Looks like David Gunn is out

I am surprised that Mr. Gunn held on as long as he did. I predicted that he would have resigned by now. That he hadn't done so was causing me to question his character. But being fired by Amtrak's beltway-beholden board of directors is one of the greatest honors that a railroader like Mr. Gunn could ever hope to achieve. I wish Mr. Gunn well, and I thank him for his service.

Much wisdom has already been shared on this thread. All I can say to Amtrak's LSAs is start looking for work. In light of the longstanding Neocon grudge against the LSAs earning living wage, I think they will be the very first to go. (I believe Mr. Jersey Mike has also predicted this outcome.)

The President and his idealogues are now in a position to install with Amtrak a Brownie like we have never seen before. But in light of the direction that Amtrak has already taken, I have to say that I will not miss the beltway's influence on my passenger rail service. The sooner New York takes over responsibility for the Empire Corridor and restores my food service, the better. To the rest of the country, all I can say is that I am sorry that it is ending this way. But if the demise of a national network of intercity passenger rail service is the most lasting legacy of the failed neocon experiement, we should consider ourselves lucky.

henry6 wrote: Combine the Gunn firing with the Kansas vote on evolution and they have brought the United States is to the brink the 19th Century! After the Civil War will England take us back?

As a friend once commented... In the 1800s, the Republican Party dragged the country kicking and screaming into 19th century. Now they're trying it again.

Seriously, actually I don't wish to paint all Republicans with a broad brush that's unfair and not true.

I do find it interesting however that Bush is so bent on destroying Amtrak when members of his own party are so intent on saving it. The recent "defeat" in Congress of his $0 budget is an example of this.

And attempts to portray Amtrak as a red state/blue state issue is a false dichotemy also. (I'd hazard a guess that more "red" states have Amtrak stops than "blue" states, but not quite sure that's true.)

And I find the continued push to "reform" Amtrak in the Bush/Mineta model another flight of fantasy. There's little evidence that it can be done.

Can Amtrak be reformed, I believe so. Can it even be reformed in a model that tradional Republican support can found, I believe so.

But this ain't it.

henry6 wrote:Gunn knew how to run a railroad...marketing, operating, employee relations, community relations, railroad relations...he understood the job better than anyone. Anyone. The Republican and Conservatives could not have such a "people" thing as a passenger railroad; they could not allow the big oil and airline (airplanes come from military r&d) companies be underfunded and given carte blanc in funds and abilities to operate. Combine the Gunn firing with the Kansas vote on evolution and they have brought the United States is to the brink the 19th Century! After the Civil War will England take us back?

The UK is too smart to take in damaged goods, especailly when soiled by the Neocon agenda. BTW, Blair said he prpboably wouldn't make it thru his third term.

Let's not forget that Amtrak has had an adverserial role wioth the freight RRs in recent years. Former CSX Chairman David Snow is Secretary Of The Treasury, and I'll bet he was pushing the White House very hard to remove Gunn. I wouldn't be surpised if UP's management was also involved- they haven't had a great relationship with Amtrak, either. The Neocon agenda is all about cronyism- with CSX and UP being two big contributors to the GOP. Amtrak may be sacrificed on the altar of their greed, but I don't think it wll go without a fight from Congress. Who knows? This could be the fight that finishes off the influence of the Bush Administration.

Although it all looks bleak, I won't count them out yet. While many on this board would point to hiring a true railroader to be the new president of Amtrak, I don't necessarily hold that it needs to be the case. There is many a tradition of turnaround CEO, that have taken a troubled company, made them profitable, then stepped down. This has happened many time in the corporate world, and could be of a benefit to Amtrak. Sometimes the hard and true railroaders are really not what is best. Just look at the Ford families still present hand in Ford Motor. Ford has seen many problems, and some people lay credit with the family influence.

Also, as mentioned before in this thread, what is really needed is a concise look at the true costs and revenues from a dollar perspective.

This writer has never made any secret of the fact that his strong beliefs in both free-market economics and a libertarian/individualist social agenda are rooted in the same value system. If I have seemed to criticize the Democrats more harshly than the Republicans, it is because the Democrats have, by far, a more agressive track record in the pursuit of power at the expense of the individual.

But in recent months, it has become increasingly apparent that the present administraction has also become power-mad, and continues to distance itself from the alliance of productive, pragmatic, primarily non-urban individualists which form the center of its coalition, probably because it believes that its absolutist social agenda guarantees their captivity.

The downside of this is that the collection of legitimized radicals and socialists who hijacked the Democratic party in 1972 are already licking their chops at an envisioned return to power. I wouldn't bet table stakes on that.

Most of us out there beyond the corridors know that the events of the past year are a threat to this nation's continued prosperity. And quite a few, I suspect, would go along with the redesign of a basic transportation safety net centered around the urban corridors. David Gunn is one of a number of centrists well-suited to that task.

The challenge to those of us who recognize that need, on both sides of the aisle, is to identify and demonstrate the capabilities of what is, at its core, an extremely efficient transport machine, avoiding both the cultural polarization of the right and the welfare ethic of the left.

This is just a blatant display of politics in Washington when a head of an organization doesn't agree with the administration. They cry "We need responsible management" and they got it but they tell it like it is and you put pressure on the board to let him go.

This is much unexpected and I am highly disappointed. I hope on a personal level David Gunn knows that this move has nothing to do with his management as a responsible and common sense leader.

This is just one of many nails in Amtrak's coffin. The next President/GM will be a Bush "YES MAN". The corridor will live, as well as the other smaller regional services (Michigan, California), but I think this spells the end of the LD's, food service, etc. You can bet the next guy will be onboard with spinning off the corridor, and further dismantling the system.

Thanks Mr. Gunn for your efforts, RIP Amtrak.

In the Times article Schumer of NY was remarking that he wasn't sure that the current "board" could remove gun seeing as 3 seats were empty and 2 were recess appointments. If there's a lawsuit would Gunn return if the case were to prevail?

Jersey_Mike wrote:In the Times article Schumer of NY was remarking that he wasn't sure that the current "board" could remove gun seeing as 3 seats were empty and 2 were recess appointments. If there's a lawsuit would Gunn return if the case were to prevail?

I doubt there will be such lawsuit and I doubt Gunn would sign on if there was.

I don't think that Mr. Gunn would return either, but someone should be held accountable for any illegal actions that may have been taken.

Amtrak is more vital than ever. I hope that the Senate holds firm. Sure there is need for reform. Perhaps open some of it to competition. Some, not the whole system. There has to be standards set.

1)Rural Communities must be served. No Rocky Mountaineer-style operations in the corridor. The Empire Builder is vital to the communities it serves. We need it.

2) Amtrak be responsible for the ticketing, and allow them to enforce honoring tickets issued by the concessionaires.

3) Amtrak be responsible for the ownership of the rolling stock, and lease it to the operators. So if a concession has to be revoked, service can be continued with limited disruption.

I do like some of the ideas proposed by the URPA for Long-Distance Trains.

Firing the CEO to be replaced by a guy like Michael Brown(if that is what ultimately happens), is the wrong move.

Amtrak fired Mr. Gunn. Is Amtrak the board of directors, Or is it us 20,000 other idiots? I say we have some type of organized mass protest. There is power in numbers. 20,000 against 4. I like those odds. It could be some thing simple like we all wear black arm bands this month, and refuse to remove them. Get the media involved. Can they fire all of us. This is BS. We need to stand up. I need a good quote from Mahatma Gandi here.

Here's what the NY Times had to say this morning:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/10/opinion/10thur4.html

Well, I hope that we get a new CEO that can turn Amtrak around for the better, and make us all happier. I guess Gunn didn't do too good of a job going that.

How ironic.

The same day the neocon-functionaries dismiss Mr. Gunn, FEMA announces that beltway Brownie is now finally off of FEMA's payroll.