ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Ask Ray Martinez if his intended career path would have led to his confirmation as head of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, he’ll tell you with a hint of a smile that he has dreamed about it since third grade.
He is kidding. But it is not a stretch to see where some activities of his youth point to the U.S. Department of Transportation role he has held since March.
“Growing up in the Bronx, I took public transit before we moved out to Long Island. You had to have your bus pass,” Martinez said in an interview with Bus & Motorcoach News after an FMCSA public Listening Session at the University of Michigan.
He participated in student government in middle school and high school. Martinez was thinking government service, but not necessarily elected office. Except for brief stints in in the Queens district attorney’s office and at a medium-size administrative law practice, his resume is filled with qualifying roles for his present position.
“I am a recovering lawyer,” he told the Michigan audience, one example of self-deprecating humor that is part of his personality.
Martinez worked in the executive branch twice before. In the 1980s, he was deputy director of scheduling and advance for First Lady Nancy Reagan. In 2005, he was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as No. 2 in the protocol office of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
“Everybody thinks when you say Deputy Chief of Protocol that you are handing out hors ‘d oeuvres and pouring wine,” Martinez said. The job was more like a sheriff, keeping tabs on credentialed diplomats and their families. He tactfully handled cases of misused diplomatic immunity. During his tenure, more than a few family members and staff members chose to go home instead of taking a trip through the U.S. court system.
“We were always sensitive to this because we had more diplomats around the world than any other country,” he said. “We always treated foreign diplomats as good as we could because (our diplomats) have great exposure in countries that don’t have the same rule of law that we do.”
His transportation background began with his confirmation as New York State Commissioner of Motor Vehicles. He came to FMCSA from the same position in New Jersey.
“In those positions, you’re they guy that everybody loves to hate,” he said. “But everybody has to go to Motor Vehicles. I’m the guy that people don’t want to talk to at the cocktail party. Or they come over to you, and they’ve got a real serious issue.”
He neither sought nor received praise for reducing New Jersey DMV waiting times from two hours to 30 minutes. He also brought several functions online. “I took my victories a little bite at a time.”
He said both DMV jobs prepared him to lead the FMCSA. “To be motor vehicle commissioner before and after 9/11… introduced me to testifying before legislative bodies.”
Just over three months into the job, Martinez is getting familiar with issues affecting a diverse industry. He said he is pleased so far with his dealings with the bus and motorcoach industry.
“The responsible companies in the business get it, and so that makes it easier for us,” Martinez said. “But at the same time, we have responsibility to assure that industry-wide, there is a level of safety. In any industry, there’s going to be bad actors. There’s going to be people that are trying to cut corners. This goes for trucks and buses.”
The complete article is in the August 1, 2018, edition of Bus & Motorcoach News.
