Ray LaHood
Raymond H. LaHood ( born December 6, 1945 in Peoria, Illinois ) is an American politician of the Republican Party, who on 22 January 2009 to 2 July 2013 as the Minister of Transport of the United States in the office of Democratic U.S. President Barack Obama officiated. Previously, LaHood had belonged to the U.S. House of Representatives, representing the 18th District of Illinois election since 1995.
Ray LaHood, the Lebanese- German descent who attended Bradley University in his hometown of Peoria, where he earned a degree in Education. He subsequently worked as a teacher at a high school, a youth services facility at the Rock County as well as Iceland as an employee of Congressman Tom Railsback and Robert H. Michel. In 1982, he began a career in politics and even then was a deputy in the House of Representatives from Illinois.
When Michel retired, Ray LaHood joined its successor to the Congress. As part of the Republican revolution he was in 1994 elected to the House of Representatives. There, however, he was a republican of only three MPs who did not sign the Contract with America of majority leader Newt Gingrich.
After his first election to the House of Representatives LaHood six times was confirmed as a deputy, twice unopposed. He represents the 18th election district which includes the cities of Jacksonville, Peoria and Springfield. Most recently, he won the 2006 with 67:33 percent of the vote against Steve Waterworth. In 2008 he not applied for the re-election; the seat went to Republican Aaron Schock, who has his mandate started in early 2009. An envisaged candidacy against Gov. Rod Blagojevich rejected LaHood in 2005, as he was outside his constituency as not popular enough.
In Congress, Ray LaHood made a name for himself by at more debates chaired than any other MP. So he stood among other things also the vote on the impeachment of President Bill Clinton in December 1998. He is a member of the Republican Main Street Partnership, an association of moderate Republicans. As a strong advocate of the heritage of Abraham Lincoln, he wrote a bill to convene a Commission, which coordinates the celebrations for the 200th anniversary of the 16th U.S. president in 2009.
On 19 December 2008, the President-elect Obama announced the nomination LaHood, succeeding Mary Peters at the head of the Ministry of Transport. Critics complain that he had last no longer belongs to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives, and see his vocation rather than a symbolic act, due to its affiliation with the Republicans on. On 21 January 2009, the confirmation of his appointment by acclamation by the Senate was.