An interview with Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood was published by the New York Times about a week and a half ago. I guess you have to admire the guy’s candor, but it’s a little disconcerting to read that our transportation secretary admittedly knows little about transportation and only got the job because (a) he’s [...]
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Taxpayers for Common Sense has published all of the disclosed earmarks in the 2009 omnibus spending bill. Even though Ray LaHood is out of Congress and now the Secretary of Transportation, the earmarks he requested last year remain… and there are a lot of them (an asterisk next to the amount indicates that LaHood [...] Restoring passenger rail service to Peoria is “cost prohibitive” and “impractical,” according to U.S. Rep. Ray LaHood. “It’s going to take an enormous amount of money,” he said Tuesday, emphasizing that previous attempts to provide passenger rail to the area failed largely because of an inability to offer a more “efficient” way to [...] The Washington Post is questioning Barack Obama’s pick for Secretary of Transportation for a familiar reason: The former Republican congressman chosen by President-elect Barack Obama to direct billions in federal highway spending has been an unapologetic advocate of earmarks, a practice Obama now opposes, and has used his influence to win funding for projects [...] The first time I read the Journal Star’s breaking news article on retiring Congressman Ray LaHood being chosen by President-elect Obama for U.S. Secretary of Transportation, it was all about LaHood being a “moderate” Republican, able to reach across the aisle, yada yada yada, and his being a personal friend of Rahm Emanuel. Conspicuously [...] You may recall that I called Ray LaHood’s office to ask him not to vote for the pork-laden $700 billion bailout bill. He voted for it anyway, which shows just how much pull I have. Ha ha. Yesterday, I got a letter from him thanking me for the call and explaining his position. I thought you might be interested in hearing what he had to say (any typos are my fault): The Chicago Tribune published an opinion column by John McCarron on March 7 (“Pork has gotten bad rap”) praising and defending the federal earmark system, complete with a paeon to Rep. Ray LaHood — a staunch defender of earmarks himself. His argument is that earmarks don’t cost that much (“less than 2 percent of [...] “To make a statement that you’re going to arm one country with nuclear weapons to attack China I think shows a fairly high level of not doing your homework, and … immaturity and not using good political sense.” – Ray LaHood, as quoted on the Peoria Journal Star’s website, 12/13/2007, about State Representative and [...] Jonathan Ahl is reporting that Ray LaHood will not seek reelection when his term expires in 2009. Now that’s what I call a scoop, Mr. Ahl. Good work! Let the speculation begin: Why isn’t he running? Who will take his place? What will he do after his term is up? On that last [...] According to the Journal Star, Ray LaHood is still contemplating applying for a job for which finalists have already been chosen: “I’m still considering the decision,” said LaHood, a Peoria Republican. Asked how that could be, given that the search committee has selected its finalists to be interviewed shortly at an out-of-town location, LaHood [...] |
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