At Last… Stottlemyer Appointed to MWAA Board

Stottlemyer

Gov. Bob McDonnell has finally got his man, Todd Stottlemyer, on the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) Board. Sadly, it took the departure of Mame Reily, a former board chair who resigned in order to battle breast cancer, to open up a seat.

The governor had originally tried to appoint Stottlemyer, CEO of Northern Virginia IT services company Acentia, as one of two new board members provided under recently passed federal law. But the MWAA board refused to seat him or McDonnell’s other appointee, Caren Merrick, on the grounds that Virginia and Washington, D.C., had not legally amended their interstate compact to ratify the federal law. Thus the two Virginia representatives, plus one additional appointee from D.C. and one from Maryland, cannot be seated until July 1.

While Stottlemyer will be outnumbered by board members appointed by the Washington mayor, the governor of Maryland or the President of the United States, he may set a new tone. Reily, a prominent Democratic Party fund raiser closely aligned with former governors Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, had played a leadership role in getting the MWAA board to adopt some of its controversial decisions regarding the Rail-to-Dulles project. Stottlemyer, a long-time Republican stalwart, can be counted upon to support McDonnell’s agenda.

Lucky guy.

–JAB