Carr’s a real pro — at politics

Georgia has a long, unfortunate history of transportation decisions based on the needs of politicians rather than the advice of transportation professionals.

With his appointment of Toby Carr as the state’s transportation planning director, the most important transportation job in the state, Gov. Nathan Deal has made it pretty clear that tradition isn’t going to change anytime soon.

Carr may be a fine person. However, he has no training in transportation, either planning or engineering, and his area of expertise is politics.

According to a short bio provided by the governor’s office, Carr has served as executive director of the state Republican Party and of Deal’s transition team.

In 2008, he was campaign coordinator for the House Republican caucus, and he worked as a political consultant.

He has bachelor’s degrees in finance and agricultural engineering.

His only apparent background in transportation has been his service since January 2011 as Deal’s transportation policy adviser.

According to Deal spokesman Brian Robinson, that makes Carr a good pick for the job.

“The position is the governor’s advocate within the [Department of Transportation], which is governed by a separate board,” Robinson said.

“Toby is very well qualified for such a job. He knows what the governor’s priorities are and he can work toward them at the DOT.”

In effect, he’s saying that the governor views the job of transportation planning director as a political rather than a policy job.

And under that job description, Carr is indeed well-qualified to serve as “the governor’s advocate within the DOT.”

However, that’s not how state law describes the job.

Statutorily, the director of transportation planning is charged with “developing the state transportation improvement program and the statewide strategic transportation plan and coordinating transportation policies, planning, and programs related to design, construction, maintenance, operations, and financing of transportation.”

I don’t think running the state Republican Party prepares you for all that.

In addition, the director is charged with developing a statewide transportation asset management program, an asset improvement program and a local maintenance and improvement grant program.

Under the Transportation Investment Act of 2010, he or she also plays a critically important role in the drafting of regional project lists to be funded with the proposed 1-percent regional transportation sales tax.

Carr’s predecessor, Todd Long, has a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in civil engineering from Georgia Tech, plus almost two decades of experience in transportation.

His background and the credibility that it gave him were valuable as he worked with regional officials around the state to draw up project lists for the July T-SPLOST.

However, he left the job a month ago to become deputy transportation commissioner, and it’s now pretty apparent that he was pushed out to make room for Carr.

The most troubling thing about the appointment is that it comes as voters are just beginning to focus on whether to approve the 1-cent transportation sales tax.

I can’t imagine that this will boost public confidence.

Response to“romneys sing different tune when with rich pals.” Opinion, April 22

According to lawmakers, the contributions they received leading up to the recent tax vote didn’t influence them (“Money flowed before big vote,” News, April 22). Ergo, the business owners who made them must be stupid and spending their money to no effect. Let’s remember that the next time a politician tells us how much they trust businessmen to benefit our society if they are left free to make decisions unfettered by oversight or regulation. Either businesses are run by stupid people who can’t be trusted with our economy or political contributions achieve what they’re meant to. Either way, we’re being had.

The recent article on our trustworthy lawmakers brought to mind something I felt needs to be said (“Money flowed before big vote,” News, April 22).

I have lived all of my 85 years in Georgia (with the exception of two years in the service), and just want to say how lucky I am to live where our elected representatives don’t need any restrictive laws to protect them from succumbing to the temptations of lobbyist money. Maureen Dowd used inflammatory and critical language. Why not be clear about what the issue is? Is it possible to be compassionate, caring and concerned about another human being without personally experiencing what another is suffering? The answer is “yes.” God set in motion a biological plan that politics and law cannot change. Women bear the children and a parent (mom or dad) makes the best caretaker. Why can’t parents who make that sacrifice be respected — rich or poor?

I am relieved to know that the wonderful members of our Legislature are immune to the temptation that surrounds them daily under the Gold Dome and elsewhere.

I don’t see that we need any laws regarding influence peddling, for we are truly blessed in Georgia with a unique group of people immune to that sort of thing. It is amazing to behold and I’m glad to see such a group once before I die.

A reader wrote that he was upset that a big deal is being made about dogs in the presidential election, instead of the more serious issues of the day (“Election too critical to be left to the dogs,” Readers write, Opinion, April 25). The writer repeated talking points about how the federal government is infringing on his rights under the Constitution and how the government should get out of his way so he can succeed or fail on his own.

I challenge those who say these things to make a specific list of all of the ways the federal government gets in your way or infringes on your rights. The government has a role to play in the free enterprise system. When the government shirks that role (as it did under the George Bush administration), we end up with a near collapse of our economy. I do not want to repeat history.

How stupid to refer to President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Harry Reid as the “Three Stooges” after the George Bush-dick Cheney administration (“Political humor,” Readers write, Opinion, April 22). I could point out dozens of examples of lousy decisions, lies and incompetence perpetrated by that administration.

The current crop of Republicans are focused on all the wrong things, while the Democrats are fighting tooth and nail to help rebuild the economy, make health care accessible and pass reforms to help, not harm the country. Letters to the editor should be no longer than 150 words and must include a daytime phone number for verification. They may be edited for length and clarity, and may be published in print or other formats. Email submissions are preferred. Email: letters@ajc.com. How to submit an Opinion column: Submissions should be 600 words or less. Email columns to Opinion Editor Tom Sabulis at tsabulis@ajc.com. Columns submitted to the AJC may be published, republished and made available in the AJC or other databases and electronic formats.