Washington Post asks: Who is Ray LaHood?

The Washington Post has a feature today on Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. The article highlights LaHood work to limit distracted driving (also see our policy report,) mentions his weekend bikes rides with his wife, and contains this passage about his policy statement on bicycling and walking:

LaHood created heartburn for highway advocates — and caused bicyclists to nearly swoon — when he blogged: “This is the end of favoring motorized transportation at the expense of non-motorized.”

The National Association of Manufacturers fired back that the policy was “dumb . . . irresponsible” and “nonsensical for a modern industrial nation.”

Unfazed by the criticism, including the suggestion from a former GOP colleague in the House that he was on drugs, LaHood climbed onto a table at a convention of cyclists to reiterate his support for treating “walking and bicycling as equals with other transportation modes.”

By ‘convention’ they mean the National Bike Summit. Close enough. See video of the table top speech here.

Secretary LaHood’s table top speech at the National Bike Summit. (Photo by Jeffrey Martin)