President-elect Joseph Biden’s selection of Pete Buttigieg, the former South Bend, Ind., mayor and 2020 Democratic Party primary rival, as the next Department of Transportation secretary was disappointing. USDOT has 55,000 employees and a budget of $71.4 billion, It is comprised of the Federal Aviation, Highway, Transit, Motor Carriers, Maritime and National Highway Traffic Safety Administrations along with the St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation and its own Office of Inspector General.
Buttigieg ran a city of 100,000 with 1,143 employees, an annual budget of $358 million and a 66-bus transit system with 10,000 daily riders.
There are hundreds of better qualified city and state DOT commissioners, Transit Agency presidents and others who have significant experience in many of these units within USDOT. Many spent years managing thousands of employees and budgets in the billions. They would have stood head and shoulders above Buttigieg in their ability to hit the ground running such a complex agency as USDOT.
It appears that Biden is a disciple of the same old Washington, inside the Beltway practices. He who has the gold rules. Reward those who have been politically loyal such as Buttigieg, who dropped out of the Democratic primary, at a key moment, to assist Biden in becoming the front runner. Quid pro quo is alive and well in the incoming White House. It is business as usual at the expense of taxpayers.
Larry Penner
Great Neck
(Larry Penner is a transportation advocate, historian and writer who previously worked for the Federal Transit Administration Region 2 NY Office. This included the review, approval and oversight for billions of dollars in grants to the MTA which funded LIRR, Metro North, NYC Transit, MTA Bus capital projects and programs along with 30 other transit operators in NY & NJ) .
