07/08/2009

By DAVID A. LIEB  / Associated Press

Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission Chairman Mike Kehoe abruptly resigned Wednesday and confirmed he is considering a run for the state Senate.

Kehoe, a prominent Jefferson City automobile dealer, was appointed to the commission by then-Gov. Matt Blunt in spring 2005 and became chairman in March. His term on the commission was to last until March 2011.

But after a presiding over a commission meeting Wednesday in Springfield, Kehoe announced his resignation effectively immediately.

Kehoe said in a news release issued by the department that it is "time for a new chapter in my life," and his resignation letter to Gov. Jay Nixon offered a similarly vague explanation.

But in an interview with The Associated Press, Kehoe said he is considering running as a Republican in 2010 for the seat of term-limited Sen. Carl Vogel, R-Jefferson City. He plans to make a decision within a month.

Kehoe said officials at the Missouri Department of Transportation researched state law and could find no prohibition against a commissioner running for elected office. But "I don't think it passes the smell test," he added.

Missouri's transportation agency is overseen by a bipartisan six-member commission that hires a transportation director and decides which road and bridge projects to fund, and when to do so. Kehoe's departure came moments after the commission approved an updated five-year highway spending plan.

Vice Chairman David Gach, of St. Joseph, is to take over as chairman, and Nixon is to appoint a replacement for Kehoe. The governor has yet to name a successor to commissioner Duane Michie, a Republican from Caruthersville, who has continued to serve on the commission although his term expired in March.

Kehoe has not run for elected state office before but is widely known in mid-Missouri because of the TV commercials for his Ford dealership and his past role as chairman of the Jefferson City Chamber of Commerce.

During Blunt's 2004 campaign, Kehoe chauffeured Blunt in a tour bus that his dealership provided. The Democratic Party filed an ethics complaint because the bus was not originally included on Blunt's finance reports. Kehoe said then that he delayed an invoice until repairing damage the bus sustained during the campaign. Last year, Blunt's campaign committee agreed to pay $15,000 to settle the ethics allegations.

___

On the Net:

MoDOT: http://www.modot.org