Transportation Secretary Mineta's (Almost) Invisible Fingerprints

Today there's an article in the New York Times, entitled "U.S. Withheld Data on Risks of Distracted Driving," that's a real eye-opener. In a nutshell, back in 2003 the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) was pressured from the top levels of the U.S. Department of Transportation to not make public hundreds of pages of research and warnings about the hazardous use of cellphones by drivers. Quoting from that piece, by investigative reporter Matt Richtel:

The former head of the highway safety agency said he was urged to withhold the research to avoid antagonizing members of Congress who had warned the agency to stick to its mission of gathering safety data but not to lobby states.

Critics say that rationale and the failure of the Transportation Department, which oversees the highway agency, to more vigorously pursue distracted driving has cost lives and allowed to blossom a culture of behind-the-wheel multitasking.

At one point, NHTSA had even drafted a letter for Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta to send to the states, warning them that their hands-free laws might not solve the problem. Again, quoting from the Times piece:

Dr. Jeffrey Runge, then the head of the highway safety agency, said he grudgingly decided not to publish the Mineta letter and policy recommendation because of larger political considerations.

The fate of the research was discussed during a high-level meeting at the transportation secretary’s office. The meeting included Dr. Runge, several staff members with the highway safety agency and John Flaherty, Mr. Mineta’s chief of staff.

It turns out that not only did Secretary Mineta not (supposedly) know about that meeting, but he (supposedly) didn't even know that the cellphone safety research even existed. Again, quoting from the Times piece:

Mr. Mineta, who left as transportation secretary in 2006, said he was unaware of the meeting.

“I don’t think it ever got to my desk,” he said of the research.

Mr. Mineta's professed lack of awareness of this issue is almost impossible to believe -- particularly since this topic was discussed in his own office by his own Chief of Staff. He clearly wanted to leave the impression that was completely out of the loop on this important issue. However, his own quote in an Associated Press story in February 17, 2003 seems to strongly contradict that intended impression. "I'm a delegator, but I want to know what the details are," Mr. Mineta was quoted of saying in that piece.

Then too, who would be more sensitive to the "political considerations" of upsetting Congress and/or the cellular industry than the long-time politician and former Congressman and Chairman of the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee?

Mr. Mineta is extremely adept at orchestrating things behind the scenes without ever leaving his fingerprints. Excerpting from the section entitled "Candidates for the Hidden Payoff" from Chapter 23 of my forthcoming book The 'Smart Road' Scam:

Former Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta was the consummate "inside man" who quietly put the underpinning for Traffic.com's monopoly in place. Despite the fact that the Federal Highway Administration [another administration, like NHTSA, under the USDOT's umbrella] wanted to openly compete the ITIP program's expansion from a two-city pilot to a national program, Mineta seized the opportunity to continue the sole-source arrangement for Traffic.com...

Mineta would continue to support Traffic.com's monopoly behind the scenes. He directed the reassignment of Dr. Christine Johnson, the FHWA manager whose department managed the ITIP program and who saw through this scam early-on, to a field position in which she could no longer threaten Traffic.com's monopoly. After the passage of SAFETEA-LU in August, 2005, the Mineta-led USDOT simply ignored the new "Part II" provisions Senator Hatch had put into the bill to break up Traffic.com's ongoing monopoly.

Mr. Mineta's own failure to disclose the details of his capital gains income from Trimble Navigation stock options of up to $1 million -- as is required by federal law -- suggests that he unethically received money "under the radar" for another company.

The truth about former Secretary Mineta's behind-the-scenes manipulation and orchestration of federal policies to benefit private-sector interests over the public's interest, and his clear breach of federal ethics/false claims laws is bound to come out eventually.

As William Shakespeare said way back in 1600 in the Merchant of Venice: "Truth will out."

Jerry