D.J. Gribbin, Managing Director, Macquarie Capital
Biography provided by participant
D.J. Gribbin is a Managing Director for Macquarie Capital, joining Macquarie on February 2, 2009.
Prior to joining Macquarie he served as the General Counsel for the United States Department of Transportation. As the General Counsel, he was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as the principal legal advisor to the Secretary. The Office of the General Counsel provides legal counsel to the Office of the Secretary and reviews and coordinates the legal work of the operating administrations' chief counsels.
Gribbin came to the U.S. Department of Transportation from Macquarie Holdings, Inc. (USA) where he served as Division Director. From July 2003 to July 2005, Gribbin was Chief Counsel of the Federal Highway Administration. From July 1997 to July 2003, he was Director of Government Affairs and then Director of Public Sector Business Development at Koch Industries. Gribbin has also served as the National Field Director for the Christian Coalition; as a Legislative Representative for the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB); as the Legislative Director to U.S. Representative Larry Combest (R-TX); and as Professional Staff for the House Committee on the District of Columbia.
Gribbin received his undergraduate degree in Philosophy from Georgetown University and his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C. He has also attended the Mandarin Training Center in Taipei, Taiwan.
In July 2005, Gribbin took a six-month sabbatical to Guatemala and established a non-profit, tax-exempt corporation to serve the needs of impoverished Guatemalans.
Gribbin and his wife, Molly, are the parents of seven children. They reside in Leesburg, Virginia.
Successful public-private partnerships, by their very nature, have to adequately incorporate and serve the public interest. The current debate is less about the need to use P3s to serve the public interest and more about who is best positioned to determine what the public interest is. In considering the public interest, it is critical to keep in mind the backdrop against which P3 transactions are being considered, i.e. traditional government-funded and government-procured projects. Too often P3 transacions are compared against the ideal instead of against the most probable alternative (see Steve Sandherr and Gabriel Roth's comments referencing the politicization of the highway procurement process). … Read more
In July of 2007, the Pennsylvania legislature passed Act 44, which allowed for the tolling of I-80 and the lease of the Interstate to the Pennsylvania Turnpike. This launched an 18-month discussion with FHWA on the merits of tolling I-80 under the Interstate Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Pilot Program (IRRPP), a program allowing an exception to the general prohibition on tolling Interstates. The effort to toll I-80 was ended when FHWA determined that Pennsylvania's toll application did not meet the requirements of federal law. Now Pennsylvania is considering making another run at getting federal approval. The future of I-80 raises a… Read more
Last week we witnessed a highly unusual discordance between Congress and the Obama Administration on transportation issues when Secretary LaHood suggested an 18-month postponement in surface transportation reauthorization. This suggestion received less than favorable comments from T&I Chairman Oberstar. Whether surface transportation reauthorization should be delayed by 18 months is more a question of politics than policy. The next reauthorization is going to be uniquely challenging because it cannot be solely a simple extension of current law. In fact, it is almost universally acknowledged that our country needs to fundamentally reform how we finance surface transportation infrastructure (although there is quite a… Read more
Ken Orski and Bill Graves mentioned legislation introduced by Senators Bingaman (D-NM) and Grassley (R-IA) that would place limitations on P3 transactions for surface transportation projects. Lisa Caruso suggested that I post a copy of a brief white paper done on these bills explaining their impact on P3s and the policy implications. Here it is -- Summary and Talking Points for The Transportation Equity for All Americans Act and The Transportation Access for All Americans Act On April 28th, Senators Bingaman and Grassley announced two pieces of legislation discouraging the use of concession public private partnerships (P3s) for… Read more
The public-private partnership (P3) debate is heating up again with the release of two new reports. Over the last week and a half, both the Pew Center on the States and U.S. PIRG weighed in on the topic of P3s and how they should be better structured. The Pew report is a well-written case study on last year’s debate on the concession of the Pennsylvania Turnpike (report), while the U.S. PIRG report continues that organization’s skepticism about the value of P3s (report). The Pew report is must reading for anyone following P3 policy and implementation. While the report leaves out… Read more
The transportation section of the budget is just a little more than a page of text, but it focuses on two much-needed reforms. First, the President’s budget calls for “the use of economic analysis and performance measurement in transportation planning.” While the concerns about bridges to nowhere can be blown out of proportion, I think it is fair to say that the American public has lost the faith it used to have in how our highway dollars are spent. During the Interstate era, the need for a federal highway tax was compelling, and the progress and value in completing… Read more
The Financing Commission did a significant service to the debate on the future of transportation infrastructure in putting together a thorough and thoughtful summary of the challenges facing this area and a number of ways to address those challenges. My question for Rob, Geoff and Kathy is -- what role did the Commission envision states and localities playing in the financing of surface transportation infrastructure? The report notes that non-federal sources currently make up a majority of the funding for surface transportation infrastructure and you include a number of recommendations to increase non-federal funding in the short and medium term. But… Read more
Gabriel, I was suggesting we manage demand through pricing, like we do for almost every other good and service in our economy. But again, the benefit of pricing is not that it raises revenue – there are numerous ways to raise revenue. Pricing manages demand, improves system performance, and increases the number of drivers able to utilize the network. As Michael points out below, “But stop-and-go freeways that now lose a third or half of their effective capacity when congested might be restored to free-flow while expanding travel choices with different approaches to pricing transportation.”… Read more
A number of comments, including those by Bob Poole and Steve Hemminger, have touched on the fact that raising money is not the sole solution to providing greater mobility. In many of the most congested areas of the country it is extraordinarily difficult to add additional physical capacity. The answer to the question, “How will we pay for the transportation system we need?” should be judged on its fundraising potential and the potential to produce improved system performance. While fossil fuel taxes, and the corporate tax suggested by Dick Mudge, have the potential to raise considerable sums, they do very little… Read more
After the dust settles on a stimulus package, Congress will need to address the highway reauthorization bill and try to reach consensus on how to improve the manner in which we build, maintain and operate our surface infrastructure. A key question in this debate will be how to finance the much needed improvements in our nation’s highways, bridges, and transit programs. To date, the discussion over funding the infrastructure gap has unfortunately degenerated into a debate between two groups talking past each other. In one corner, we have those who advocate raising taxes and expanding government oversight. In the other… Read more
Biography provided by participant
