Former U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to speak at CI about finding bipartisanship

CSU Chanel Islands News

Camarillo, Calif., March 17, 2016 — Former U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood will speak about the bumpy road to bipartisanship at CSU Channel Islands (CI) on Wednesday, March 30 on the CI campus.The public and the CI community are welcome at the event, which will be from 7 to 8 p.m. in CI’s Grand Salon.The Honorable Ray LaHood will also be giving presentations to some classes and speak at the swearing-in of new initiates into Pi Sigma Alpha, the national political science honor society. That ceremony will take place at 5 p.m. in CI’s Petit Salon.LaHood will be making some of the points he makes in his book “Seeking Bipartisanship: My Life in Politics,” a 2015 publication by Cambria Press. The book is part of a series edited by Professors of Political Science Scott Frisch, Ph.D. and Sean Kelly, Ph.D. called “Politics, Institutions and Public Policy in America” or PIPPA.Frisch spearheaded the effort to bring LaHood to CI because he believes his message is important and topical during this Presidential election year. “We’re in such a time of bitter partisanship and there is this one person who spent most of his political career trying to remain in the center, which is becoming an increasingly lonely place,” Frisch said.LaHood is a Republican congressman from Illinois who was recruited to President Barack Obama’s cabinet. He served as U.S. Secretary of Transportation from 2009 to 2013, hoping for bipartisanship the entire time.In his book, LaHood is critical of both sides of the aisle.“I do not believe the White House ever committed fully to a genuine bipartisan approach to policy making, despite the president’s words to the contrary,” LaHood wrote in his book, which was written with Frank H. Mackaman, President at the Association of Centers for the Study of Congress in Illinois.Of Republicans, LaHood ...

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