the latter has any merit. The former seems more plausible. In the meantime, we’ll just have to wait and see what LaHood has to say on Friday.

UPDATE: Guardian America editor Michael Tomasky links to this post (thanks, Mike!) and offers his own thoughts on the pick:

What "transportation" really means here in the nation's capital is a never-ending battle between rail advocates and highway advocates. The highway people have almost always won, of course. In the 1990s, Pat Moynihan, the late New York senator, finally engineered a change in the transportation regulations that slightly shifted the funding formula toward mass transit. It was a tiny thing, but a total sea change, something it took years to do.

Why? Well, most places don't (or didn't, until now) need mass transit, and politicians love nothing more than to cut a ribbon on a new highway. It's the gold standard of photo ops. The auto industry played along too, of course, fighting mass transit for decades (GM killed a commuter-rail plan in Los Angeles way back in the 1930s).

But as in so many areas, now is reckoning time, and the political culture is potentially more open to changing all that than at any point in a long, long time. LaHood has relationships on the Hill -- in that sense, it's similar to the Daschle appointment -- and can maybe bring a few moderate Republicans into the mass-transit fold. I suppose that's the thinking. We'll see how it works.

Check out our follow-up post on December 18: "Looking Under LaHood."

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