Even though President-elect Obama is taking Amtrak to DC for his inauguration, the choice of LaHood, a moderate Republican from downstate Illinois with a not-so-hot environmental record, has folks upset. A recent piece on Streetsblog by Aaron Naparstek quotes a former Federal Transit Administration official: “In terms of attracting talent, no one I know is going to want to work for this guy. He’s got a horrible environmental record, he’s bad on climate change and he’s Caterpillar’s bag man. Can we get a worse appointment?”
The Washington Post called him a centrist who grew up in Peoria and when elected in 1994 was one of only three Republicans who didn’t sign Newt Gingrich’s “Contract with America.” OK, so he’s got his moderate creds. But does he know bat-droppings about transportation? Can he even articulate the difference between light rail, heavy rail (no, that’s NOT passenger trains) and commuter rail? Does he understand that transportation is an environmental issue, not just a play-with-rails issue? For that matter, does Obama? The transportation secretary should have been part of his so-called energy team. That it wasn’t is, sadly, telling.
More from Streetsblog, in this roundup of opinion. Some say he’s a bicycling and rail advocate. And a D.C. advocate type (unidentified) says LaHood is “potentially malleable.” I suppose that’s better than “complete jerk,” but still …