Obama Taps Elliott to Chair Surface Transportation Board

Rail union attorney would head key rail regulator for rail mergers, shipper disputes

President Obama nominated Daniel R. Elliott III, an associate general counsel at the United Transportation Union, to become the next chairman of the Surface Transportation Board.

Elliott's nomination would not only fill the empty seat on the three-person board that oversees rail economic regulation, but would have the rail labor attorney replace Acting Chairman Francis P. Mulvey in leading the agency.

Elliott fills a board vacancy left when W. Douglas Buttrey, a Republican appointee, left in March. At that time Obama also designated Mulvey, a 2004 Democratic appointee to the board, to take over as acting chairman.
 
Republican Charles D. Nottingham stepped down from the chairmanship to take a regular board seat and said he would remain through his term that ends in 2010.
 
Some observers had said they expected Obama to pick someone new to chair the agency, after he installed Mulvey in an acting capacity. The agency regulates highly sensitive issues of rail mergers, shipper disputes over rail pricing and service, and community complaints over disruptions from rail activity.
 
Elliott has held his UTU job since 1993, presenting the union’s case on various issues before the STB, National Mediation Board, National Labor Relations Board and the Department of Labor.
 
UTU represents train conductors and some other rail workers, and is the single largest rail union.
Obama earlier picked another former UTU official, Joseph Szabo, to head the Federal Railroad Administration that oversees safety issues and finance programs, and he is now its administrator.

 

 

Source: Journal of Commerce