A return to Keener Oil and his pecan farm aren’t Tulsa Mayor Dewey Bartlett’s only plans for when he leaves office next month.
"I'm also gonna try to hit a long home run. I'm trying to be considered with the new Trump administration to be the Secretary of Transportation or to be in that office," Bartlett said.
Bartlett made the announcement during a question-and-answer session at the end of his final state of the city address Tuesday, overshadowing his own speech.
Bartlett said mayors are well-suited to the post because a sizeable chunk of the department’s spending goes to cities. Current Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx was mayor of Charlotte, N.C., from 2009 to 2013.
"We understand very well the significance of infrastructure, of the financing, of the prioritization of the need to move people and commerce in a variety of ways, whether it's flying, bicycling, driving — whatever it might be," Bartlett said. "We work with everybody, and we accomplish things every day. And I think I can provide that same leadership and opportunity with the Department of Transportation. God knows they need it."
Though he’s made a few phone calls, Bartlett has not spoken to anyone in Trump’s inner circle, and he has not heard from anyone on Trump’s transition team.
Bartlett announced his support for Trump before the president-elect won the nomination at July's Republican National Convention.
