Rep. Ray LaHood has quickly moved from being a favorite for the Transportation Secretary pick to being the presumptive nominee... to be officially named by Friday.

At first glance it looks like he doesn't have much background on aviation, but he actually had a stint on the House aviation subcommittee in the late 1990s. During this time he was involved in a few debates that could resurface.

Here's a real funny anecdote, from an industry source with a long memory.... (with the caveat that this is totally second-hand).

LaHood was present during one of the House hearings on the U.S./Japan aviation agreement (when it appeared as if Japan was not keeping its part of the deal...)

He's sitting in his chair chewing gum and blowing bubbles. The subcommittee chair asks if he has a statement. LaHood leans forward, looks directly at the news cameras, and says "Japan better not screw with us." Then he leaned back and started chewing again.

I can well believe that, because the congressional record has him saying he believes the dispute over air rights was "another example where the United States gets totally screwed by the Japanese government." (Aviation subcommittee, July 20, 1995).

In another hearing on the Japan issue, LaHood, after questioning U.S. govt. representatives, said he believed "United [Airlines] is getting hosed in the process here ... And it doesn't look like our Government is doing anything about it, or at least following the agreements and the steps that should be taken here." (from the congressional record, April 30, 1996).

I guess the takeaway is that the airlines should be pleased that this guy would definitely stand up for them on international issues.

Here are his thoughts on the FAA privatization issue, which resurfaces up from time to time... (from congressional record, June 8, 1995).

Mr. LAHOOD. Mr. Chairman, I would be very brief, only to pick up on the point that the Ranking Member made and that is that I am a little more than astounded when I became a Member of the committee and the subcommittee to learn that the reason that we were going to reinvent government by privatizing or corporatizing or whatever the right word is, FAA, is because the procurement system was faulty. And I have never really been able to figure that out. 

If our procurement system is lousy, let's fix that. Why the heck do we have to throw out the whole agency. And I concur with Mr. Mineta wholeheartedly and I have been baffled about this whole idea and I am very interested and I thank you for holding this hearing.