San Francisco Bay area Democrats want to send a local transportation leader to Washington as Transportation Secretary.

Eight members of Congress from the region have delivered a letter to President-elect Barack Obama in support of Steve Heminger, executive director of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the transportation planning agency for the Bay Area.

Signers included Sen. Dianne Feinstein; Rep. Ellen Tauscher, a senior member of the House Transportation Committee; and Rep. George Miller, chairman of the Education and Labor Committee and a close ally of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco.

"As the transportation leader for the Bay Area, Steve's responsibilities rival those of most state departments of transportation," they wrote in the letter dated Nov. 21 and obtained by The Associated Press on Tuesday. "As secretary, Steve would bring a fresh approach to the federal transportation program and an understanding of the importance of an efficient metropolitan transportation system to our nation's economy.