Ethics and optics
The airport authority should approve sensible rules
The Allegheny County Airport Authority is scheduled to consider two commonsense ethics measures today. Approving them should be a foregone conclusion. It’s just a shame it took public criticism to force the board’s hand.
The Post-Gazette reported last month that two board members, Jan Rea and Vice President Robert Lewis, are investors in OneJet, an airline that accepted $1 million in incentives from the authority for establishing service at Pittsburgh International Airport. However, the regional carrier fell short of the agreedupon number of flights, and the authority now is suing to recover about $763,000.
If that seems like a conflict of interest for Ms. Rea and Mr. Lewis, that’s because it is. But government often sees the world through a glass darkly. The authority initially defended the pair, saying there’s no conflict because the two aren’t voting on OneJet-related issues even if their colleagues at the table have been.
But someone had a change of heart — or realized how bad the optics were. At its meeting today, the board is scheduled to consider a resolution requiring Ms. Rea and Mr. Lewis to give up their investments in OneJet or resign. It also will consider a resolution banning the nine members from directing investing in airlines in the future.
The board should adopt these and go a step further — prohibiting members and employees from having any stake in any company doing business with the airport. This is an important step to take because a coming $1 billion renovation of Pittsburgh International potentially offers myriad opportunities for selfdealing. The board must signal unequivocally, now, that it will not tolerate the conflation of private interest and public business.
It’s disappointing that the board’s legal counsel ever thought it was acceptable to let members invest in airlines doing business with the authority; that other members just went along with what Ms. Rea and Mr. Lewis were doing; and that, after being publicly confronted about the conflict of interest, the authority initially tried to pooh pooh the significance. Make no mistake: If it weren’t significant, the board wouldn’t be reversing course now.
A culture of ethics starts at the top, and the board has set a poor example for the authority’s 450 employees. Also let down were the county residents who depend on the nine members to responsibly operate an airport crucial to the region’s vitality.