"Ex-Highway Director Named to Lead DOT"

Tuesday, September 5, 2006

Ex-Highway Director Named to Lead DOT
By Deb Riechmann
The Associated Press


President Bush has chosen Mary Peters, a former federal highway
administrator, to succeed Norman Mineta as secretary of transportation, a
senior administration official said Tuesday.

Bush was to announce his choice in the Roosevelt Room of the White House
later in the day.

Peters spent three years directing the Arizona Department of Transportation,
where she worked her way up through the ranks during a 16-year career there.
Since November, Peters has been national director for transportation policy
and consulting in the Phoenix office of Omaha-based architectural,
engineering and consulting firm HDR Inc., according to the official, who
spoke on condition of anonymity because the official announcement had not
been made.

Peters, who was chief of the Federal Highway Administration from 2001 to
2005, fills a Cabinet seat left open when Mineta left the job in July after
six years on the job. Bush wanted to announce his choice as the Senate
returned from its August recess so the confirmation process could begin.

Peters is an advocate of user fees, or tolls, for building new highways. In
a recent interview, she said that the federal highway program will run out
of money by decade's end without substantial changes and, rather than raise
taxes, some states are turning to toll roads already to fill gaps.

"You just can't depend on the federal government to bring the money in that
was around when the interstate system was first built," Peters said.

Peters is a fourth-generation Arizonan. She holds a bachelor's degree from
the University of Phoenix and attended Harvard University's John F. Kennedy
School of Government Program for State and Local Government Executives. She
and her husband, Terry, have three grown children.

A year ago, Peters was exploring a candidacy for governor of Arizona. Last
November, she dropped her gubernatorial bid to challenge Democratic
incumbent Janet Napolitano after a fellow Republican, already in the race,
raised questions about Peters' eligibility.

The Arizona Constitution requires that candidates to have been Arizona
"citizens" five years before the election, but Peters lived in Virginia and
registered to vote in that state while serving during Bush's first term.

Peters said that she believed she still was eligible to run for governor and
always intended to return to Arizona after her federal service, but that she
stepped aside because the issue would have been too much of a distraction.

Mineta was the only Democrat in Bush's Cabinet. There had been speculation
for years that he was on the verge of quitting, sometimes because of his
health and sometimes because of rumors about a cabinet shake-up. Instead,
Mineta became the longest-serving transportation secretary since the
department was formed in 1967.

After the Sept. 11 hijackings, Mineta oversaw the hasty creation of the
much-maligned Transportation Security Administration, which took over
responsibility for aviation security from the airlines.

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