Mineta brings spirit of bipartisanship to Transportation

These are hard times for Democrats. George W. Bush has moved into the White House, and Republicans narrowly control both the Senate and the House. But after Bush finished nominating his Cabinet, Democrats believed they had control of at least one part of Washington: the world of transportation.

President Bush, fulfilling his intention to include at least one Democrat in his Cabinet, on Jan. 2 appointed Democrat Norman Y. Mineta--who most recently served as Clinton's Commerce Secretary--to head the Transportation Department. And Mineta is no "Boll Weevil" Democrat: He supports organized labor, the environment, and the virtues of mass transit.

Of course, how much power the liberal Mineta will actually wield is a subject of debate among transportation observers. During the news conference announcing his appointment, Mineta said he was eager to work for Bush, stressing that transportation is a bipartisan issue. "There are no Democratic or Republican highways, no such thing as Republican or Democratic traffic congestion, no such thing as Republican or Democratic aviation and highway safety," he said. But partisan squabbles have, in fact, been common in transportation matters. These include fights over affirmative action in awarding highway construction contracts, labor issues involving transportation unions, and environmental concerns in transportation planning. Will Mineta have a say on these contentious issues? Or will he have to toe the Bush Administration's line?

Some Democrats privately say that Mineta might have a lot more power than many observers think. Bush can't afford to fire him or ask him to resign, these Democrats say, because Mineta's the Administration's sole Democrat. But other people believe that the White House will be calling most of the shots on important transportation matters, just as Clinton's White House and Office of Management and Budget did when Rodney E. Slater sat atop the Transportation Department.

"The Secretary of Transportation is somebody who goes out and beats the bushes for the Administration on a repeated basis," a former Capitol Hill aide said. Moreover, although Mineta will probably bring along some of his own people, the Bush team will most likely fill the majority of the department's political positions.

Eric K. Federing, a former Mineta staffer, acknowledges that working for the Bush Administration will compromise some of Mineta's core principles. But the staffer notes that Mineta took the job knowing this would happen. "Norm's reputation and credibility is incredibly well-known.... I think [he realizes] there's an opportunity to do some good work for the American people."

Roy Kienitz, executive director of the Surface Transportation Policy Project, a pro-mass-transit group, hopes that Mineta will motivate the Bush Administration to focus more on transportation alternatives. "[Mineta] was the best possible outcome, given the other names that were mentioned," he said.

Despite the questions about how much power Mineta will have, most Democrats and Republicans have applauded his selection. For starters, they praise his prior work as a mayor, a Congressman who chaired what was then called the House Public Works and Transportation Committee, a lobbyist for aerospace giant Lockheed Martin Corp., and Commerce Secretary. Indeed, his experience on the Hill will undoubtedly help him work with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, who chair Congress's transportation authorizing committees. (Yet it will be interesting to see how the liberal Mineta gets along with the conservative Young.)

"I think the most important thing he's going to bring is that he's a transportation guy," said David A. Fuscus, a former Republican staffer who worked at the Mineta-led Transportation Committee. "Right from the beginning, there's no learning curve for Norm Mineta."

In addition, Sante Esposito, who served as Mineta's chief counsel at the Transportation Committee and is now a Washington lobbyist, says that Mineta has a passion for transportation. "He's very committed to transportation policy. That's always been his love." And retired Rep. Robert Roe, D-N.J., who preceded Mineta as chairman of the Transportation Committee, is impressed by Mineta's mind and attitude: "He's a visionary. He's gutsy.... I think he'll be a great guy at the helm of the department."

Mineta, however, has received some criticism for failing to work with his Republican counterparts at the committee--especially Rep. Bud Shuster, R-Pa.--after 1994, when the Democrats lost their majority in the House. Mineta, who was no longer chairman, left Congress in 1995 to work for Lockheed Martin. "Mineta and Shuster just did not get along," said one former Hill aide. "They were barely speaking to each other by the time Mineta left." Their feud might still create some tensions: Shuster's trusted aide, Jack Schenendorf, is heading Bush's transportation transition team and will play a key role in staffing the department.

When Mineta moves into the Secretary's suite, he will have his hands full of challenging transportation issues. Airline delays and gridlock plague the skies. The air traffic control system is antiquated. And Amtrak could be liquidated if it doesn't start meeting its operational costs. "They are really tough, tough jobs that he's going to have to tackle head-on," Fuscus said.