At precisely 12:55 p.m. on Tuesday, former state senator Dan Moody of Roswell resigned his 6th District seat on the powerful State Transportation Board. We know this because we have this terse email from Moody to Elizabeth Osmond, executive secretary to the board:

Please notify the Executive Officers of the STB of my resignation as the 6th Congressional representative on the Board effective immediately at the time this message was written.

Dan Moody

State Transportation Board

We were told that Moody resigned in protest of his colleagues’ decision not to conduct a wider search for a replacement to Keith Golden, who recently retired as DOT commissioner. But the former state lawmaker says this is not true.

On Tuesday, the Moody-less board chose longtime DOT veteran Russell McMurry to head the organization that commands a budget of more than $2 billion and some 4,100 employees.

In a text we just received, Moody gave his reasons for resigning as nine grandchildren "and a consulting job in the Florida panhandle. Time to move on. I would have voted for Russell, too."

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Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D. (center) is flanked by GOP whip Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo. (left) and Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, as Thune speak to reporters at the Capitol in Washington on Tuesday, July 1, 2025. Earlier Tuesday, the Senate passed the budget reconciliation package of President Donald Trump's signature bill of big tax breaks and spending cuts. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

Credit: AP