As U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf (R-10th) prepares a bill that would change the makeup of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) Board of Directors, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors are asking him to include language that would give Northern Virginia more influence in appointing members.
The MWAA Board — which has been sharply criticized by Virginia officials in Fairfax and elsewhere for its handling of the Dulles Metrorail project, including a squabble over a labor agreement for Phase 2 of the line that will run from Reston to Dulles International Airport and Loudoun County — currently includes three presidential appointees, five appointees from Virginia, three from D.C. and three from Maryland.
Wolf’s proposed legislation would scale down the board from 13 to nine members: six from Virginia, and one appointee each from the mayor of Washington, D.C., the governor of Maryland and the President of the United States.
In a letter to Wolf and U.S. Reps. Jim Moran (D-8th) and Gerry Connolly (D-11th), Supervisors requested Northern Virginia officials in Fairfax, Arlington and Loudoun Counties have a hand in the appointment process.
“Changing the number of Board Members representing Virginia does not, in itself, ensure that they will be responsive to the public,” the letter reads.
They also requested that the legislation include criteria for picking MWAA Board members “to ensure that they can adequately address the issues that the MWAA Board regularly deals with.”
The board approved the letter at its Sept. 25 meeting, thanking the congressmen for their work but hoping for more change.
“We believe that improvements to the governance at MWAA are critical, so that reforms are not dependent on individual appointees, but rather become part of the institutional culture at MWAA,” reads the Board’s letter.
The root of the problem is that we still have an unaccountable board committing highway robbery. They will continue to drive up the costs of commuting on the Dulles Toll Road unless Virginia takes control back. Virginia State Senator Richard Black is asking Gov. Bob McDonnell to have VDOT take the DTR back from MWAA- this is a huge step towards slowing or stopping toll increases. https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B64IfZTFiYIAeGo1dmpWVjlhMUE Toll Road users and local residents need to contact Gov. McDonnell and ask him to take our road back. He can be reached at (804) 786-2211 or http://www.governor.virginia.gov/AboutTheGovernor/contactGovernor.cfm For more information, visit www.NoTOLLincrease.org
Both Governor Kaine and then MWAA Chairman Mame Reiley saw an opportunity for expanding political patronage and viewed the Dulles Toll Road as a cash cow so transit riders and DC, Maryland, Arlington County, Alexandria and Falls Church taxpayers obtained a hugely subsidized project for their primary benefit at little cost. Under Kaine's plan, assisted by Delegate Ken Plum, DTR users, mostly from outside the Capital Beltway, will be milked for $$ billions over the next fifty years, free from influence by Virginia politicians. Congressman Wolf's plan is comparable to re-arranging deck chairs on the Titanic. This week, Jack Potter, MWAA's President, said that most near term domestic air traffic growth will occur at Reagan National rather than at Dulles. MWAA wants to build a new parking garage there. Average Metrorail weekday boardings at Reagan in FY 2012 were less than in FY 2007.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/mame-reiley-to-leave-metropolitan-washington-airports-authority-post/2012/09/05/de8c3f46-f76b-11e1-8398-0327ab83ab91_story.html MWAA CEO Potter took full responsibility for the Mame Reiley hiring. There is no way Potter would take responsibility, if staff was to blame. And if staff was approving excessive non-bid contracts, where was the Board and executive oversight? Are the Board and executives just strutting before the news media, while the staff does everything? The problem at MWAA still comes down to the MWAA Board and executives. And our 'leaders' and most of the news media are complicit. I submit that even though we are seeing these MWAA improprieties that add up into the millions, the focus only on them is blinding us to the waste of Billions of dollars due to overcharges in the Silver Line / Dulles Rail project. Personally, I believe that this is deliberate misdirection. Taxpayers should have paid attention to the near-double prices of Dulles Rail construction, because those costs are heading home to roost. http://www.bruhns.us/civic/DullesRail/Dulles-Rail---Silver-Line-overcost-report---Bruhns.pdf
Taxpayers should have paid attention to the near-double prices of Dulles Rail construction, because those costs are heading home to roost. http://www.bruhns.us/civic/DullesRail/Dulles-Rail---Silver-Line-overcost-report---Bruhns.pdf
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