House transpo chair loses re-election bid

John Mica is ranking member

Jon Boyd, Nov 03, 10.

James Oberstar, Chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, lost his bid for re-election Tuesday, and gave a farewell speech Wednesday, as reported by Transportation Nation:

Chair of the House Transportation Committee was unseated Tuesday. He has served Minnesota since 1974, an[d] he sure had a lot to say about his transportation tenure. Below is the full audio of his emotional, proud, and of course, transportation-filled farewell speech.

“In the business world when the profits of sales go down, the CEO says, well it was sales, or marketing … in this arena you look into the mirror and say, it was me. But there is nothing I would take back. “

About 6:25 into his remarks, Oberstar starts to list off all the work he is proud of, and it reads like the list of roads, bridges, tunnels and infrastructure that cover Minnesota.

“I can’t change, and I wouldn’t change any of the votes I cast this year to bring us out of the worst recession, to chart a course for the future … I wouldn’t change any of the votes I cast to bring forward the stimulus. Because the bridge over Interstate 35 at North Branch will be there long after I leave office, and long after any successor. That’s a 100-year bridge. And the bridge at County Road 17 over I-35 … that will be there long after…”

As for what this transportation legislator will do next, he says he will reflect for a while and look for something “in the public arena.”

John Mica, who won re-election on Tuesday in Florida’s Seventh District, is the ranking member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Minnesota Public Radio audio report