LaHood to meet with all state transportation chiefs

The message to the state transportation secretaries will be: "We're looking to make sure the money is spent correctly, by the book, no short cuts," LaHood said.

By MICHAEL TARM
The Associated Press

2/3/2009

PEORIA, Ill. — U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood wants to meet soon with all 50 state transportation chiefs to discuss stimulus legislation moving through Congress, and he intends to stress the importance of full transparency.

In his first face-to-face interview since joining the Cabinet, the former Illinois congressman told The Associated Press that he wants to convey the message that the bill will have no earmarks.

A meeting date hasn't been set, but LaHood says it will be within two weeks in Washington, D.C. — before President Barack Obama hopes to sign a completed $819 billion economic recovery bill in mid-February.

LaHood said it is too soon to say which projects will be funded. But he said the plan is to get money to states for roads and mass transit as soon as a bill is signed and states submit paperwork.

During the interview in Peoria, LaHood also said other priorities include replacing the nation's outdated radar-based air traffic system.

The message to the state transportation secretaries will be: "We're looking to make sure the money is spent correctly, by the book, no short cuts," LaHood said.

Asked about his own reputation for favoring earmarks when he represented central Illinois as a Republican in the House, LaHood said that wasn't relevant.

"What I tell people, I'm not an independent operator anymore," he said. "I didn't get elected to anything in November -- the president did. And he's made very clear: We're not going to have earmarks."

The commitment to transparency, LaHood said, will include a team at the U.S. Transportation Department that will develop common reporting standards for states and that will carefully track all transportation investments.

The public will be able to track federal funding on a government Web site, he said.

"What I'm saying is that when money goes out the door, it'll be on the Web site," he said. "I've been in public service for 30 years ... I've read all the horror stories (about misspent government money) and we're going to avoid that."

After the stimulus legislation, LaHood said his other top priorities included modernizing the nation's outmoded, radar-based air traffic control system. He will push for clear plans to replace it with a satellite-based network, called NextGen, as soon as possible, he said.

LaHood said that goal coincides with another objective -- selecting a new head of the Federal Aviation Administration. He would press a new FAA administrator to resolve a long-running labor dispute with the air traffic controllers union, he said.

"I'm really trying to find somebody who has some people skills to get the union disputes behind us and to get us into the 21st century on NextGen," LaHood said.

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