Profile:ATA Chairman Charles 'Shorty' Whittington
October 2008 Commercial Carrier Journal 95 Showing commitment Whittington didn't hail from a truck-ing family, so he found networking and education quite useful. As he moved Grammer Industries into transportation in the late 1970s, he became involved with the Indiana Motor Truck Association. I tried to listen to what was profitable and where there was a need. Whittington's major involvement with ATA began in 1995 when he was asked to be one of the founding members of the Agricultural and Food Transporters Conference (AFTC), a group he was to chair for five years. We were just getting a glimpse of the hours-of-service changes, Whittington says. The changes being considered would have been a major hardship for agricultural haulers, and Whittington worked to bring the issue to the atten-tion of a broader constituency. Whittington believed that if AFTC truly became involved, there would be opportunities for agricultural exemp-tions from the upcoming hours-of-service regulations, just as there were numerous exemptions under the rules in place at that time. Another big cause was a trailer valve issue that resulted in one of only a handful of successful negotiated rule-makings within the Department of Transportation. I paid my own way for three years, coming to Washington two days a week, Whittington recalls. Like special-ized transportation, it was a lot of work, but it was money and time well spent. In the end, it saved my company about $500,000, and it helped safety. Whittington became involved within Indiana as well, helping to win some important tax-related provi-sions. Each person involved made a noticeable impact on the outcome, he says. I was amazed at how much one person could bring to the table. Tackling big challenges In some ways, the battles Whittington has helped AFTC and ATA fight over the past 13 years aren't as chal-lenging as those that the trucking industry now faces: Helping to shape national transportation policy. During Whittington's tenure, a new Congress is expected to begin work on a reau-thorization of highway programs that promises major changes for good or ill in how transportation infrastruc-ture is prioritized, built and funded. We have to realize how important the impact of the highway bill will be, Whittington says. We've got an infra-structure and system that lets our econ-omy move at a lightning pace. If we go to choking that down and putting bor-ders in the wrong places through tolls, privatization and so on we're going to get to the point where the general con-sumer will say that's enough. Indeed, the fight began much ear-lier than most anticipated, as a sharp decline in automobile driving has starved the Highway Trust Fund and required Congress to pass a short-term fix last month. Meanwhile, the Bush administration has cited the crisis as a reason for reform and for decentral-izing highway development through mechanisms like tolls and privatization. For Whittington, the most impor-tant thing is that ATA remain strong and unified on core issues and not distracted by issues particular to its individual constituencies. ATA represents the front of the truck the power, the drive. What's behind can be a tanker, a truckload trailer, and so on. But all must work together to keep ATA powerful. You can take one link out of the chain and it doesn't function. Whittington credits recent ATA chairmen especially Ray Kuntz, who is ending his extended tenure this month, and Kuntz's predecessor, Pat Quinn with promoting strength through unity. Both Pat and Ray have certainly told the industry that it's time to put the American Trucking Associations hat on. We can't survive as independent companies. Whittington's involvement and victories with ATA, AFTC and the Indiana Motor Truck Association have reinforced one of his guiding philoso-phies: If you give, you get. And for Whittington, it's that sim-ple. I guess I got a country boy atti-tude and country boy vision. It takes a special person to step up. The industry needs to have someone who will just go and do what needs to be done. n Whittington favored specialized bulk transportation over more common commodities. ATA represents the front of the truck the power, the drive.