Echoing
concerns of various Congressmen, Governors and the DOT Inspector General, U. S.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood last week chimed in on the latest round of
scandals surrounding the way the Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority is
managing construction of the Silver Line rail link between Dulles International
and downtown Washington, D.C. “I have serious questions about how the board has
operated. I want the people of the D.C. area to know that we don’t agree with
what they’ve been doing,” LaHood said. “The thing that really pushed me over
the top with the board is when I read in the Examiner that they gave a former
board member a contract. … I think it’s too much inside politics.” One wonders
how much inside politics Secretary LaHood thinks would be just the right
amount.
The
Inspector General report LaHood mentioned details the MWAA board’s weak
oversight of the Silver Line project, lax ethics, no-bid contracts, conflicts
of interest, and lack of transparency. Confronted with taxpayer and toll payer
funded board expenses including a $9,200.00 airline ticket to Prague, a
$4,800.00 first class ticket to Hawaii, three $1,600.00 dinner tabs, and two
bottles of $119.00 wine, board member Michael L. O’Reilly could only
characterize the situation as “a public perception problem. … We’ve gotten
better, but we haven’t gotten to the point where people are going to praise us
for our frugality.” It seems in Washington, public perception is only
troublesome when it is correct.
Secretary
LaHood’s comments on the IG report deftly separated the professionalism of the
MWAA Silver Line project staff from the excesses of the board. “I have a great
deal of confidence in the executive director of MWAA,” LaHood remarked. “Jack
Potter is doing a very, very professional job. He’s trying to clean up a mess,
and I have confidence that he can carry off Phase 2 of the line.”
