Editorial: Secretary Mineta Exits

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orman Mineta has been an exceptional secretary of Transportation and we’re going to miss him at the helm of the nation’s transport efforts.

His decision to step down at the end of this week must have been a difficult one for him, since he has held the post longer than any of the 13 people who preceded him.

Mineta has been working on transport issues for more than 30 years, beginning as the mayor of San Jose, Calif., in 1971, and extending to 20 years in the House of Representatives — which included three years as chairman of the House Public Works and Transportation Committee — a stint as Commerce secretary under President Clinton and now five years as Transportation secretary.

He has told the press only that “I had an opportunity come up” that he found irresistible, which led him to step down. He termed it “a very, very tough decision.”

His personal history is chock-full of “firsts,” including first Asian-American mayor of a major U.S. city and first Asian-American Cabinet secretary. He also is one of only four men to move directly from a post in the Cabinet of a president from one political party to the Cabinet of a successor from a rival party.

When you add to this his experience as a boy of being interned in a government detention center in Wyoming along with his family during World War II because of his Japanese heritage, one has a better picture of the extraordinary journey Mineta’s life has been.

While he was in Congress, Mineta was one of the primary authors of the Intermodal Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA). As Transportation secretary, he helped craft the 2005 version of the highway authorization program, this one known as the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU).

Also during his tenure, the hours-of-service regulations for the nation’s truck drivers have been revised and the Transportation Department underwent a major reshaping as part of the creation of the Department of Homeland Security in the wake of 9/11.

As Tim Lynch, American Trucking Associations’ vice president of federation relations and strategic outreach, said last week, Mineta was “unquestionably . . . the most qualified and accomplished [DOT chief] in his understanding of all transportation modes. You’ll be hard-pressed to find another Norm Mineta.”

We’re going to miss you, Mr. Secretary.

This editorial appears in the July 3 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.