Tata’s politics may cost NC transportation dollars
N.C. Department of Transportation Secretary Tony Tata has made a nice living trading on his status as a retired brigadier general.
When he retired after 28 years in the U.S. Army, his former rank and six-weeks of training at the Broad Academy gave him entry into the Washington, D.C. school district. There he would use his military acumen to improve the schools logistics as chief of operations under then-schools chancellor Michelle Rhee. That lasted 19 months.
Then, despite no significant experience in education, Tata was hired as superintendent of Wake County schools, North Carolina’s largest school district, because a conservative-led school board liked his potential for gung-ho, nontraditional leadership. That didn’t end well. Tata gained a reputation for bullying staff and couldn’t get the buses to run on time. He was dismissed by a new, progressive board after a year and half and left with approximately $250,000 in severance pay.
Soon after he landed his current post. Upon announcing Tata’s appointment, Gov. Pat McCrory said that despite Tata’s lack of experience with state transportation issues, he had run complex operations as a general. “If he can do it in Afghanistan under fire, surely he can do it in North Carolina,” McCrory said.
Now Tata is working his one-star again. In addition to running a major state department with a $4 billion budget and some 12,000 employees, he’s found time to be a regular commentator on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show and write military thrillers on the side. On Fox, Tata regularly criticizes the Obama administration’s policies regarding the Middle East. Last Friday, he noted that Iran and Hezbollah have been taken off the list of terror threats in the national security report. The move is part of the administration’s effort to encourage Iran’s help in fighting the Islamic State, but Tata declared it foolish and dangerous.
“I don’t know what pie-in-the-sky world we’re living in right now, but this is ridiculous,” he told Hannity. “This is an oppressive regime that wants to destroy Israel and the United States.”
Why Hannity is turning to Tata for wisdom on the Middle East is baffling. Tata has no special insight into the region. Beyond that, the public learnedTata’s politics may cost NC transportation dollars | News and Observer News and Observer:
