Secretary of Transportation-Ray LaHood
The former Republican House member from Illinois has been one of the more visible members of Obama’s cabinet, in part because of his affable personality and championing of the nation’s highways and infrastructure. He has been a strong advocate of airline safety and passenger rights, and took a tough line on auto safety during Toyota’s massive recalls in 2010. LaHood had very limited experience in transportation policy before he was picked for the job. He was s quoted in the New York Times as saying, “They picked me because of the bipartisan thing and the congressional thing, and the friendship thing.” LaHood has signaled that he will likely step down sometime this year.
