MACON — President Barack Obama's transportation secretary says Georgia leaders must work together for big projects such as passenger rail or they will continue falling behind, but a spokesman for Georgia's governor says Ray LaHood's remarks were more about politics than public transit.
LaHood spoke Friday to the Georgia Intermodal Leadership Summit in Macon. His talk focused on passenger and freight rail, as did much of the conference.
"If Georgia wants a rail line and wants to be connected to high-speed intercity rail, you can make it happen," LaHood said. "You need to have leadership from all of you, but you need it from the governor's office, too."
LaHood cited California as a state that made commitments to get $2.25 billion for high-speed rail.
Gov. Sonny Perdue's spokesman, Bert Brantley, told The Macon Telegraph that the governor wasn't responsible for any transportation shortcomings.
"It is clear the Obama administration has its operatives traveling the country in a last-ditch effort to try and find someone to blame for their failed policies," Brantley said. "While the blame game may be alive and well inside the Washington, D.C., Beltway, Georgia voters are smart enough to recognize a con job when they see it."
DuBose Porter, a longtime Democratic House leader who ran unsuccessfully for governor this year, warned that getting total agreement on transportation projects would be nearly impossible. A passenger rail line from Macon through Griffin to Atlanta would pass through three regions, each of which would separately consider a regional sales tax that could subsidize the line.
Porter said that wasn't a reliable way to get money and called instead for the state's "fourth penny" of its gas tax to be dedicated to transportation. He said that would create a stable funding source needed to match federal funds.
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Information from: The Macon Telegraph, http://www.macontelegraph.com
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