Names surface for top Obama administration job at DOT

Mentioned on the short-list of possibilities as the next Transportation Secretary is Obama advisor Mortimer Downey, a former DOT deputy secretary in the Clinton administration.

The Trucker Staff

11/7/2008

WASHINGTON — President-elect Obama is weighing an array of Washington insiders and outsiders, including some Republicans, for top administration posts, according to Democratic officials.

Obama has signaled that he will make no Cabinet-level appointments immediately, and his deliberations are tightly held by his closest aides. But that hasn't stopped Democrats and interest groups from circulating lists and offering recommendations to the Obama transition team.

Some are surprising, such as former Bush Secretary of State Colin Powell as possible education secretary. Others are high profile governors or members of Congress. Yet many are also little known to the general public — and may remain so.

Mentioned on the short-list of possibilities as the next Transportation Secretary is Obama advisor Mortimer Downey, a former DOT deputy secretary in the Clinton administration. Downey’s duties included pushing a Clinton initiative to permit states to toll interstate highways.

Downey currently is chairman of PB Consult Inc., a firm which specializes in putting together public-private partnerships for transportation projects. He also has served as chairman of the Coalition for America’s Gateways and Trade Corridors, and is part of  a three-man independent review panel charged with evaluating the DOT’s ongoing NAFTA trucking demonstration program with Mexico.

Also reported to be on the list are Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell, who has explored an array of innovative transportation funding alternatives for his state, and Jane Garvey, former head of the Federal Aviation Administration.

Obama has less than 11 weeks to staff his new administration.

Associated Press sources contributed to this report.