Ohio Dem Sherrod Brown decried rail lobbyist — but won millions for group
US Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown secured millions of dollars in federal grants for a transportation lobbying association, even as he denounced the special interest groups while pushing railway regulations.
Brown (D-Ohio), 70, has steered tens of millions of dollars since 2021 from the Federal Transit Administration toward industry grants with the help of a senior adviser — including $1 million for a program at a top transportation lobbying group where the aide formerly worked, according to annual reports.
That group, the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), also lobbied hard in the first quarter of this year on the Democratic senator’s Railway Safety Act, an April report shows.
Brown approved at least six trips for his adviser that were financed by the transportation association between 2016 and 2022, but nevertheless denounced transit lobbying influence in May as his rail bill moved to the Senate floor.
“My colleagues and I agree, big rail companies and the lobbyists that work for them have had too much power and influence for far too long,” he said in a May 16 press release. “They have spent years fighting every effort to make our trains and rail lines safer.”
Brown’s adviser, Homer Carlisle, was a registered lobbyist for five years at APTA before joining the senator’s committee staff in 2011, according to LinkedIn.
Carlisle describes his committee work as directing “reauthorization and oversight of Federal Transit Administration (FTA) programs which provide more than $11 billion of financial assistance annually to improve public transportation in communities nationwide.”
His former employer was listed as the top federal lobbying group for the transportation sector as recently as 2017, according to the money-in-politics watchdog OpenSecrets.
APTA sponsored nearly $6,000 worth of trips for Carlisle between 2016 and 2022, which Brown approved in Senate travel disclosure forms.
The nonprofit association in fiscal year 2021 netted more than $18 million in revenue, of which roughly $10 million went to salaries and nearly $1 million went to lobbying, conferences and travel, Form 990 filings with the IRS show.
The bipartisan Railway Safety Act aimed to beef up safety regulations for trains after the February derailment of rail cars bearing toxic chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio.
It has yet to receive a full Senate vote.
Other requirements in the bill outline new train length and weight specifications, track standards, speed restrictions and emergency response plans.
Defect detectors on railways must also be installed and undergo routine testing and maintenance.
The Department of Transportation can impose fines on rail carriers for breaking any of the safety requirements, and an annual fee of $1 million will be collected by the secretary of transportation from all Class I rail carriers.
In an April survey, APTA said it “does not believe that commuter rail agencies should bear the cost of acquiring, installing and maintaining hot box detector devices” as part of the legislation’s provisions.
At least 61% of respondents to the group’s survey said they hosted Class I carriers on their railways.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the East Palestine crash but has not released a final report.
Citizens evacuated in the wake of the toxic spill, and federal authorities started a controlled burn of the chemicals.
A spokeswoman for Brown did not respond to a request for comment.
