Drake is heading to a transportation post after all
By JR Hoeft | Wednesday, January 13th, 2010 | PolicyThe Virginian Pilot is reporting that former U.S. Rep. Thelma Drake is getting a transportation post with the McDonnell administration – just not the top post. According to the Pilot:
Stepping into one of the top transportation jobs in the new administration is Thelma Drake, who is to serve as director of the state Department of Rail and Public Transportation.
A former state and federal legislator from Norfolk, Drake comes to the job at a tense time.
A controversy is raging at Hampton Roads Transit because of millions in cost overruns for Norfolk’s light-rail project and the possible embezzlement of $80,000 in bus fares from Virginia Beach. Amid mounting public pressure for his resignation, HRT chief Michael Townes this week said he will retire later this year.
In choosing Drake, McDonnell bypassed another candidate from Hampton Roads: Norfolk City Councilman W. Randy Wright, who serves on the HRT board.
During a brief phone interview Tuesday, Wright, an advocate for light rail and high-speed rail, confirmed that he was considered for the job and praised Drake’s selection.
Asked how that might affect his decision on seeking another council term, Wright said he hadn’t considered it.
Drake, who recently registered as a lobbyist with the state, said Tuesday that she will withdraw that registration.
McDonnell said one of the reasons he picked Drake is her knowledge of state and federal transportation issues.
And here you all thought I was nuts a couple weeks ago. I wasn’t that far off.
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Conservative to the core; liberal with his opinion! J.R. has been involved in politics for over a decade and has worked on several campaigns in Hampton Roads. He has served on the Executive Committee of the Republican Party of Chesapeake and the Central Committee of the Republican Party of Virginia. He is also the director of “Blogs United” in Virginia. E-mail J.R.. Follow J.R. on Twitter.
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26 Responses to "Drake is heading to a transportation post after all"
Yea – cause that’s not politics as usual – appointing a real estate salesperson – with no college degree, and no experience in transportation, to a political position. Nice to see that nothing changes no matter who is in charge.
CAPT – you sir are an idiot. Thelma was a long time, important member of the House of Delegates Transportation Committee and was a productive member of thre US House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure as well. She knows as much about the interplay of local, state and federal transportation issues as anyone. Not only that, I know for a fact she is way smarter than you, with or without her college degree. (Did you know Bill Gates doesn’t have an undergraduate degree either? Man, you’re dense.) You have obviously never had a discussion with Thelma on transportation issues, so you don’t know what the hell you are talking about.
very good selection indeed
it’s good to know Mrs Drake is back in action.
I have had discussions with Thelma about our regions transportation and Brian Kirwin and I ended up at a YES Campiagn debate in a restaurant in Norfolk when the YES Campaign lacky pitching the failed “6 projects” and a sales tax hike was so befuddled by Brian’s sensible views that Thelma got up, relieved the poor sap, and ended up debating Brian about SB 668 and the MPO/Business lobby’s regional 22% sales tax increase (from 4.5% to 5.5%) for 5 massively expensive projects, including a huge $200M blank check for HRT to fritter away FOR UNSPECIFIED “RAIL TRANSIT” – (more tax money Mike Townes. Paul Frain, Cameron Pittss, & Randy Wright’s light rail trian wreck in Norfolk).
Thelam tried to pitch the same debunked YES Campaign Talking Points about the road to nowhere – a new RT 460 that was only funded to go to Zuna/Wakefield and the state owned Port porkuluios bridge tunnel, a $4.4B “Third Crossing”.
The “solution” that Thelma pitched doid NOT include any solution for the HRBT, or Downtown Tunnel. But it would have given our region the highest sales tax in the state.
Thelma was clearly on the wrong side of that massive tax & spend, borrow & spend plan – and this was when she was a Delegate.
Hopefully she learned something from that experience. Voters rejected her YES Campaign by a 2 to 1 margin in 2002. The same ex-TES Campaign crowd came back in 2007 to create the unconstitutional HRTA – a all-appointed regional taxing authority.
I remember that. I debated Thelma and cleaned her clock.
Oh, if youtube was around then….
You mean if there was YouTube then, we could be talking about Congressman Kirwin?
I wouldn’t have lost to Glenn Nye
Yes, Greenmun reminds us of the disaster created by the failure to invest in public infrastructure. Had we simply agreed to a small increase in the sales tax, most of the projects that were proposed would be completed. Today, those same projects, which are still needed, would cost at least twice as much, and you can thank Greenmun and his short sighted allies for six mile backups at each choke point in Hampton Roads. Perhaps, when the Navy pulls a carrier because in an emergency, our roads will not allow the crew to report, perhaps Greenmun and Kirwin will understand. On second thought, not a chance. MJB sends!
Well… here’s to four more years of crappy roads. Thelma adds nothing new, nothing ingenious and she’ll do nothing that will solve our transportation problem. If she had the ability to… she would have used her 4 years in congress to do just that. This appointment is politics as usual. (I’m sure her husbands deep pockets don’t hurt.)
She has indicated support in the past for light rail, and my fervent hope is that her support will be forthcoming for the extension through the Beach to the oceanfront, and then to the Naval Base/ODU.
Mike,
I had the chance to talk to Thelma Drake after the Norfolk Starter Line FFGA Signing Ceremony. She recognized the need for more mass transit in Hampton Roads. Her appointment at DRPT should mean extension of Norfolk’s Starter Line is a top priority in Richmond.
Despite the desperate attempts of Greenmun and his fellow wingnuts to make LRT a partisan issue, LRT enjoys strong mainstream GOP support: Tata & Wagner on HB 6028, Ken Stolle for NS ROW money, and now McDonnell appointing Drake to extend Norfolk’s Starter Line. It will be comical to hear the VBTA try to attack Drake when in fact they honored Thelma for her public service just after her departure from the House of Representatives.
Just want to remind those gloom and doomers that she will be director of rail and public transportation and will have little if no role in highway and/or road solutions to the transportation problem. She will be focusing on light rail, high speed rail and the bus systems in Virginia.
Yes Henry, I certainly agree. What I am trying to find out on this forum is whether there are any real republicans left in this electorate in Virginia Beach. That is, voters who believe in limited government, but realize that we can’t simply cut taxes and expect to create a Commonwealth in which we can live and prosper. Afterall, it was Dwight D. Eisenhower who advocated for and built the interstate highway system, yet republicans in Virginia seem bent on dismantling it. So, are there any real, business oriented, moderate republicans left? And so help me, if Kirwin responds as such, I’m going to get sick. MJB sends!
Oh so only moderate republicans are real republicans!
Do “real republicans” vote for Mark Warner or Jody Wagner?
Britt,
Ask Reid Greenmun: the VBTA Vice Chair/Transportation Chair voted for both Mark Warner and Tim Kaine for Governor.
Mike, what would you care? Your contributions to Democrats say all that needs to be said.
Do real Republicans donate money to Mark Warner and the Yes Campaign?
Henry, Reid hasn’t been a Republican for a few years now. He can vote for whomever he pleases. Hard to blame him for not voting for Kilgore. His campaign was the only one worse than Creigh Deeds’s.
That said, voting for or otherwise supporting Mark Warner, is a huge mistake. Well, unless you want socialism. If that ghastly rumor is true Reid, shame on you.
Ben, good point!!
Britt,
Yes, the best thing Reid Greenmun ever did for the Republican Party was to leave it. Yet he shamelessly tries to challenge the GOP credentials of others.
Now does anyone want to discuss Thelma Drake, DRPT, and Hampton Roads mass transit?
Of course, the responses herein reflect the current divide in the party. Kirwin points out that I have made contributions to Democrats; of course, he fails to point out that I have made contributions to republicans as well. My loyalty is to those who see clearly the issues that have a nexus to economic development and prosperity, and have the will, the guts, and the energy to pursue those issues. Frankly, the dismantling of the highway system in Virginia disqualifies many current Delegates and Senators of both parties, but frankly, mostly republicans. Now, on the day of inauguration, despite the promises of the campaign, we learn the Governor wants to wait another year on transportation. No surprise there given the anti tax majority in the House.
Mike supports Republicans when they are unopposed or running against other Republicans.
Yes, Mike has given money to Peter Schmidt running as a Republican and Peter Schmidt running as a Democrat. He also gave money to Sen. Ken Stolle when Stolle didn’t even have an opponent. Real brave there, Mike!
Mike thinks that gives him some big bipartisan hat to wear, when you look at his reports, his donations to Schmidt when he ran against Purkey pale to the tens of thousands to Kaine, Bouchard, Mathieson, Jody Wagner and Mark Warner.
What you fail to understand Brian is that I support candidates with whom I agree, and who I believe possess the will, the courage, and the energy to lead. Frankly, I base my evaluation not just on what they say, but what they have done. The dismantling of a once robust and quality transportation system is the legacy of the majority party in the House, and the failure of people I once considered to be both intelligent and capable is a severe disappointment to me. I care about politics not as a game and a competition, but as the way we build civil society. Our new Governor therefore has assumed the mantle of leadership, and he had better start immediately.
Mike, I can appreciate that approach and it is more of an honest representation. You should stick with that rather than preaching as to what a “real Republican” is. You automatically start off making enemies with that one.
Go to any political breakfast meeting and talk about what “real” Republicans/Democrats/Libertarians are, and chances are that you’ll insult two thirds of the room.
Thanks Britt, but I work with real republicans every day who are saddened by the turn the party has taken and are searching for solutions to the serious problems confronting this City and this Commonwealth, brought on by the no tax pledge required to pass muster in the House of Delegates. The financial disaster now facing our cities and towns as they lay off thousands of permanent workers who are needed to provide fundamental services of government will be the result of members who have signed Norquist’s pledge, and thereby show their allegiance not to the voters who elected them, but to the Norquist and his henchmen. Ideological purity meets the reality of politicians who care more about reelection than doing what is right for Virginia.
This is one of the most interesting posts I’ve read in awhile, I’ll be sure to add you to my favorites and include your feed in my aol news reader. Thank you!
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