Airport should keep name, ditch scandals
Orlando and Las Vegas are two of America’s best-known tourist towns.
Both are reeling from the pandemic. Both are hoping to rebound. But only one of those places recently stirred up a hornet’s nest by deciding to rename its airport after a politician.
That’d be Vegas, where county commissioners recently voted to rename Sin City’s airport Harry Reid International Airport.
I guess that’s HRIA … which, when pronounced like a word, sounds kind of like a disease or uncomfortable bowel condition. (I hope antibiotics cure this nasty case of HRIA I caught down in Cancun.)
Vegas residents don’t object to the acronym. Instead, many wonder why they can’t just have “Las Vegas International Airport.”
It’s a valid question — so valid, in fact, that I wanted to preemptively thank the leaders of Orlando … for doing nothing.
Thank you for keeping Orlando International Airport as Orlando International Airport. (Our call letters remain MCO in honor of the since-abandoned McCoy Air Force Base.)
I mean, we already have an NBA arena named after a “multilevel marketing” opportunity. Our historic Citrus Bowl became Camping World Stadium.
So, before anyone starts trying to go all LaGuardia or Reid on our airport, let’s just appreciate that Orlando is already one of the world’s best-known brands. And it’s smart to capitalize on that.
Besides, while many people get excited about visiting Orlando or Vegas, very few get excited about politicians.
Shady business
In less-peppy airport news, State Attorney Phil Archer’s office recently wrapped up a yearlong investigation into shady shenanigans at OIA from 2019 when a handful of gubernatorial appointees tried to ram through a lucrative, no-bid and unannounced legal contract.
The short version, as the Sentinel recently reported, is that pros
ecutors couldn’t find evidence that board members secretly communicated with each other in a failed attempt to steer an unadvertised legal contract to a couple of local attorneys. Instead, Archer’s office found that board members had been individually communicating with a lobbyist, Chris Dorworth, and the board’s executive director, Phil Brown, which isn’t illegal.
Still, mayors Buddy Dyer and Jerry Demings said the deal looked suspicious at the time. And they were right. Public officials should conduct public business in public. That’s not complicated.
If the airport wanted to hire a new law firm, it should’ve followed basic, ethical practices and advertised the job — and then publicly vetted the various firms’ qualifications and prices.
Not let some lobbyist whisper in their ear, the way investigators suggested board members Domingo Sanchez, Randall Hunt and Carson Good did — and then
try to ram through a proposal that wasn’t even on the agenda.
Better yet, just hire in-house attorneys. Avoid all the potential conflicts of interest — and save the public money in the process.
The airport is a multi-billion dollar operation that’s big enough to employ its own attorneys. And this community is big enough that it shouldn’t bear witness to this kind of small-town, backroom shenanigans.
In fact, every time this otherwise well-functioning airport makes ugly headlines — like”Airport
leader’s campaign benefits from airport contractors” and “Attempted coup, scheming at Orlando airport raise bright red flag” — it’s because politicians or their appointees are focused on something other than public business.
Wednesday’s front page featured Gov. Ron DeSantis’ touting his decision to re-open Florida after initially ordering a statewide shutdown.
I don’t blame him. While DeSantis has earned his fair share
Stay open! (We’re closed.)
of COVID criticism — for hiding public records and keeping citizens in the dark about vaccination plans — evidence suggests lockdowns aren’t a panacea. Some places with harsh lockdown mandates have experienced high case counts. Others lower. (The bottom line for Florida is that we’re average on many key metrics. Not great. Not awful. Just average. And getting better.)
Still, it’s worth noting that many of the Tallahassee politicians thumping their chests about Florida being “open for business” are doing so from a state Capitol that is largely closed to the public.
As the Tampa Bay Times reported, “Gov. Ron DeSantis has not allowed the Capitol to be open to visitors even as he ordered all businesses to be open in Florida. The state’s residents are kept out of the buildings and at a distance …”
Apparently, the term “open” is relative.
He likes government health care
And finally, a quick follow-up to an item from last month when a reader asked whether State Rep. Randy Fine, R-Brevard County, was still taking advantage of the generous and heavily subsidized health care package Florida offers it’s part time legislators.
Reader Doug remembered that Fine, a millionaire lawmaker who had described government-run health care as “a disaster” had decided to sign up for the state’s own plan in 2016. Fine claimed he wanted “to understand what government health insurance is like” and “broaden his perspective.”
Well, nearly five years later, Doug wanted to know if Fine was still broadening his perspective at the taxpayers’ expense — and Fine wouldn’t answer the question.
So I filed a public-records request. And the House Speaker’s office confirmed Fine is still taking advantage of the plan, which has premiums that are just $50 a month for individuals and $180 for families.
He must have some of the broadest perspective in the state.