Rep. Sam Graves, the self described airplane nut who also chairs the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is apparently in the running to be the next Transportation Secretary and regardless of your politics, it would be tough to find a more qualified or more passionate choice. Too bad he’s not Elon Musk’s favorite for the job.
In a government portfolio that sorely needs the kind of experience, background and sheer commitment to the job that Graves will bring, several publications are suggesting the inside track is going to a guy named Emil Michael, a former Uber executive who left in 2017 amid the scandal over workplace culture at the rideshare company (it’s not clear what he does for work these days) and whose principal qualifications are that he’s pals with Musk, a SpaceX investor and Trump campaign donor.
Yeah, yeah, I know. This is the world we live in and we should make the best of it but I thought the fact that the DOT pick had slipped to the second week of Trumps dream team compilation meant that merit might play a role.
Graves’ long list of bipartisan accomplishments in his current role as head of the committee and as former ranking member should make him a shoo-in. He was at NBAA-BACE a month ago shepherding the new rules for advanced air mobility into reality with a signing ceremony that led the news out of the show.
He brought Rep. Rick Larsen, the Washington State Democrat and ranking member on the committee with him in a classy display of bipartisan getting-stuff-done. Larsen and Graves worked on the file together and considering their Venus and Mars positions on practically everything else, well, you know. I’ll bet Larsen would be the first to endorse Graves for the job.
The Uber guy worked on mergers, acquisitions and “fundraising” at Uber. I wonder if he was behind surge pricing before he fled the scandal and cozied up to tech bigwigs like Musk. But here’s the ultimate irony. You would be hard pressed to find a more staunch Republican than Graves. Before Uber, Michael was a White House Fellow under the Obama administration.
But while I lament the wasted opportunity that the selection of Graves would have presented, it is supplanted by the terror with which I view Michael’s likely appointment and the effect it could have on our little corner of the big picture. About the only thing that would be worse is if Musk himself had been appointed as DOT Secretary.
As a reminder, I have defended Musk in his dealings with the FAA. I have opined that his unorthodox blow-them-up-until-you-get-it-right approach to flight testing might be uncomfortable for the conservative and safety-obsessed agency but it deserves a chance. But when you coat an entire city in potentially toxic dust it’s good there’s someone in charge to rein you in, I think.
As you have heard, Musk has been appointed along with fellow Trump loyalist Vivek Ramaswamy to head something called the Department of Government Efficiency. The department has a broad mandate but little actual power. Theirs are not cabinet appointments. They are merely advisors to Trump. How much clout they and their shiny new public policy bauble will have only time will tell. I suspect it won’t amount to much.
But Musk’s disdain for the FAA is well known and if he can’t have direct power over the agency then having a stooge in place is certainly the next best thing. Musk’s public battles with the FAA over issues with SpaceX are well chronicled so it’s likely one of the targets of his new side hustle.
Someone like Graves, a successful farmer and businessman, accomplished pilot and battle-hardened politician would chew someone like Musk up and spit him out if he came after the agency with a wrecking ball. To wreak havoc on the FAA, Musk needs a puppet in the Secretary job.
Let’s hope I’m reading all this wrong and take some comfort in the fact that even if he doesn’t have the Cabinet job, Graves’ committee post is certainly the next best thing and might even be better. It has some powers that Musk hasn’t contemplated, I’ll bet.
Retribution can be a two-way street and turnabout can be a real bitch in that environment.
