The people mover: A Q&A with former U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood

Ray LaHood, a retired Republican congressman who is not afraid to work with President Barack Obama or to praise Gov. Andrew Cuomo, has built a career on amiability with Democrats and tells the tale in his recent book, “Seeking Bipartisanship: My Life in Politics.” One of the few Republicans selected for Obama’s Cabinet, LaHood served as the secretary of transportation in Obama’s first term and has continued to work in that realm as a senior policy adviser at DLA Piper and as co-chairman of the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s Transportation Reinvention Commission in 2014. City & State’s Jeff Coltin talked with LaHood about relationships in Congress, raising the gas tax and the Tappan Zee Bridge project. The following is an edited transcript.

C&S: You’ve been somewhat critical of Obama for not staying committed to the bipartisan ideals that he ran on in 2008. Do you think that is something our next president would easily be able to change?

RL: You have to work at bipartisanship. And the way you work at it is by building relationships with people and by building friendships with people and using those relationships and friendships in a way that can enable you to either get legislation passed or resolve issues or tackle some of the big problems. Relationship building and friendship building, these are things that take time. It’s not something that you can do overnight. One of the advantages that some presidents have had is the fact that they’ve had relationships with members of Congress. It depends on who gets elected. If one of these people gets elected that’s served in Congress and knows people and has relationships, they have a huge, big head start. If somebody gets elected that really doesn’t know who the leaders are and has never really had opportunities to meet them, develop relationships, then it will take some time to do that.

C&S: Are you supporting a candidate in the Republican primary?

RL: I am, I’ve given money to Jeb Bush and I believe he’d be the best opportunity for Republicans to win back the White House. He was able to tackle, during his eight years as governor, some big, big problems in the state of Florida, which is a very diverse state. I like his position on immigration. We need to solve the issue of 12 million illegals living in our country, and it needs to be done in a comprehensive way. We need to tackle the issue of tax reform, which I think Gov. Bush obviously knows something about. And I also think we need somebody who’s going to keep this country safe – that’s a big issue for Americans. I think Jeb Bush offers the kind of experience of working in a bipartisan way in solving big problems in Florida, and I think he has the ability to do it in D.C. also.

C&S: The governor is considering and actually moving on some really big infrastructure projects. Do you think New York is a leading state on transportation issues, or do you need to see more action?

RL: Gov. Cuomo is a leader on transportation and infrastructure. I think he’s now putting his money where his words are. He talked a lot about improving transportation infrastructure when we were at the Department of Transportation; we were intimately involved in the Tappan Zee Bridge and we’re supportive of that project being funded, in part, at the federal level. I like the approach that Gov. Cuomo took in respect to LaGuardia; again, public-private partnership, not just relying on state or federal government, but also on private dollars. I like his approach on the Gateway Tunnel project. He’s probably set the standard as a state that’s a real model for tackling big infrastructure problems and doing it in a way that reflects that it requires not just public money, but private money, too.

C&S: Cuomo’s proposed Penn Station revamp is using, in large part, private money – and leveraging private money was one of the recommendations given by the MTA Reinvention Commission you co-chaired in 2014. Do you think that’s the best way to get long-stagnating projects to happen?

RL: There’s not near enough money in Washington or in the state of New York. You have to find the resources wherever you can, either from private dollars or from foundation money. Gov. Cuomo has been very creative in his approaches to tackling big infrastructure projects and funding them.

C&S: The Tappan Zee Bridge replacement is going to cost some $4 billion. How important are massive infrastructure projects like that to the state and the whole region at large?

RL: What infrastructure does is it creates jobs for the people that build the infrastructure, but it also creates economic development opportunities. When you build a bridge, you’re building a corridor of economic opportunity! When you build a roadway, that’s a corridor of economic opportunity. All along these large infrastructure projects, you see businesses locating, you see jobs being created. Not only jobs for the people that are building the infrastructure, but the jobs that are being created as a result of the infrastructure being there. Infrastructure is a win/win in terms of jobs, economic development, economic opportunities, and nobody understands that better than Gov. Cuomo and he’s really laid out a really big, bold New York.

C&S: On the national level, you’ve constantly pushed for Congress to raise the federal gas tax to pay for infrastructure improvements. Can you explain to New Yorkers, who pay the most for gas in the continental United States, why you think this is so important?

RL: The big pot of money that built all of the bridges in New York and the big pot of money that built the infrastructure in New York over 100 years was the Highway Trust Fund. And the Highway Trust Fund is a pot of money that has not been replenished for over 20 years. Everything in America has increased over the last 20 years except the Highway Trust Fund. And if we really want to have the opportunity to do big projects like what’s going on in New York, you need a big pot of money, and that’s the Highway Trust Fund. That can attract private dollars, and that can attract state dollars, but frankly, it’s broke because we haven’t raised it. It hasn’t kept up with inflation, and we should raise it, and we should get back in the business of helping governors and helping mayors fix up their infrastructure. America’s one big pothole because we haven’t had the money to really fix up our roads and bridges and the way to get back to that is to raise the gas tax and replenish the Highway Trust Fund, which will be an attraction for more private dollars.