John Mica: Big Shot … and Big Problem for Passenger Rail Advocates.

Republican Congressman John Mica of Florida is a big shot. He has 20-years of seniority in the U.S. House and is now chair of the powerful Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Mica wants to privatize Amtrak, which is probably the same thing as saying he wants to kill Amtrak. And without question it’s the same thing as saying he wants to kill all of Amtrak’s long-distance trains.

I believe – and bona fide transportation experts agree – that Mica is wrong. But what troubles me most about the man is his infernal arrogance … how he goes out of his way to denigrate Amtrak at every opportunity. For example, for years and ad nauseum, Mica has sneeringly referred to Amtrak as “America’s Soviet-style railroad”.

And now Mica has held a committee hearing and he has titled it “A Review of Amtrak Operations Part 2: The High Cost of Amtrak’s Monopoly Mentality in Commuter Rail Competitions.” (Emphasis added.)

Is anyone still under the illusion that Mica is objective about Amtrak or public transportation … or has the best interests of the traveling public at heart? And isn’t that what he’s supposed to be doing??