Gordon Linton

Gordon J. Linton (born March 26, 1948) is an American politician from Pennsylvania best known for his role as the former head of the Federal Transit Administration in the U.S. Department of Transportation from August 6, 1993 to 1999. Linton also served as a legislator in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 1982 to 1993, representing the 200th Legislative District in Philadelphia. Linton's career in public policy focused on developing and implementing initiatives that aimed to empower underserved individuals and communities.

Early life and education Linton was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he resided in North Philadelphia with his mother, a homemaker, his father, a construction worker and barber, and his younger brother. Linton attended William Kelly Elementary School, Vaux Junior High School, Thomas Edison High School, and graduated from Olney High School in 1965.

John E. Allen, founder of New Freedom Theatre, encouraged him to attend Peirce Junior College (now Peirce College), his alma mater, a noted Philadelphia business school. Linton earned his associate degree in business management from Peirce in 1967. He continued his studies at Lincoln University, the nation's first degree-granting Historically Black College and University (HBCU) in Oxford, Pennsylvania, where he graduated in 1970 with a B.A. in economics. Years later, he served as the Commonwealth Appointee to the university's Board of Trustees and endowed a public policy scholarship. In 1997, he received an honorary Doctor of Laws from his alma mater for his contributions to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and his distinguished career in service to the people. Linton completed his education at Antioch University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he earned a Master of Education in Counseling/Psychology in 1974.

Career

Psychology Early in his career, Linton saw firsthand the degree to which people's lives are influenced by forces beyond their control. After graduating from Lincoln University, Linton was mentored by Dr. Warren E. Smith and assigned to the Counseling Services Project where he worked as part of a team with psychologists in Philadelphia's parochial schools.

This experience led Linton to adopt a holistic approach to addressing clients' social and economic needs. Linton began by focusing on educational, community-centered programs in Philadelphia to empower children and families. In one of his first positions, he served as a Community Consultant with the School District of Philadelphia. He also served as education director for Baptist Children's House, a facility for neglected/dependent children in Philadelphia. Linton concluded his work as an educational psychology specialist working with adolescents and families at the Philadelphia Child Guidance Center.

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Linton became actively involved in the development, promotion, and administration of state-funded community-based programs. As Eastern Regional Administrator for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Office of the Auditor General, he conducted operational and compliance audits of public welfare agencies with control over all logistical aspects, audit direction and regulated adherence to proper audit procedures. Linton successfully fulfilled his fiduciary responsibility in managing the Commonwealth's financial resources while ensuring maximum benefit to clients in underserved communities.

Pennsylvania House of Representatives In the late 1970s, Gordon Linton was engaged in political activity and community organizing in Northwest Philadelphia. Linton was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1982, representing the 200th Legislative District, with the support and encouragement of his predecessor, John F. White Jr. At that time, the district included parts of the neighborhoods of West Oak Lane, East Mount Airy, Chestnut Hill, and Upper Roxborough in Northwest Philadelphia. He quickly moved into leadership on the House Transportation Committee as the prime sponsor and author of 12 legislative proposals that are now law.

During his tenure in the Pennsylvania Legislature, Linton was appointed, in his first term, chair of the House Select Committee on Minority & Women-owned Businesses after calling for an investigation (H.R. 277) into the number of minority and women-owned businesses receiving contracts from Commonwealth of Pennsylvania agencies; he also introduced a resolution, adopted by the full House, granting the committee subpoena power.

He introduced Act 230 of 1984, which regulated the infiltration of "front" and "sham" operations into minority and women-owned business programs and received national attention. At the request of Majority Leader James Manderino, he co-sponsored minority business working capital legislation and managed the floor debate; the resulting law became part of the Pennsylvania Economic Revitalization Fund of 1984 and established a $5 million revolving loan fund and bonding guarantee fund for minority businesses.

Linton served as chair of the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus from 1986 to 1993, during which he worked to increase minority business participation in state contracts and worked with the governor to create an Office of Minority and Women Owned Business. He introduced and engineered passage of the legislation establishing the Commonwealth's first dedicated funding source for mass transit, as well as Pennsylvania's first law requiring mandatory seat belt use. He also introduced legislation directing Pennsylvania's share of the Benjamin Franklin Estate Trust to Commonwealth Community Foundations for perpetual endowments.

Linton created the House Task Force on the Senior Citizens Shared Ride Program and, as its chair, worked to maintain the program's funding level. He served as vice chair of the House Appropriations Committee and was appointed by Governor William Casey Sr. to the Special Philadelphia Trial Court Nominating Commission, formed to nominate judicial candidates following a judicial misconduct case. He was also a Commonwealth Trustee of Lincoln University and a member of the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials, the Transportation Institute Advisory Council, and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation's Disadvantaged Business Advisory Council.

Federal Transit Administration Because of his expertise and success on transportation issues in the Pennsylvania Legislature, Linton was nominated by President Bill Clinton, confirmed by the U.S. Senate, and appointed the Federal Transit Administrator in the federal Department of Transportation in 1993. During his tenure, Linton served as the nation's leading official for national public transportation policy and programs. He helped shape and represented President Clinton's public transportation policies and budget, and provided executive direction over all federal transit programs, nationally and internationally. Linton managed an annual budget of $5 billion and employees in the Federal Transportation Administration's (FTA) Washington, DC headquarters and 10 regional offices. He led the FTA's Livable Community Initiatives, which promoted closer connections between public transit and the communities it serves.

"Gordon Linton is a distinguished public servant with an unquestionable knowledge of transportation matters." President Bill Clinton at the 1993 nomination announcementDuring his tenure at the DOT, Linton was responsible for more than $37 billion in federal investments in public transportation and negotiated Full Funding agreements totaling $10 billion for 22 new projects. He spearheaded statutory changes and policies that launched the FTA's Livable Community Initiative as a national policy framework in 1994. He also established the first international transportation program in FTA's history, forging partnerships abroad, briefing foreign governments on U.S. public transit policy, and representing the United States in government-to-government bilateral agreements and trade missions.

Linton launched the Bus Rapid Transit Consortium, selecting 17 cities to take part in collaboration, project scoping, and best-practice development for a national program promoting rapid bus transit as an emerging service option, and he led a delegation to Curitiba, Brazil, to study its rapid dedicated bus system, which helped accelerate the system's adoption in the United States. He also helped negotiate a Memorandum of Understanding between the Federal Transit Administration, the Federal Highway Administration, and the South African Department of Transport, which established technology transfer centers and education, training, and business development opportunities with the South African government.