Colin McNickle At Large

Conflicts, tributes & premiums

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Whether it’s hubris or ignorance remains to be seen. But those rationalizing the conflict of interest that has become the face of the Allegheny County Airport Authority’s OneJet mess are disserving sound public policy.

Not long after it was reported that the authority is suing the airline — heavily subsidized with public money — for not living up to its promises, it was reported that the vice-chairman of the authority – who’s also a non-voting member of OneJet’s board – is an investor in the airline.

And the hair-splitting has begun.

Having Robert Lewis on the airline board is a good thing, we are told, because it supposedly allows him to keep an eye on things.

Sorry, but that’s a conflict.

Additionally, officials stress that Lewis’ investment (the sum of which has not been revealed) was made after the authority awarded its $1 million share of total subsidies of $3 million. “After,” “before” or the “third Thursday of the eighth month” makes a difference not.

That’s a conflict – no matter when.

Officials also say that because Lewis did not vote on the authority subsidy, there’s no conflict. But, as the Post-Gazette reports, Lewis did vote to give Airport Authority CEO Christina Cassotis unfettered power to grant airlines public subsidies.

He also voted for the deal that approved OneJet for operations at Pittsburgh International, the deal to lease ticket counters and adding the airline to the airport’s master lease agreement.

That’s not cream cheese on bagels, those are conflicts.

And if there’s nothing wrong with Lewis’ dual role, why did he initially deny to the Post-Gazette that he indeed is an investor, never mind that both OneJet CEO Matthew Maguire and Airport Authority Solicitor Jeffrey Letwin confirm that he is?

Letwin, by the way, confirms that, as the P-G reports it, “other board members have been involved with companies that did business with the authority and were OK as long as they recused themselves in votes.”

Sorry, but no matter those recusals, the appearance of conflicts of interest looms large. And where the public’s business is being conducted, even the appearance must be avoided for the public to have confidence in the process.

And how in the world can it be acceptable for Lewis to serve on a board suing another board on which he serves, no matter his non-voting status?

Simply put, it is not. It is a conflict of interest incarnate.

Meanwhile, back at the glue factory:

The Pittsburgh Regional Building and Construction Trades Council (affiliated, of course, with the AFL-CIO) recently took out a full page ad in the P-G.

It’s supporting the effort of Peoples Water, the Peoples Gas offshoot, to partner with the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority (PWSA) to fix the badly broken City of Pittsburgh system.

The cost of the effort, by one projection, could top $5 billion.

The trades, you see, tout not only fixing up the system but the creation of “hundreds of new family sustaining jobs, while improving PWSA union jobs.”

They also talk about Peoples proposed new water treatment plant being “powered by 100 percent renewable energy – both solar and hydroelectric.”

Ok. But …

Will the trades push for a project labor agreement, a form of extortion, that seeks above-market wage rates to buy “labor peace” but inflates the cost of public works projects?

Then there’s Pennsylvania’s prevailing wage rules that also will grossly inflate the cost to commonwealth taxpayers. By how much? In general, by up to 20 percent, according to some data-crunchers.

Back to the P-G ad:

“We are committed to growing with the city by building the future with partners like Peoples and we are proud to stand with them as a friend and a partner with labor.

“Together, we are committing to this partnership to ensure our labor goes toward providing you with the cleanest, healthiest, brightest future possible. We are respectively requesting that the city join with us to see this vision take place.”

With a little tribute-paying, of course — and for a premium.

Colin McNickle is a senior fellow and media specialist at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy (cmcnickle@alleghenyinstitute.org).

 

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Colin McNickle
Colin McNickle

Colin received his B.G.S. from Ohio University. The 40-year journalism veteran joined the Institute in October 2016. That followed a 22-year career with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, 18 as director of editorial pages for Trib Total Media. Prior that, Colin had a long and varied career in media — from radio, newspapers and magazines, to United Press International and The Associated Press.

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