Obama names former MVA chief to high post
President Obama turned to Maryland again for a top appointment in the transportation field as he named Anne S. Ferro to head the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which regulates the interstate bus industry.
Ferro won praise from lawmakers for the job she did as head of Maryland's Motor Vehicle Administration during the Glendening administration. She lost that job when Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich took office, but quickly resurfaced as head of the trucking industry's Maryland trade association.
This is what the White House had to say about her background:
Anne S. Ferro served as Maryland’s Motor Vehicle Administrator between 1997 and 2003 where she established a strong record in highway safety, regulatory compliance and agency leadership. She has extensive experience in driver and vehicle safety having led the agency’s efforts to establish a graduated licensing program for new drivers in Maryland as well as a model for older driver research. A former Peace Corps volunteer in Cote d’Ivoire, Ferro is currently President of the Maryland Motor Truck Association and serves on several regional advisory committees relating to freight planning, highway safety and transportation funding. In 2008 she was selected as Maryland’s Port Woman of the Year. Ferro earned a Masters degree in Public Management from the University of Maryland and a Bachelor of Arts degree from St. John’s College in Annapolis.
Previously, President Obama named Maryland Transportation Secretary John D. Porcari as deputy U.S. secretary of transportation, the No. 2 official after Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. Porcari was confirmed by the Senate and was sworn in June 1.
Ferro faces Senate confirmation.
Comments
The sailor laughs last.
Former MVA administrator Anne Ferro was a particularly regrettable casualty of Gov. Ehrlich's purge of non-political career professionals doing great work for the people of Maryland.
She was pushed out at the height of acheivement to make way for some guy who knew some guy who knew Bob Ehrlich. His name was David Hugel, and he's one of those Republicans I'll never understand who fashion for themselves careers as government regulators serving the party that hates government regulation.
No matter how Mr. Hugel reconciles his party's anti-government rhetoric with his career path, his survival instincts were keen. In May of 2006, when it was clear his patron of the hour, Gov. Ehrlich, was about to tank, Mr. Hugel jumped ship and joined the Bush administration as acting head of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Adminstration, where he continued to do the regulatory work of the anti-regulation party until President Obama won the election, at which time he jumped ship yet again....
creating the vacancy about to be fillled by....
the unapologetic and studied public servant who integrated contempary principals of corporate management (and rule breaking entrepeneurial spirit) into the contex of a sometimes vexing but always necessary government bureaucracy.
- Steve Lebowitz
Posted by: justdafacts | June 5, 2009 3:02 AM