Ray LaHood, the former Republican Congressman who has run the nationâs transportation department under President Obama, will not serve a second term, he told department employees in a letter Tuesday.
âIâve told President Obama, and Iâve told many of you, that this is the best job Iâve ever had. Iâm grateful to have the opportunity to work with all of you,â Mr. LaHood wrote in the letter. He cited the departmentâs efforts to curb distracted driving and to increase the efficiency of automobiles by raising emissions standards.
As the transportation secretary, Mr. LaHood was at the center of efforts to reduce fatigue among pilots and called for reater investment in high-speed rail. He also pushed for large fines against Toyota for safety problems and for a new transportation bill in Congress.
âWe have made great progress in improving the safety of our transit systems, pipelines, and highways, and in reducing roadway fatalities to historic lows,â he said. âWe have strengthened consumer protections with new regulations on buses, trucks, and airlines.â
Mr. LaHoodâs decision makes him the latest in a series of members of the presidentâs original cabinet to announce their departure in the last several weeks.
In a statement, Mr. Obama praised Mr. LaHood, the sole Republican to serve in his first term Cabinet, as a public servant who has been more interested in practical solutions than in part! isan politics.
âYears ago, we were drawn together by a shared belief that those of us in public service owe an allegiance not to party or faction, but to the people we were elected to represent,â the president wrote. âAnd Ray has never wavered in that belief.â
Several people have been mentioned as possible replacements for Mr. LaHood at the transportation department. Among them: Antonio Villaraigosa, the Democratic mayor of Los Angeles; Ed Rendell, the former governor of Pennsylvania; Debbie Hersman, the chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board; and Jennifer Granholm, the former Democratic governor of Michigan.
Follow Michael D. Shear on Twitter at @shearm.