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Amtrak chairman: Savior or undertaker?
WASHINGTON -- As chairman of the Texas Transportation Commission under then-Gov. George W. Bush in the late 1990s, David Laney was credited with significantly increasing highway funding and boosting development of toll roads, according to this news analysis by Robert Cohen published by the Star-Ledger.
Along the way, friends say, he developed a thick skin, absorbing criticism from those who didn't get the millions of dollars in highway and bridge money they wanted and from those who opposed his construction plans.
Now as chairman of the board of Amtrak, Laney has come under a withering attack from members of Congress who accuse him of leading a Bush administration effort to dismantle the national passenger railroad and turn it over to private interests.
Laney insists he's not out to ruin Amtrak, but to save it: "We want to fix Amtrak's problems, and make it better."
But after the board of directors moved secretly to separate the valuable Northeast Corridor from the rest of the rail system, then fired popular Amtrak President David Gunn, angry lawmakers called Laney to a congressional hearing and told him to his face that they don't trust him.
Some drew comparisons to Michael Brown, the former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency who was fired after FEMA's botched response to Hurricane Katrina.
"Amtrak is now being run by a board made up of members who have virtually no experience in passenger rail," Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) said during the contentious hearing. "In short, Mr. Gunn was fired because he would not agree with FEMA-tizing Amtrak."
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WASHINGTON -- As chairman of the Texas Transportation Commission under then-Gov. George W. Bush in the late 1990s, David Laney was credited with significantly increasing highway funding and boosting development of toll roads, according to this news analysis by Robert Cohen published by the Star-Ledger.
Along the way, friends say, he developed a thick skin, absorbing criticism from those who didn't get the millions of dollars in highway and bridge money they wanted and from those who opposed his construction plans.
Now as chairman of the board of Amtrak, Laney has come under a withering attack from members of Congress who accuse him of leading a Bush administration effort to dismantle the national passenger railroad and turn it over to private interests.
Laney insists he's not out to ruin Amtrak, but to save it: "We want to fix Amtrak's problems, and make it better."
But after the board of directors moved secretly to separate the valuable Northeast Corridor from the rest of the rail system, then fired popular Amtrak President David Gunn, angry lawmakers called Laney to a congressional hearing and told him to his face that they don't trust him.
Some drew comparisons to Michael Brown, the former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency who was fired after FEMA's botched response to Hurricane Katrina.
"Amtrak is now being run by a board made up of members who have virtually no experience in passenger rail," Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) said during the contentious hearing. "In short, Mr. Gunn was fired because he would not agree with FEMA-tizing Amtrak."
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