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Obama nominates transportation agency heads

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Last week, President Obama nominated Chuck Hurley to serve as administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

April 13, 2009
2 min to read


WASHINGTON, D.C. — Last week, President Obama nominated Chuck Hurley to serve as administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Over the last 30 years, Hurley has held senior leadership positions with the National Safety Council and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, and he has served as CEO of Mothers Against Drunk Driving since 2005.

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In addition to his work on drunken driving issues, Hurley has worked extensively with law enforcement on air bag and seat belt issues, teen driving, and child passenger safety. He also worked in 2003 with then state Sen. Obama on his successful efforts to strengthen Illinois' seat belt, teen driving, child passenger safety and racial profiling laws.

Also last week, Obama nominated Peter M. Rogoff to serve as administrator of the Federal Transit Administration.

Rogoff is an acknowledged expert in the area of federal infrastructure budgeting and finance, having had an active role in the financing of each of the past three comprehensive surface transportation reauthorization bills, dating back to the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991.

He served for 22 years on the staff of the Senate Appropriations Committee, including 14 years as the Democratic staff director of its Transportation Subcommittee.

In other administration news, Obama nominated John Porcari to serve as deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation. (Former Illinois Rep. Ray LaHood was confirmed as the transportation secretary in January.)

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In his current position as secretary of the Maryland Department of Transportation, Porcari is responsible for motor vehicle registration and the highway, transit, aviation and maritime modes of Maryland's transportation system.

Porcari also serves as chairman of the entity responsible for operating the state's bridge and tunnel facilities. He is in his second stint as state transportation secretary, having served in the capacity from 1999 to 2002.

 

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