Washington Airport Agency Leadership Targeted Pro-Labor Board Members in Rail Line Fight

[marmar]

(Washington, D.C, – WAMU) A former board member of the agency in charge of airports in the Washington, D.C. region is accusing the agency’s leaders of not telling the whole truth in testimony before Congress. Internal emails suggest three current board members worked with officials in Richmond, Va. to remove one of their colleagues, an investigation by WAMU has found.

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority is trying to rebuild the public’s trust after a tumultuous 2012. But key agency members who remain in their posts were involved in the political maneuvering that ended in the resignations of two pro-labor, Democratic board members who, their opponents say, were threatening the completion of the Silver Line: Mame Reiley and Dennis Martire, who supported a controversial pro-union provision for the construction of the rail project’s second phase.

Twenty-three pages of emails obtained by WAMU suggest that Republican board members Tom Davis and Todd Stottlemyer, as well as Democrat Rusty Conner, were aware of Gov. Bob McDonnell’s intention to remove Dennis Martire from the MWAA board and communicated with Republican officials in Richmond to secure Martire’s removal.

And former MWAA board member Bob Brown, a Democrat, says agency CEO Jack Potter and board vice-chairman Tom Davis did not tell the whole truth when they told members of a House subcommittee last November that the hiring of Mame Reiley to a staff position was only Potter’s idea. .....................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://transportationnation.org/2013/02/14/investigation-washington-airport-agency-leadership-targeted-pro-labor-board-members-in-rail-line-fight/