Yesterday, Rick Sincere wrote that he hears tell that Sen. Creigh Deeds may get tapped for Secretary of Transportation. Though I haven’t heard a thing about such a possibility, the thought has crossed my mind.
Exhibit A: After Del. Bob McDonnell won the recount ten days ago, there were no public statements from the presumed candidates for the Democratic nomination (Connie Brennan, Marshall Pryor, Meredith Richards, or Mike Signer) indicating that the race to the starting line had finished. I haven’t spoken to a one of them since McDonnell won the race, but I have to wonder if they know something that we don’t.
Exhibit B: As has been widely remarked upon, we Democrats have no obvious bench for 2009. Though we won the statewide race by getting Tim Kaine elected as governor, we lost both the lieutenant governor and attorney general races. So Republicans have two guys in a position to launch a campaign for governor in a couple of years, while Democrats have nobody obvious. Creigh Deeds is clearly in an excellent position to do so, save for the fact that he remains merely Sen. Creigh Deeds. A cabinet position, provided it’s a suitably powerful and public one, would put him in a better position to run for governor in four years. Secretary of Transportation certainly fits the bill.
These two data points, on their own, weren’t enough to lead me to publicly speculate that Deeds may give up his seat to serve Governor-Elect Kaine. But with Rick saying that there’s been talk about just that happening, I’m thinking the odds aren’t bad. I know I sure like it. That’s an appointment I’d like a great deal more than this random guy off the street Kaine’s appointed as Secretary of Technology. (That’s a different discussion altogether.) Plus, Rick called me “the father of the Virginia blogosphere” a few days ago, so I’ll basically agree with everything he writes for at least the next few days.
Creigh Deeds. Secretary of Transportation. Dig it.
Waldo wrote:
Okay… so the big deviation from the political norm is that instead of a party loyalist that hasn’t run for office being appointed a cabinet position, we get someone who’s a party loyalist who’s run for office and lost, getting appointed to that cabinet position?
And.. as Sec. of Transportation.. what is he going to do to distinguish himself above and beyond the other two elected positions? (personally I’d like to see rail along I-81 as opposed to additional lanes. OTR truck drivers on that stretch of interstate are unnecessarily aggressive drivers).
This is Virginia, it’s not too often that one sees the subordinate offices (Lt Gov. and Atty Gen.) go to the same party as the Govenor’s.
On an unrelated note: My biggest and totally superficial problem with Kaine was that smug look he wore so well during the campaign and that one eyebrow.. always elevated above the other one. To me it made him seem insincere. What was up with that?
And.. as Sec. of Transportation.. what is he going to do to distinguish himself above and beyond the other two elected positions?
He could certainly do a great, great deal. The position of Lt. Gov. isn’t worth a bucket of warm piss — it’s nothing more than a holding area for running for governor. AG, on the other hand, is a bully pulpit — it’s made for preparing for a governor’s race. Secretary of Transportation can be, and has often been, a nothing position. But the Virginia transportation infrastructure is hurtling towards disaster, come that 2018 date when the money runs out. That’s when the entire transportation budget goes towards upkeep — from there on out, the cost of maintenance exceeds the budget, and there’s $0 for construction. In the meantime, we’ve got out of control sprawl and no alternative transportation. Kaine made a big deal about his proposal to give localities the ability to control growth. A lot of that is going to be tied to transportation.
If Creigh Deeds wanted to, and if Kaine would give him enough leeway to do it, he could do some really amazing things in the next four years that would save this state’s ass. Some years ago (it’s 2:30am — I’m up repairing a hard drive — and my brain is all foggy) there was a special session of the GA held to perform similar heroics to bail out transportation, and that’s how we ended up with a special transportation budget. Gov. Warner made some really tough decisions on the budget in his first two years in office, and Virginia is much better for it. If Gov. Kaine will be willing to make the same tough decisions on transportation, and let Creigh execute those decisions, Virginia will owe them both a great debt. If they get into it immediately — in the next 12-18 months — some of those dividends will be realized in 36-42 months, and Creigh may be able to ride that into the governor’s office. Again, it’ll require some real heroics and a huge reconfiguration of how we all think about our transportation infrastructure. But it could be Big.
My biggest and totally superficial problem with Kaine was that smug look he wore so well during the campaign and that one eyebrow.. always elevated above the other one. To me it made him seem insincere. What was up with that?
Just a tic, I assume. If he could have done something about it, I’m sure he would have. :) Botox might have been in order. ;)
Awwww Waldo! I’m surprised at you. “random guy off the street” ? Give Aneesh Chopra a chance! Perhaps you’ve never heard of him until now but he’s a very smart young man who has a very bright, interesting future ahead of him politically. He has been a fixture in the tech world up in NOVA for a few years now, has been a big supporter of Warner and Kaine, and he’ll do a fantastic job as Sec. of Tech. Kaine made a smart choice. And that’s my plug for Aneesh.
Happy New Year to you and your bride. :-D
I do not make a habit out of commenting, but in the word of Barney Fife, I want to nip this one in the bud. I am returning to the Senate. The recent campaign, while not ending up as I wished, left me invigorated and better prepared to continue my service.
Creigh, we DESPERATELY need someone to step up against George Allen this fall. C’mon Creigh, you’d be a great choice!
Give Aneesh Chopra a chance! Perhaps you’ve never heard of him until now but he’s a very smart young man who has a very bright, interesting future ahead of him politically.
I’m wary of any SecTech who is virtually unknown to Google. I just haven’t been able to find anything out about him. Then the Post piece which indicates that he doesn’t actually know anything about technology. That seems…well…bad. From the very little information available, he certainly seems like a big step down from Eugene Huang.