Gov. Nathan Deal is appointing a political adviser as the state’s transportation planning director, according to Deal's office.
In his new position, Toby Carr, who reports to Deal, will have perhaps the strongest hand in choosing what projects get funded with large chunks of the state's $2 billion annual gas tax budget.
Carr, former director of the Georgia Republican Party, replaces Todd Long, a career engineer and transportation planner. Long was appointed by Gov. Sonny Perdue and kept on by Deal. He has now moved to deputy commissioner of the state Department of Transportation.
Carr was director of Deal's gubernatorial transition committee, and has been serving as Deal's transportation policy adviser.
Carr's appointment highlights the role of politics in transportation funding, and may set up the first real test of a new law that reformed transportation governance in 2009.
The law passed in 2009 shifted some power over transportation money from the DOT board to the governor. It did that by creating the director of planning, making that person report to the governor and giving him or her the first hand in creating state project lists.
DOT board chairman Rudy Bowen said he liked working with Carr. "I think it’s a great choice from the governor’s office," Bowen said. "He’s a very capable young man."
Bowen said he did not believe the choice would make transportation choices any more political than they already are, and he noted that the DOT board will still have its vote over the projects.
Before the 2009 law, there were bitter fights over the years between the DOT board and governors over transportation planning. But since then, the governor's planning director and the DOT board have worked together smoothly, aided partly by Long's experience as an engineer and his background at the DOT.
The best hope for the law was that it would engage governors more closely in transportation planning, spurring better cooperation with the DOT board and less conflict. On the other hand, the law could do the opposite, setting up a structure for conflict by giving one politician a lot of control over a large pot of project money, but not total control.
If the governor is to be closely involved, Carr apparently has the relationship with Deal to fulfill that role.
Carr served as Deal’s liaison to the Georgia House of Representatives, and as an aide to House Speaker Pro Tem Jan Jones when she was House majority whip. According to Deal's office, Carr, of Decatur, graduated from the University of Georgia with bachelor’s degrees in finance and in agricultural engineering.
Carr’s nomination requires approval by the House and Senate transportation committees, but Chairman Jay Roberts, R-Ocilla, said he did not anticipate trouble for Carr in the House committee.
“Todd Long’s done an outstanding job and set a high bar,” he said Tuesday, “but I believe Toby will be able to step in and fill his shoes, and do a good job not only for the governor but for us and the state as a whole.”
Roberts said his committee would probably meet sometime before next year’s session to confirm Carr. In the meantime, Carr already has been attending DOT board meetings and working as Deal’s liaison there.
As the state's second-ever transportation planning director, Carr's role is to balance power over the money with the DOT board. The DOT board is independent, with each of 13 members elected by a caucus of legislators.
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