Ties to MWAA Woes Cut Both Ways
Examiner: GOP was aware of an insider deal with outgoing board member before politicizing it.
As the legal wrangling continues over one Democrat's seat on the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority’s Board of Directors, the contract given to another outgoing board member recently opened a new political battle over the group that is tasked with constructing Metro’s Silver Line project.
Earlier this year, after Republicans criticized MWAA for pushing a project labor agreement requirement on the second phase of the Silver Line, information surfaced that members of McDonnell’s administration were aware of PLA negotiation.
This week, the Washington Examiner found that GOP officials also were aware that MWAA was planning to give a contract to outgoing member Mame Reiley, despite politicizing the issue with an event at the Loudoun County Courthouse.
Reiley was not the only former board member to receive a contract with MWAA, according to stories in the Examiner and the Washington Post.
David A. LaRock
9:58 pm on Friday, August 24, 2012
VDOT: Retake the Dulles Toll Road
http://notollincrease.blogspot.com/2012/08/mwaa-there-is-better-way.html
MWAA has proven beyond any doubt that they cannot be trusted with control of either the Dulles Toll Road or the Dulles Rail project. VDOT should deny extension of the permit and resume control of the Dulles Toll Road. Virginia Transportation Secretary Sean Connaughton on April 14, 2012, said the State was so unhappy with MWAA that it would rather finish building the Silver Line itself.
“We are actively evaluating whether we can take the project over. These guys (MWAA) are a disaster,” Connaughton said. “We’re at the point, quite honestly, where we think we could potentially do it better, cheaper, faster.”
Bob Bruhns
11:24 pm on Friday, August 24, 2012
So we're supposed to be arguing back and forth about Republicans, Democrats, everybody does it, etc, etc etc. And NOT ONCE do we hear a single word about the near double price of Phase II of the Silver Line, when that amounts to the staggering sum of a Billion and a half dollars of overcharge - BEFORE financing!
What this tells me is that we are looking at a follow-up ripoff here. The MWAA Board is roughly equivalent to the telemarketers who trick your grandmother out of her savings, but these so-called leaders who pretend to be trying to fix MWAA, are simply more of the same. They are roughly equivalent to the follow-up tele-scammers who tell your grandmother that she should send them money so they can get her money back from the first bunch of crooks.
And this circus sideshow that is going on now, is all about distracting you all from the Billion and a half dollars of overcharge in Phase II of the Silver Line alone. Don't trust the so-called 'leaders' and the news media that NEVER mentions the overcharge - they are complicit in this robbery.
People, you fell for their story that you are highly educated workers who are supposedly going to ride this Silver Line train to those fabulous jobs, and make money gush out of buildings and paychecks all over the region. Do any of you even know what 'complicit' means? I suggest you go look it up. You really need to wake up - and I suggest you do that RIGHT NOW, without further delay.
Dave Webster
6:41 am on Saturday, August 25, 2012
The only thing new here is that some GOP officials were aware that outgoing MWAA Board member Mame Reilley was going to be awarded a consulting contract of some sort due to her health condition. The National Examiner article then says "but the Virginia officials involved insist they were not told about Reiley's $180,000 salary or that she would be working as a 'senior adviser.'" How does this justify the headline "Ties to MWAA Woes Cut Both Ways" somehow implying Republicans are equally at fault for the mismanagement and malfeasance at MWAA. Did the Republicans also tell Martire it was OK to fly to Sardinia for a vacation? Did the Republicans open up the $300 bottles of wine for MWAA Board members?
Dusty Smith
2:10 pm on Saturday, August 25, 2012
I think the point is that there are GOP officials who were aware a contract was being negotiated. What did they think it was for? What amount and details would have been OK?
Dave Webster
9:26 pm on Saturday, August 25, 2012
Dusty,
You say the point is GOP officials were aware a contract was being negotiated for Mame Reiley (who everyone knows is ill) but you admit they weren't aware that the contract was for $180,000 a year, plus benefits, until the Examiner broke the story on July 30, 2012. And for this reason you accuse the Republicans of somehow being responsible for the woes at MWAA with the mysterious title "Ties to MWAA Cut Both Ways." Under your scenario, the Republicans shouldn't have the right to criticize the Mame Reiley contract if it were for $1,000,000 a year because they knew of the existence of the contract back in February of 2012. Hardly a fair assertion.
Dusty Smith
3:53 pm on Sunday, August 26, 2012
That's not the point I'm making at all. I'm simply pointing out that these things did not happen in a vacuum. I think it's great that the government and several media outlets are taking time to find check out how MWAA operates and how decisions are made.
Bob Bruhns
9:28 am on Sunday, September 9, 2012
Excuse me if I'm a bit politically incorrect here, but weren't BOTH political parties happy to cover up this case of big-shot favoritism?
How many of the taxpayers and toll payers, who have to pay the nearly double price of this rail project that was so carelessly overseen by this clown circus of a Board and executives, would get this kind of health care compensation?
I've read about trips to China, trips to Sardinia, and all sorts of lavishness. But did ANY of the Board or executives of MWAA go to Fairfield Connecticut, to see how a Metro station comparable to our Rt 28 station was built at a cost less than HALF of the price that we are being handed? Were they even AWARE of that? Were they aware that parking garages should cost HALF of the price they are handing us? Did they ask if the cost of the Silver Line should really have been as high as it is? Or did they just conveniently accept the estimates they were handed, and carefully ask no questions?
Did they ask if the rail line to the Dulles Airport really should have been a three mile loop of underground tunnel when they approved that plan? Did they ask if the above ground alternate design really should have been a three mile loop of elevated track with an elevated station? Did anybody ask about a dead-end spur design?
Will they now have their estimators come forth and address this issue? Or will they continue to play every possible game to distract the public from what they are really doing?
Dave Webster
7:13 am on Saturday, August 25, 2012
Incidentally, it was Frank Wolf who took the time and effort to uncover the shenanigans going on with MWAA's board members. This article is essentially accusing Frank Wolf of "politicizing" this matter for some personal gain. Please note what Tim Kaine says in the link about "politicizing" this matter:
"Kaine issued a statement endorsing Wolf’s new MWAA bill and praising Wolf’s work exposing problems with its board of directors.
"Frank Wolf has been a key part of Rail to Dulles,” Kaine said. “We worked together to get the project off the drawing board and under construction. We worked together to secure Phase I federal funding. His proposal to fix the federal law structuring the MWAA Board makes good sense."
Bob Bruhns
2:04 pm on Saturday, August 25, 2012
Mr. Wolf would do well to examine the excessive cost of this rail project. Parking garages should not cost $34,015 per space out here - and our Metro stations should not cost $101 million, when a comparable Metro station, completed in December 2011 in posh Fairfield, Connecticut, and built over four existing and active tracks, cost less than half as much. We are being robbed here in Northern Virginia, and we need to be doing a lot more about it.
That said, Frank Wolf has done far more than anyone else in our government, to fight the nonsense in this rail project.
Rob Whitfield
7:57 am on Saturday, August 25, 2012
Dusty, MWAA Board members were told at their February meeting that Mame Reiley (not Reilly - as in Mike Reilly former Mayor of Herndon, another MWAA Board member -no relation) had resigned due to health reasons and hired by MWAA. No mention was made then of her salary. I too was amazed to learn of the reported $180,000 salary plus health benefits.
I have attended most MWAA Board meetings in the last 4+ years. The recent reports of misconduct were matters of which I was unaware. Details of many secret MWAA Dulles Rail meetings and decision making have not yet been reported. In various articles, I have written about problems resulting from this dictatorial behavior.
It bothers me greatly that members of the Dulles Corridor Advisory Committee, which includes County Executives and Chairman of Board of Supervisors of Fairfax and Loudoun counties, have failed to demand a more public decision making process. Instead, DCAC members trooped down to USDOT Secretary Ray La Hood's office for some eight secret Dulles Rail Phase 2 meetings between June 2011 and June 2012.
I suggested last year that a non-partisan public oversight community group be established to gain public input to the MWAA decision making process for the Dulles Rail and related projects in and around the Dulles Airport area. No response was ever received from officials.
I have asked Delegate Joe May, who heads House Transportation Committee, to convene a meeting ASAP to review MWAA and Dulles Rail issues.
Bob Bruhns
2:56 am on Sunday, August 26, 2012
I hope the meeting happens, but watch out for empty lip service. It appears that Mr. May wants nothing to do with this subject.
http://loudounoptout.blogspot.com/2012/08/where-is-joe-may.html
Mark Carolla
1:37 pm on Saturday, September 8, 2012
The former Mayor of Herndon and current MWAA Board Member is not named Mike Reilley, he is Michael O’Reilly, a Herndon attorney.
Kevin Chisholm
11:51 am on Saturday, August 25, 2012
Thanks Dusty for starting a good conversation. And thank Mr. Whitfield for your well informed thoughts.
We should remember the mission of the MWAA and that is to provide intelligent oversight of the construction projects and expenditure of public money.
I am encouraged that there was a history of former Gov. Tim Kaine and Congressman Wolf working together to initiate this project.
I find it interesting (though relevant) that we spend so much time focusing on matters that are not at the core of the mission of the entity that manages a huge budget in this project. Do you know how complex construction projects are? America has almost forgotten how to do large construction projects. Historical point of reference: the western half of the Canadian Railway was built in about 5 years!
By the way, the law does allow, and for good reason, for subsets (not a majority) of boards to meet and discuss matters. All discussions between board members do not need to be public. I don’t think the average person realizes what it does to people when they become public figures. There are stresses associated with it.
Kevin Chisholm
Candidate for the House of Representatives, Virginia’s 10th Congressional District
www.chisholmforcongress.com
Bob Bruhns
3:13 am on Sunday, August 26, 2012
This particular construction project is remarkably expensive, too. But somebody in Fairfield Connecticut knew how to build a Metro station for less than half of what MWAA says one should cost, and that was after problems with contaminated soil, etc. Also, the Town of Herndon thinks it can build a parking garage for $15,000 per space - which is less than half of what MWAA says one should cost. I suggest that somebody needs to be following the money, because we're talking generations of repayments here.
Mark Carolla
3:01 pm on Saturday, September 8, 2012
Kevin - Referring to "core missions" I can't understand why the Silver Line & the Toll Road, rather than merely the Access Rd. are run by MWAA, an airport authority. As to the Canadian Pacific Railway, the portion about 200 miles west of Winnepeg to the Pacific was built in about 3 years. I've groused in the Patch about why does it take us years to build 12 miles of Silver Line when the Nickel Plate Route was built from Chicago to Buffalo, or at least from Cleveland to Buffalo in a year? I'm told back then no NIMBYs or developers. Comparing projects of the heroic magnitude of the CP to projects such as the Silver Line goes well beyond engineering. (You know that. ) Her Majesty Queen Victoria's Government gave their full support in the 1880's to the CP as a means of uniting the country. Construction was condition of British Columbia becoming part of the Dominion of Canada in 1871 and rail was THE only real means of transportation. We had a similar situation in the US with the Union Pacific being chartered by Lincoln in 1863 (there was a reason it was called the UNION Pacific) Railroads were granted land & rights away & there was no bickering from tax payers that they preferred stage coaches over trains or dealing with Tysons Corner real estate interests. We haven't forgotten how to do large projects, we just don't want to pay for them, &, polemics aside we currently have one party that is ideologically opposed to supporting high speed rail or passenger rail of any sort.
mead
2:11 pm on Saturday, August 25, 2012
Not too far away we see the city of Harrisburg, PA go bankrupt over similar financial shennanigans over... an incinerator. And further south we see the city of Birmingham, AL go bankrupt over predatory financing for an essentially unneccessary waterworks project. Will we see Fairfax Cty suffer a similar fate? Especially given our economic proximity to the looming Fiscal Cliff???
Kevin Chisholm
9:36 am on Sunday, August 26, 2012
Mr. Bruhns,
Statements you have made I am sure are true. But, lets be realistic on Frank Wolf. Overall, overtime, he has been grossly negligent on public transit for his district. That is why there is nearly no way throughout Frederick, Clarke, and Loudoun Counties to travel by anything other than a car. There is no way, other than some commuter routes, to travel from Purcellville to Leesburg, or Leesburg to Winchester, or Ashburn to Leesburg by any mode other than car. And the limited bus service in Loudoun is highly inefficient.
Kevin Chisholm
Candidate for the House of Representatives, Virginia’s 10th Congressional District
www.chisholmforcongress.com
Bob Bruhns
1:04 pm on Sunday, August 26, 2012
Mr. Chisholm, you're running for Congress in the Tenth District - I guess that means you're running against Frank Wolf.
Wolf was pushing for serious bus transit years ago. He should have fought to keep the funding going to BRT, but instead of fighting the rail coterie, he brought funding for the rail project that our other so-called 'leaders' and the news media wanted. That was unfortunate, but now it is water under the bridge.
When the MWAA Board went completely insane and started jacking up the cost of the Silver Line every way they could think of, Wolf finally had enough, and he started demanding checks and balances. We can thank Frank Wolf and Tom Latham for the June 2011 and March 2012 audits (both still under way) by the Inspector General of the US DOT, that have shown us what a circus the MWAA Board really is.
Mr. Chisholm, what will you do for the Tenth District, and for Northern Virginia? I read that you are a high level engineer who has worked on numerous government projects. Will you speak out against the near-double costs and bad design of Phase II of the Silver Line? Why is MWAA planning a big, expensive elevated loop of rail at Dulles Airport, when the design should be a 'dead-end spur'? And why does every price that has escaped MWAA's black-line redaction censorship, turn out to be about two times what it should be? Please show leadership by fighting for sanity in this huge project.
Mark Carolla
3:25 pm on Saturday, September 8, 2012
Kevin - Let's be realistic, bus service has to be frequent and cover lots of neighborhoods. The routes that you talk about are scattered and I doubt there are too many commuters going from Winchester to Purcellville, This isn't Switzerland where the Post Bus does a great job of linking small villages with the Federal Rail System and everything is located within 100 yards of the bus stop. To get to the bus stop in Ashburn and from the bus stop to your destination in Leesburg you still need an automobile. I have a doctor in Ashburn and live in Herndon. Imagine the logistics of trying to take a bus for a mid-day appointment for a retiree or a soccer Mom with two kids in tow. Congressman Wolf has not been "negligent" at all on mass transit - note the world "mass" - the main commuter routes that need attention. I follow his transportation initiatives closely and my only gripe is that he inadequately in my view (I'm prejudiced because of my Army rail experience despite my aviation consulting) supports Amtrak. I think it irresponsible and unfounded to use the word "negligent" towards Congressman Wolf just because we don't have a robust bus network throughout Frederick, Clarke, and Loudoun Counties.
Rob Whitfield
3:06 pm on Sunday, August 26, 2012
Dusty, it is distasteful that you seem to want to score political points when the subject is a former MWAA Chairman with a major health problem. To me it appears that former Congressmen Tom Davis and Bill Cobey and the late MWAA Chairman Charles Snelling acted with compassion in agreeing to Mame's employment by MWAA with health care coverage.
Mame and I had many fundamental disagreements on Dulles Rail matters and decisions. However, Mame recognized that (mostly) I was deferential to her position as Chairman of the Dulles Corridor Committee in 2010 and 2011. Mame understood my wish for a much more public decision making process. In October 2011 Mame gave me credit for helping change the decision making environment at MWAA. I wish that more was being done in that regard.
Mame was at times authoritarian and bombastic but at other times very graceful and courteous. Those who want to lob bombs should spend time in the trenches!
As to Congressman Wolf's role in advocating for bus transit, circa 1999, he arranged a 75% of cost federal demonstration grant for a Bus Rapid Transit system. However greedy Tysons landowners and most politicians wanted heavy rail without regard to costs. The efforts of many in Loudoun County have resulted in the excellent Loduoun County Transit express bus system over the last decade. Less well known, but equally important, is Virginia Regional Transit which serves outlying areas. How does Mr. Chisolm plan to fund improved service?
Dusty Smith
4:06 pm on Sunday, August 26, 2012
I'm not sure why this is considered an attempt to score political points. This is basically a roundup up of the latest reports on MWAA.
Kevin Chisholm
7:33 pm on Sunday, August 26, 2012
There really is not that much difference between a minister of a church and an elected leader. This is where the public may not hold up as high a standard as they should. If something is of great importance and requires citizens to be more responsible, then elected leaders (as ministers) should lead by example. I use public transit where possible. Therefore, I am not morally compromised.
I am not as deeply knowledgeable in the Dulles project as some people who read Patch. I know that public transit is typically subsidized significantly. However, it is much more successful if it is used heavily. The public investment is then well leveraged and it then all makes sense.
There are many other important public issues as well and I don’t want to create the impression that I only think about the Dulles Rail project. I do think about how to bring quality public transit to the entire 10th Congressional District and have written much on that on my website and in the public view. I believe that to make public transit more effective, it has to be there first AND extensively used. To help people make the choice of using public transit and thinking about its use when they decide where they will live, I have advocated that we lower the tax on earned income and put in place a carbon tax. Such a move, if done smartly, would encourage better choices and could be highly effective in reducing our use of oil.
Bob Bruhns
11:09 am on Wednesday, August 29, 2012
It behooves our elected officials and candidates for elected office to have enough knowledge of the costs and appropriateness of public works projects to select the right projects, and to reject and expose overcharges of the magnitude of the excessive costs of the Silver Line project. This rail project should have been a BRT bus project - and worse, it costs far more than a rail project should cost (about 1.8 times what its construction should cost), and that is before the costs of financing are added to this bloat.
When will any of our elected leaders or candidates for office demand that the estimating companies explain their extremely high cost estimates for this job? We have evidence that much lower prices were not only possible, but that much lower prices are actually normal. What was the justification for the sky-high estimates that were presented, and why were they never questioned?
The ridiculously excessive cost of this huge and premature project will burden this region for generations, and it serves the people of this region very badly.
Dan H
8:22 pm on Sunday, August 26, 2012
Since when has MWAA been allowed to patrol Rt 28 and the Dulles Greenway? Seems out of their jurisdiction, no?
David A. LaRock
8:51 pm on Thursday, August 30, 2012
Speaking of the Dulles Corridor, MWAA has no authority to expand the Dulles Corridor to include the rail extension past the Dulles Airport, off federal land and west to who-knows-where. But they do it because it suits the whims of elected officials who want to bring Loudoun into the herd of cash cows. Leesburg then Winchester next?