A letter written by three former governors and a U.S. Senator — John W. Warner and Linwood Holton and Democrats Chuck Robb and Gerald L. Baliles — was instrumental in persuading the board of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) to reverse its policy favoring Project Labor Agreements in Phase 2 of the Rail-to-Dulles project. I published the letter in this post, asking why other former governors and senators hadn’t appended their names to the list of signatories.
Now comes an answer from Acentia CEO and newly appointed MWAA board member Todd Stottlemyer in a note he distributed explaining the importance of the letter. The four signatories, he explains, were among the “founders” of MWAA.
Chuck Robb, a Democrat, was Governor of Virginia when the so-called “Holton Commission” was put in place to study the transfer of Dulles and National Airports out of federal control to a regional authority. Then Governor Robb was a strong proponent of the Holton Commission and putting a regional authority in place to run the airports.
The “Holton Commission,” chaired by former Virginia Governor Linwood Holton, a Republican, recommended that an authority be created. Governor Holton, as you may know, was also the first Chairman of the MWAA board.
Jerry Baliles, a Democrat, was Governor of Virginia when the authority was created. Governor Baliles was a strong proponent for creating the airports authority because he had a big vision that one day Dulles Airport would become a leading international airport. Governor Baliles was probably the first Virginia Governor to aggressively promote international trade and knew that Dulles Airport was critical to making Virginia an international player.
Senator John Warner, a Republican, was the lead sponsor in the U.S. Senate of the legislation that actually created MWAA. He worked tirelessly to pass this legislation. There was, as you may know, substantial opposition to the legislation creating MWAA. Most of it came from Members of Congress who viewed National Airport as their airport and did not want to lose any control over their airport. Additional opposition came from those concerned about the issues associated with the Perimeter Rule. This was particularly true of the Arizona congressional delegation where then Senators Goldwater (R) and DeConcini (D) and then Congressman John McCain voiced strong opposition to the legislation. Eventually the legislation passed the Senate due to Senator Warner’s strong advocacy and leadership and it passed the House as a result of Congressman Frank Wolf’s strong leadership.
The individuals who signed and sent the letter to the MWAA board are the “Founders” of MWAA along with then Secretary of Transportation Liddy Dole and Congressman Frank Wolf. These four “Founders” – two Democrats and two Republicans – spoke very clearly in their letter to the MWAA board. They said essentially four things:
• The entire Washington DC region will benefit from building rail to Dulles.
• We should construct Phase 2 without putting an undue burden on those who use the Dulles Toll Road.
• The PLA preference should be dropped and MWAA should make any PLA requirement for Phase 2 purely voluntary as it was on Phase 1.
• We should come together, work through our differences, and find the place where we can all agree and get full participation from Virginia, Fairfax County, Loudoun County, and the federal government.This was a significant statement by the “Founders” of MWAA and those who made the airports authority a reality.
In Stottlemyer’s estimation, the letter “did have a real impact on our board, because it was four of the six Founders of MWAA speaking in a bipartisan manner asking the MWAA board to drop the PLA preference. A good outcome.”
— JAB
