(The following report appeared on the Peoria Journal-Star website on November 16.)
MACOMB, Ill. — Former Macomb Mayor Tom Carper has been nominated by President Bush to serve on the Amtrak board of directors.
Carper was initially recommended to the president and to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid earlier this year by U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.
Carper, who lives in Macomb, is director for the West Central region for Opportunity Returns.
“Tom Carper has years of experience in bringing together business leaders, community leaders and elected officials,” Durbin said Thursday in a statement announcing the nomination.
“Given Tom’s accomplishments as mayor and regional director for West Central Illinois’ economic development plan, I am confident he will able work with local, state and federal leaders to keep Amtrak on the right track.”
Durbin said Carper battled to preserve passenger rail service in the region and in the state while he was mayor from 1991 to 2003.
In 1991 he was appointed by the Amtrak Board of Directors to the Amtrak Mayors’ Advisory Council, serving as its chairman from 2000 to 2001.
Carper’s nomination must now be considered by the Senate Commerce Committee and the full Senate.
Amtrak’s board of directors sets corporate policy and oversees the company’s management. It is made up of seven voting members appointed to five-year terms by the president with the advice and consent of the Senate.