Gunn signs on as Free Congress Foundation adjunct scholar
Former Amtrak President David Gunn didn’t stay away from the public transportation arena for long. He recently accepted a position as an adjunct scholar with the Free Congress Foundation, a conservative public policy institute that promotes public transportation.
Gunn — who was fired from Amtrak last month — will contribute to the foundation’s series of essays on “conservatives and public transportation.” He also has served as the head of transit systems in Washington, D.C., and New York City.
“Free Congress Foundation intends to make David Gunn’s unique expertise on both urban and inter-urban rail passenger service available to Washington policy-makers, especially conservatives,” said foundation Chairman Paul Weyrich in a prepared statement.
December 6, 2005
David Gunn joins conservative foundation
Paul M. Weyrich, chairman of the conservative Free Congress Foundation, announced that former Amtrak President David Gunn has accepted the position of adjunct scholar with the foundation. Gunn will contribute to an “ongoing series of monographs on conservatives and public transportation.” “David Gunn was the best president Amtrak had in a long time,” said Weyrich, who is a former member of Amtrak’s board and also served on the Amtrak Reform Council. “His firing, which was engineered by the White House, was a travesty. It suggests that the current administration is out not to reform Amtrak but to destroy passenger trains in this country.”
In a press release, the foundation noted that it is “one of the few conservative policy institutes that favors public transportation, especially rail.”
Said Weyrich: “Free Congress Foundation intends to make David Gunn’s unique expertise on both urban and interurban rail passenger service available to Washington policy-makers, especially conservatives. Conservatives need to understand how passenger trains, subways, and streetcars can serve important conservative goals, such as increasing property values and reducing our country’s dependence on vulnerable Middle East oil supplies. No one understands this subject better than David Gunn.”
Weyrich is no newcomer to the David Gunn fan club. In a commentary posted on the Free Congress Foundation website on Nov. 30, Weyrich recalled that in 1992 he was named to a committee to find a successor for Amtrak President W. Graham Claytor, who wanted to retire. Weyrich sought out Gunn at the latter’s home in Nova Scotia and asked if he was interested in the job. Gunn wasn’t. Claytor stayed on for another year, then retired due to illness, and Tom Downs became president of Amtrak. Downs was later replaced by George Warrington. When Warrington moved on to become head of New Jersey Transit, Gunn re
Gunn’s next job is to flip burgers at the local McD’s, but i doubt he’ll hold that long as he won’t listen to anyone and will just be bullheaded and do it the old fashioned way that doesn’t work.
I heard a rumor last weekend that Gunn’s fireing was illegal since the Amtrak board didn’t have a quarum.Has anyone else heard this?Gunn was the best thing to happen to Amtrak in a long time.I think he was doing TOO much good for Amtrak and this made certain people in government uncomfortable,so “they” had to get rid of him.
Just my [2c].
If the board did not have a quarum and voted to terminate and Gunn accepted, Who is kidding Who? That does not sound like the whole story. Just asking. PL
At the House Railroad Sub-Committee Hearing the week after Gunn was fired, the Committee Chair Rep Latourette (R, Ohio) raised the issue of quorum. He and DOT Chief Counsel Jeffery Rosen-Mineta’s designee to the Board-had an extensive discussion on the subject. There was not a final resolution at the hearing, but Rosen cited provisions of the applicable law that seemed to say that the existing four members on the Board constituted a quorum.
When asked, Gunn stated that he thought the Board had the right to fire him.
This is just a guess on my part, but I think that it may have been decided “behind the scenes” that there was a lawful quorum as the issue seems to have gone away.
I agree with Mr. Weyrich,I quote"That Mr. David Gunn was the best president that Amtrak had in a long time",unquote… I am sure Mr. Gunn will feel at home with his new job. I am sorry AMTRAK did not not feel obligated to rehire him,but that in a sense was very poor judgement that this present adminsitration made. To kill passenger service that so many people who rather not fly or any other mode of transportation is also a bad thing.