A new Transportation Director is set to take over the beleagured State Department of Transportation on September 15th. Pete Rahn is a former Secretary of Transportation in New Mexico and spent the last couple of years in the private sector. He comes to Missouri with a bit of a reputation of being a road builder at a time when surveys have indicated people want the existing roads beter maintained and the Department has implemented a program of less new construction and more maintenance. Rahn was a gubernatorial appointee in New Mexico but prefers the way Missouri does business with a director answering to an independent highway commission. Both major candidates for Governor, Matt Blunt and Claire McCaskill, have indicated they want to appoint a Secretary of Transportation who answers to the Governor.