When we found out earlier this year that Richard White, WMATA’s troubled general manager, would be replaced by District Department of Transportation Director Dan Tangherlini, we were happy. Tangherlini had long been known for being approachable and affable, a young and ambitious civil servant dedicated to improving service and quality in his day-to-day functions. Those qualities translated quickly into his work at Metro, where he visited with the rank and file, encouraged riders to offer comments and critiques, and started streamlining the agency’s notorious bureaucracy.

But much like a teacher substituting for a colleague on maternity leave, Tangherlini remains the agency’s “interim” chief, anxiously waiting to be confirmed or replaced. Today the Post is reporting that WMATA’s Board of Directors, at the behest of its Virginia representatives, will launch a national search to identify candidates for the job. According to the article, representatives from both the District and Maryland sided with confirming Tangherlini, a move that didn’t fly with Virginia’s reps, who see Tangherlini as too focused on D.C. to effectively navigate the regional transit network:

Maryland and District members have pressed to appoint Tangherlini permanently. But Virginia officials have balked because they are concerned that Tangherlini’s chief political backing is from the District and Maryland, said Gerald E. Connolly (D), chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors and the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission, which appoints Virginia’s representatives to the Metro board.

“Virginia has no beef against Dan Tangherlini at all,” Connolly said. “We just don’t know him.”

Connolly asked, “Can somebody so long associated with the District, can he rise above a D.C.-centric perspective and be the region’s general manager?”

We’d like to think so, but there’s more here than meets the eye.