Call back almost a year to a few days before Christmas last year -- December 21, 2023 to be exact, in Walcott, Iowa, at the Iowa 80 Truck Stop -- then-presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy on hand for a campaign appearance and Q&A with truckers in attendance. They included members of CDL Drivers Unlimited and group leadership. Among them: owner-operator Lee Schmitt and his wife and business partner, Lisa; Lee helping facilitate the discussion.
As reported in the event's aftermath, Ramaswamy -- the biotech financier/entrepreneur recently tapped by President-elect Donald Trump to lead, with Tesla's Elon Musk, a proposed new commission on government efficiency -- endorsed the need for trucking industry experience in leadership at the Department of Transportation, including the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. As I wrote at the time, too, as owner-operator Schmitt and Ramaswamy shook hands at the end of the event, the candidate told the trucker, "Don't get too busy. ... We might have a job that we need you to do."
That little interaction has assumed potentially more significance in the past week, as owner-operator Schmitt is working avenues to the Trump transition, including through Ramaswamy himself, to officially put his name in the running for FMCSA Administrator. Schmitt invoked the recent nomination of fellow Wisconsinite Sean Duffy for Department of Transportation Secretary in a video post from his truck on Twitter/X last week. "We met with Sean in 2017 when we were in D.C. fighting the ELD regulations," Schmitt said. "He was our Congressman. … Wouldn’t it be great to have two people from the state of Wisconsin" in leadership positions at the DOT?
Yes, Schmitt noted, "I'm announcing tonight that I submitted my resume to be the head of the FMCSA."
Owner-operator Schmitt wouldn't be the first working owner-operator to actively propose such a role -- my old friend, now retired owner-operator Jeff Clark (also from Wisconsin, actually, maybe there's a trend there...) did something similar back in 2014-'15 time frame. Clark had been fairly well established as a voice with contributions to trucking publications (including this one) and long-running participation in Freightliner's Team Run Smart effort at information-sharing from the road. Clark was among the first truckers to contribute there, dating back well more than a decade ago.
Similarly, owner-operator Lee Schmitt's got a history as an advocate not only for himself but the business of trucking -- he and Lisa are among founding members and leaders of CDL Drivers Unlimted, and Lee's banked 30 years' experience, safe experience, in a variety of freight niches. He's leased today to a heavy/oversized fleet, and he helps manage the complicated logistics of high, wide and ugly superloads, often enough with big teams of people requiring a great deal of collaboration. Why an administrator is chosen, Lee noted, "should be on the knowledge that you bring." Having trucking experience come into the agency could certainly be a breath of fresh air compared to prior picks to helm the ship.
[Related: FMCSA, DOT leaders without 'actual expertise' have 'failed trucking': GOP presidential candidate]
Lee and Lisa Schmitt -- their 2005 Peterbilt is shown in the background image here parked in past outside the U.S. Capitol building.
His No. 1 priority, he told me last week -- safety, pure and simple, which he feels the FMCSA, contrary to sentiment oft-invoked by the agency itself, doesn't do enough to truly focus on. He feels like as much as 70% of FMCSA's actual work product "has nothing to do with safety." More work needs to go into issues of fraud, he added -- whether with entities registering in the federal system for broker or carrier authorities or robust enforcement otherwise.
Could FMCSA extend to more flexibility in the hours of service for proven, safe operators? Schmitt, you'll recall, was among owner-operators to request exemptions from hours rules (but for the 11-hour daily maximum) some time back, citing his proven record of safety as justification for it. That exemption failed, but as he notes, nothing happens overnight. And Lee admits he's "one of the guys who screams at people that stuff is done wrong -- there’s a reason for a lot of rules and regulations, to protect the motoring public, and to protect us."
[Related: Sleeper berth: Should more truckers be able to split as they see fit?]
He's certainly in favor of the currently codified transparency rule, too, likewise FMCSA's recent proposal to modify it. He knows, though, making a priority of enforcing it is a big need at the agency.
This, too, is clear: Should Schmitt be tapped for administrator, he'd push for greater engagement with industry -- "shouldn't there be truck parking at the FMCSA, seeing as how this is a regulatory agency over trucking companies? Paint the parking space a little bigger -- I’ll be the first person showing up in it" in his truck, a Cat-powered 2005 Peterbilt 379 tuned for heavy haul. Both he and Lisa envisioned close continued contact with drivers on issues on an ongoing basis
Politicians, regulators too often seem "afraid to talk to people. Why can't you just show up at White's Truck Stop in Virginia?" Lee asked.
"And not talk about anything in particular, but talk about everything," Lisa added. A real, honest sort of conversation, no agendas.
The Schmitts have working relationships with most congresspeople on the Transportation and Infrastructure committees via their visits to the Hill, they said. And, Lee added, fundamentally, "I like a challenge."
To President-Elect Trump and incoming DOT nominee Sean Duffy, he said, "Give me a chance to express my point of view. I'm not doing this for the money, not doing this to make a career out of it." He'd go back trucking as owner after any tenure there, he said. "I think things need to be changed to help the drivers, and what D.C. has been doing isn’t working" to that effect.
"I look at it like we’ve got this 20-foot-wide load," he said. "'Now get it here.'"
For his next challenge: "Here's FMCSA, fix it," he envisioned.
Pro drivers reading who want to help in Schmitt's effort? Lisa said "call your Senator and say, 'We want Lee the driver as head of FMCSA.''
Who knows? Maybe Schmitt gets to his destination.
[Related: FMCSA to move ahead with revamped CSA scores]
