Transportation Secretary

Maryland Transportation Secretary Beverley Swaim-Staley, the state's first woman in that role, said Monday that she is stepping down on July 1. Swaim-Staley, who has spent 25 years as a state employee, was appointed secretary in September 2009. Before that she served as deputy transportation secretary from 2007 to 2009. Previously, as deputy secretary from 1999 to 2003, she directed all operations at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Maryland Transportation Secretary Beverley Swaim-Staley, the state's first woman in that role, said Monday that she is stepping down on July 1. Swaim-Staley, who has spent 25 years as a state employee, was appointed secretary in September 2009. Before that she served as deputy transportation secretary from 2007 to 2009. Previously, as deputy secretary from 1999 to 2003, she directed all operations at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

President Barack Obama turned to Maryland for another high-level appointment Friday as the White House announced that he intends to name Maryland Transportation Secretary John D. Porcari to the No. 2 position in the U.S. Department of Transportation. In choosing Porcari, Obama has selected one of the few state transportation secretaries whose portfolio includes all the major modes of travel - highways, aviation, mass transit, maritime commerce and rail freight. If he clears the required background checks and is confirmed by the Senate, Porcari would serve as deputy to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, a former Illinois congressman and a Republican.

Maryland Transportation Secretary Beverley K. Swaim-Staley told state lawmakers Tuesday that internal auditors knew about some irregularities in the awarding of contracts by the State Highway Administration but didn't raise an alarm. The transportation chief went before the General Assembly's Joint Committee on Audits to respond to two reports this year that identified ethical lapses and violations of contracting rules in one of the largest agencies of state government. Swaim-Staley said she is moving aggressively to change a culture at the SHA that put getting work done above abiding by the state's procurement laws.

The State Highway Administration will dedicate its welcome center on Interstate 95 in Howard County to former Gov. Harry R. Hughes next week, honoring a longtime elected official who also was the state's first transportation secretary. Hughes, who is retired and lives in Denton, is expected to attend the ceremony Monday with current Transportation Secretary John D. Porcari, Neil J. Pedersen, the state highway administrator, and current and former legislators. Hughes, an 81-year-old Democrat, was transportation secretary from 1970 to 1977 and governor from 1979 to 1987.

CLAUDE BRINEGAR, 82 Transportation secretary under Nixon Claude Brinegar, who led an overhaul of the railroad industry and saw the nation through the oil crisis of 1973 as the third U.S. transportation secretary, died Friday of natural causes in Palo Alto, Calif. President Richard M. Nixon nominated Mr. Brinegar to head the Department of Transportation in late 1972. At the time, Mr. Brinegar was a senior vice president at Union Oil Co., where he had worked since 1953. During his tenure as secretary, Mr. Brinegar led efforts to overhaul the collapsed Northeastern railroad industry, ultimately resulting in the creation of Conrail Inc. He served as a founding director of Conrail from 1974 to 1975 and joined the board again from 1990 to 1998.

Maryland's transportation secretary told Carroll leaders yesterday that the state lacks the money to move forward on road projects that are designed to relieve congestion and improve highway safety in the county. The meeting in Westminster was Transportation Secretary Robert L. Flanagan's latest stop on a tour across Maryland to discuss the state's transportation needs and the $10.5 billion of highway work that has not been funded. It was also the third meeting with Carroll officials in as many weeks to talk about road projects considered important to the county, including the Route 30 bypass around Hampstead and improvements on Route 32 between Eldersburg and the Howard County line.

Transportation Secretary Robert L. Flanagan defended his department's inquiries into a prominent disability rights activist's transportation arrangements yesterday, saying he needed to know whether the advocate was getting preferential treatment from a state contractor. Flanagan said department officials had an obligation to ensure that Yellow Transportation Inc., a contractor that provides van and cab service for the disabled, wasn't providing service for Joel D. Myerberg that wasn't available to other riders.

Citing "severely declining transportation revenues," Gov. William Donald Schaefer announced yesterday that he is suspending the start of new transit projects for 30 to 45 days.Affected by the order, according to Deputy Transportation Secretary Stephen G. Zentz, are about 70 projects -- more than $330 million worth of highway improvements, bridge overhauls and construction work."The unexpected decline in Transportation Trust Fund revenues brought on by the Mideast crisis and current economic conditions have given us no alternative but to suspend these projects," Governor Schaefer said.

Donald Glenn Brotzman, 82, a former five-term Colorado congressman, died of cancer Wednesday in Alexandria, Va. He began working as an attorney in Boulder in 1950, the same year he was elected to the Colorado House of Representatives. He also served in the state Senate. After unsuccessful runs for governor in 1954 and 1956, he was appointed U.S. attorney for Colorado in 1959. He was elected to the U.S. House in 1962, when fellow lawmakers named him president of the Republican freshman class.

Maryland will receive $2 million from the federal government to improve the delivery of transportation services to veterans and their families under a program announced Wednesday in Baltimore by the nation's No. 2 transportation official. John D. Porcari, deputy U.S. transportation secretary, returned to the state where he served two stints as transportation chief to announce that two Maryland groups would each receive a grant to help ensure that veterans receive better information about bus service and other rides available in their communities.

Maryland Sen. Ulysses S. Currie warned former Transportation Secretary Robert L. Flanagan in 2006 that he "would need friends in the Senate," then urged the embattled agency head to issue a $2 million grant for a pet project, Flanagan said in federal court Monday. Flanagan's job was on the line at the time - the result of a bill sponsored by Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller, with whom he famously clashed, and other legislators including Currie. But Currie now seemed to be offering him a safety net, Flanagan testified, and he began looking into whether the grant would be appropriate.

- Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told Toyota owners Wednesday they should stop driving their vehicles, then quickly took back his words, adding to confusion over the safety of millions of recalled cars. Toyota, for its part, tried to reassure drivers that sticky gas pedals have been rare - and that the cars can be stopped in any event by firmly stepping on the brakes. The final word from LaHood: "What I meant to say or what I thought I said was, if you own one of these cars or if you're in doubt, take it to the dealer and they're going to fix it."

President Barack Obama turned to Maryland for another high-level appointment Friday as the White House announced that he intends to name Maryland Transportation Secretary John D. Porcari to the No. 2 position in the U.S. Department of Transportation. In choosing Porcari, Obama has selected one of the few state transportation secretaries whose portfolio includes all the major modes of travel - highways, aviation, mass transit, maritime commerce and rail freight. If he clears the required background checks and is confirmed by the Senate, Porcari would serve as deputy to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, a former Illinois congressman and a Republican.

CLAUDE BRINEGAR, 82 Transportation secretary under Nixon Claude Brinegar, who led an overhaul of the railroad industry and saw the nation through the oil crisis of 1973 as the third U.S. transportation secretary, died Friday of natural causes in Palo Alto, Calif. President Richard M. Nixon nominated Mr. Brinegar to head the Department of Transportation in late 1972. At the time, Mr. Brinegar was a senior vice president at Union Oil Co., where he had worked since 1953. During his tenure as secretary, Mr. Brinegar led efforts to overhaul the collapsed Northeastern railroad industry, ultimately resulting in the creation of Conrail Inc. He served as a founding director of Conrail from 1974 to 1975 and joined the board again from 1990 to 1998.

The State Highway Administration will dedicate its welcome center on Interstate 95 in Howard County to former Gov. Harry R. Hughes next week, honoring a longtime elected official who also was the state's first transportation secretary. Hughes, who is retired and lives in Denton, is expected to attend the ceremony Monday with current Transportation Secretary John D. Porcari, Neil J. Pedersen, the state highway administrator, and current and former legislators. Hughes, an 81-year-old Democrat, was transportation secretary from 1970 to 1977 and governor from 1979 to 1987.

A commission studying how to pay for Maryland's transportation needs recommended last night that the state tack an average $20 surcharge on tickets for moving violations in order to repay $300 million diverted to help balance its budget. The new proposal, recommended to the panel by the state Transportation Department, was the only specific revenue-generating measure endorsed by the task force headed by former Transportation Secretary William K. Hellmann. The panel decided by consensus to endorse the department's goal of increasing capital spending on transportation by $4.7 billion over the next six years - a target that would require an additional $1.8 billion in revenue over that period.

ANNAPOLIS -- Members of a task force set up to review Maryland's transportation revenue problems agreed last night that the state faces a serious shortfall, but could not agree what to do about it.The 15-member Transportation Revenue Committee, headed by former state Transportation Secretary William K. Hellmann, could only agree to let Gov. William Donald Schaefer and the 1991 General Assembly decide whether to raise the state's gas tax and by how much.The...