Obama transportation secretary nominee Ray LaHood (R-Ill)—referred to by BoingBoing as a “clueless hack,” by Worldchanging as “so disappointing to transportation advocates … that they’re boiling with indignant disbelief,” and by Grist as “a man virtually unknown in the urbanist community—has his confirmation hearing today. LaHood—a Republican who has virtually no experience with transportation policy, much less transit advocacy—will oversee the implementation of the stimulus package, which, in its current form, includes three times as much money for new highways as it does for transit.
You can watch the hearing live now (currently, Kay Bailey Hutchison is blah-blah-ing on about Amtrak); the Transport Politic is following along, and will have reactions sometime after noon, West Coast time.

17 replies on “LaHood Confirmation Today”

  1. But Erica, what about responsible sources? You only cite carefully-selected advocacy journalists who will happily mislead their readers if it serves their agenda.

    For example, why don’t you quote things like this, from ThinkProgress?

    Friends of the Earth responded to the LaHood nomination by saying: “While his overall record on energy and environment issues is poor, LaHood has in recent years broken with many in his party to support crucial investments in passenger rail and public transportation, and he is a member of the Congressional Bike Caucus.” LaHood also supported the bicycle commuter benefit bill.

    And I’m still pissed at you for lying yesterday about the number of bikes on the Burke-Gillman in Ballard. See when you abandon any semblance of fairness, people stop trusting you.

  2. Actually, elenchos, it depends on your definition of where Ballard is – technically, the route most cyclists use is up 8th which is considered Ballard’s border (but some think it’s 3rd) – which makes it Ballard.

    Traffic branches there – most of the time I’ve seen them measure traffic it’s right before the Fred Meyer, which is where most cyclists turn shortly after (or at least I did when I lived in Ballard near 24th and 65th.

  4. I’m reserving judgment on Ray LaHood. I mean, if there’s anything we should have learned about Obama, it is to never underestimate his Machiavellian political skills.

    Obama has spoken repeatedly in favor of mass transit. Biden is the greatest Amtrak advocate in all of Washington. To have a Republican out there fighting for a greater emphasis on mass transit and intercity rail would be just a deft political move.

    That said, it’s incumbent upon all of us transit supporters to keep the pressure on Obama. Radical change does not happen in a political vacuum.

  6. Cressona – commuter rail is not transit. Commuter rail does not build up dense urban areas rather it allows the (mostly) well-off to escape the inner city to get to their x-urban mansions, ok not necessarily that rich, but not for the masses as in mass transit.

    Ave Bus rider peak 25K average commuter rail 55K (1995 stats )

  7. HEY! One of Kay Bailey Hutchinson’s very few charms is that her blah-blah-ing about Amtrak is usually quite positive.

    Pick on her hairdo or something, if you must. She’s a pal of Amtrak.

  8. Quick, send hoards of hot-looking 18-yr-olds of both sexes into Ray’s office. Surely he’ll fuck at least one of them and–presto–he must resign and we can get a better choice!

  9. Gee thanks, elenchos, I’ll just pretend I didn’t bike along that route for eight years just to make you happy.

    Try not to bust down your door tonight, k?

  10. McG @6, commuter rail is indeed one form of transit. And while it does enable downtown workers to commute to the city from their leafy paradises, development patterns in these bedroom communities centered around the train stations. To use Chicago as an example, it was the building of the tollway network and other exurban freeways that encouraged suburban office campuses and the resulting sprawl.

    Ray LaHood, though he is not a dazzling urbanite, is from Illinois where trains criss-cross the state and infrastructure projects typically get built faster than you see here. He is a moderate republican who just retired from the House, and could be valuable in getting republicans to buy in to some of Obama’s initiatives.

  11. OK, Will. Let’s pretend that being acquainted with the scenery along the trail makes it so that you do know what you are talking about.

    Would you please be so kind as to point us to the source of an accurate estimate of the number of riders who will benefit from the proposed Burke-Gillman project in Ballard?

    What possible definition of “Ballard” would make the claim true that 2,000 riders per day will benefit from the Burke-Gilman Trail Extension Project?

    And what the fuck does “Try not to bust down your door tonight, k?” mean, you weird little toad?

  12. snore …. blink … snort

    Oh, I’m sorry, did you say something, elenchos?

    Maybe you should read some of the other threads on SLOG, elenchos …

  13. I did read, Will. As usual, you’ve been backed into a corner and you have nothing. Why do you constantly try to mislead people, Will? Is it your way of trying to be important? It doesn’t work, you know. They just end up mocking you for being an idiot.

  14. LaHood is an okay guy, Illinois Democrats never had a problem with him. He tips generously, too, though I suspect most politicians do.

    One thing that no one seems to mention is that LaHood represented the district including Peoria, headquarters of Caterpillar. Cat stands to make a lot of money on construction projects. I’m not sure this is a horrible thing, it’s just something you’d think would get mentioned.

  16. Joe M,
    Sure and people that commute by airline could be said to be using transit. There is a fundamental difference between commuter rail and in-city rail or bus service.

    NYC to Connecticut just isn’t transit – its transportation and someone that supports commuter rail won’t necessarily support in-city.

  17. If we’re not happy with LaHood, its up to us to write letters to our congressmen and LaHood to encourage prudent use of our transportation resources. We CAN get what we want if we participate in the political process with critical mass, enlist your friends.

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