Early life and education
Linton was born in Philadelphia, PA, where he resided in North Philadelphia with his mother, a homemaker; his father, a construction worker and barber; and a younger brother. Linton attended William Kelly Elementary School, Vaux Junior High School, Thomas Edison High School, and graduated from Olney High School in 1965. John E. Allen, founder of New Freedom Theater, encouraged him to attend Peirce Junior College (now Peirce College) his Alma Mater, a noted Philadelphia business school. Linton earned his Associates Degree in business management from Peirce in 1967. He continued his studies at Lincoln University, the nation's first degree-granting Historically Black College and University (HBCU) in Oxford, Pennsylvania where he graduated in 1970 with a B.A. in economics. Years later he served as the Commonwealth Appointee to the university’s Board of Trustees, and endowed a scholarship in public policy. In 1997, he received an honorary Doctor of Laws from his Alma mater for his contributions to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and his distinguished career in service to the people. Linton completed his education at Antioch University in Philadelphia, PA where he earned a Master of Education in Counseling/Psychology in 1974.Career
Psychology Early in his career, Linton saw first-hand the degree to which people's lives are influenced by forces beyond their control. After graduating from Lincoln University, Linton was mentored by Dr. Warren E. Smith and directed to the Counseling Services Project where he worked on a team with psychologists in Philadelphia’s parochial schools. This experience led Linton to adopt a holistic approach to addressing the social and economic needs of clients. Linton began by focusing on educational, community-centered programs in Philadelphia as a way of empowering children and families. In one of his first positions, he served as a Community Consultant with the School District of Philadelphia. He also served as Education Director for Baptist Children's House, a facility for neglected/dependent children in Philadelphia. Linton concluded his work as an educational psychology specialist working with adolescents and families at the Philadelphia Child Guidance Center. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Linton became actively involved in the development, promotion and administration of state-funded community-based programs. As Eastern Regional Administrator for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Office of the Auditor General, he conducted operational and compliance audits of public welfare agencies with control over all logistical aspects, audit direction and regulated adherence to proper audit procedures. Linton was successful in achieving his fiduciary responsibility for managing the Commonwealth’s financial resources, while ensuring maximum benefit in meeting the needs of clients in under-served communities. Pennsylvania House of Representatives In the late 1970’s Gordon Linton was engaged in political activity and community organizing in northwest Philadelphia. Linton was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1982 representing the 200th Legislative District, with the support and encouragement of his predecessor, John F. White, Jr. At that time, the district included parts of the neighborhoods of West Oak Lane, East Mount Airy, Chestnut Hill and Upper Roxborough in the northwest section of Philadelphia. The six-term legislator immediately earned a reputation among colleagues and constituents as a hardworking, effective lawmaker who had a direct impact on improving quality of life issues affecting his district. He quickly moved into leadership on the House Transportation Committee as the prime sponsor and author of 12 legislative proposals that are now law. Linton's legislative achievements are in the areas of transportation development, business and economic development and government agency reform. He became the chief public transportation advocate in the Pennsylvania Legislature, having sponsored and successfully engineered the first dedicated funding source for mass transit into law. During his tenure in the Pennsylvania Legislature, Linton: * In his first term was appointed chair of the House Select Committee on Minority & Women-owned Businesses as a result of his calling for investigation (H.R.277) into the number of minority and women owned businesses that received contracts from Commonwealth of Pennsylvania agencies. Linton also introduced a resolution adopted by the full House, to empower the committee with subpoena power. * Introduced legislation, Act 230 of 1984, which regulates infiltration of "front" and "sham" operations into minority and women owned business programs, which received national attention. * Requested by Majority Leader James Manderino, to co-sponsor his minority business working capital legislation and manage the floor debate. The law became part of the Pennsylvania Economic Revitalization Fund of 1984 and established a $5 million revolving loan fund and bonding guarantee fund for minority businesses. * Elected chair of the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus in 1986 to 1993 and established increasing minority business participation in state contracts as one of its goals. Worked closely with the governor to create an Office of Minority and Women Owned Business. * Introduced and successfully engineered passage of the legislation that established the Commonwealth's first dedicated funding source for mass transit into law. * Introduced and engineered passage of Pennsylvania’s first law requiring mandatory use of seat belts. * Introduced legislation to ensure that Pennsylvania's share of the Benjamin Franklin Estate Trust would benefit the people by distributing the funds to Commonwealth Community Foundations for perpetual endowments. * Created the House Taskforce on Senior Citizens Shared Ride Program. As chair of the taskforce he led the fight to maintain the program’s funding level. * Vice Chair, House Appropriations Committee * Appointed to the Special Philadelphia Trial Court Nominating Commission established by Gov. Casey to nominate judicial candidates for appointments as a result of judicial misconduct. * Lincoln University Commonwealth Trustee * Member, Conference of Minority Transportation Officials * Member, Transportation Institute Advisory Council * Member, Pennsylvania Depart of Transportation, Disadvantaged Business Advisory Council Federal Transit Administration Because of his expertise and success on transportation issues in the Pennsylvania Legislature, Linton was nominated by President Bill Clinton, confirmed by the U. S. Senate and appointed the Federal Transit Administrator in the federal Department of Transportation in 1993. During his tenure, Linton served as the nation's leading official for national public transportation policy and programs. He helped shape and represented President Clinton's public transportation policies and budget, and provided executive direction over all federal transit programs, nationally and internationally. Linton managed an annual budget of $5 billion, and employees in the Federal Transportation Administration’s (FTA) Washington, DC headquarters and 10 regional offices. His innovative leadership promoting Livable Community Initiatives has made public transit more accessible to all and connected to daily activities."Gordon Linton is a distinguished public servant with an unquestionable knowledge of transportation matters."—President William Clinton at the 1993 nomination announcement During his tenure at the DOT, Linton: * Responsible for more than $37 billion in federal investments in public transportation. * Negotiated Full Funding agreements totaling $10 billion for 22 new projects. * Spearheaded statutory changes and policies to launch FTA's Livable Community Initiative as a new national policy framework in 1994. * Forged global partnerships by establishing the first international transportation program in FTA's history, counseling and providing briefings for foreign governments on U.S. public transit policies. * Represented the U.S. in government to government bilateral agreements and trade missions. * Launched the Bus Rapid Transit Consortium, selecting 17 cities that engaged in collaboration, project scoping and best practice development for a national program to promote the rapid bus system as an emerging service option. * Led a delegation to Curitiba, Brazil to explore their successful rapid dedicated bus system for possible applications, which accelerated its adoption in the U.S. * Helped negotiate the historic signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Federal Transit Administration, the Federal Highway Administration and the South African Department of Transport. This established technology transfer centers, education, training and business development opportunities with the South African government to help them improve transportation.
References
Hazelton, Lynette " Uncovering Fronts" In The News, pg. 24, ''Black Enterprise'' ''November,'' 1983 4. Taylor, Wendi (August 24,1984) "Legislator Charges Obstacles to Probe Administration Denies Withholding Data On Contracts To Minority Business" ''The Morning Call'' 5. "Linton's Reasonable Request" (August 28,1984} ''Philadelphia Inquirer, Editorial'' 6. "Subpoena Powers voted" (September 20, 1984) ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'' 7. "Review of the 10 Percent Set-Aside Program (Section l0S(f) of the Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1982" (October 22,1985) Committee on Small Businesses, House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. 8. Moushey, Bill, Remensky, Carl (June 25, 1986} "5 firms facing prosecution in minority business probe " ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'' 9. Hazelton, Lynette" Fighting Fraud" In The News, pg. 8 , ''Black Enterprise,'' (November, 1986) 10. Taylor, Leon (August 1,1985) "Stricter Ride Rules PUT Off A Week" ''Philadelphia Daily News.'' 11. Goldwyn, Ron. (December 16,1986) "New Leader For Black Caucus" ''Philadelphia Daily News'' 12. " Philadelphia Legislators Head for Parley in Africa" (January 8,1987) ''Philadelphia Daily News'' 13. Daughen, Joseph R. (February 6, 1987) Guv: Panel Will Pick City Judges" ''Philadelphia Daily News'' 14. Kennedy, John L. (February 27,1987) South Africa Viewpoint ''Indiana Gazette'' 15. Zausner, Robert (September 29,1987) Casey signs orders to Aid Businesses owned by Women and Minorities" 16. Stoffer, Harry (September 29,1987) "Casey acts to aid minorities, women" ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'' 17. "Casey Creates Office for Minorities" (September 29 1987) ''Philadelphia Daily News'' 18. Frank, Steve (September 29,1987) Casey Forms New Agency to Promote Minority/Female Firms" 19. "Solving the Seat-belt Quandary" ''philly.com.'' November 02,1987 20. Eshleman jr., Russell E. (November 10,1987)." Pa. House Approves Bill on Seat-belt Use" ''Philadelphia Inquirer, Harrisburg Bureau.'' 21. Drachler, Stephen (November 24,1987) "Seat Belt Law Signed, Takes Effect Immediately" ''The Morning Call.'' 22. "State now has Seat belt Law" (November 24,1987) ''Standard-Speaker'' 23. Ferrick Jr., Thomas (January 14,1990) "Some Fear Franklin's Fund will be Philadelphia's Folly" ''Philadelphia Inquirer'' 24. Wolf, Don (January 21,1990) "Battle of wills is brewing on Franklin gift to state" The Pittsburgh Press 26. Enda, Jodi (October 02,1990) "Franklin's Will Splits Legislature House Plans Gift to Organizations. ''Philadelphia Inquirer, Harrisburg Bureau.'' 27. "Foundations deserve Franklin trust funds" (November 2, 1990) The ''Patriot News, Op-Ed'' 28. Yenawine, Bruce H. "Benjamin Franklin and the Invention of Microfinance" (pg. 141) Pickering and Chatto. (2010) 29. Motley, Wanda and Nussbaum, Paul. (August 1, 1991) "Dedicated Source of Mass transportation funding expected." P''hiladelphia Inquirer'' 30. "Mass Transit gets dedicated funding" (August 5, 1991) Doylestown Intelligencer, page 60 31. "Funding for transit reliable" (August 5 ,1991) New Castle News 32. Burke, Richard (August 6,1991) "Giant Step Forward' In Funding Lets SEPTA Avert Massive Cutbacks" ''Philadelphia Inquirer'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Linton, Gordon Democratic Party members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Living people United States Department of Transportation officials 1948 births African-American state legislators in Pennsylvania 21st-century African-American politicians 20th-century African-American politicians 20th-century members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly