"Outgoing FAA Chief Lands Aerospace Industry Job"

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Outgoing FAA Chief Lands Aerospace Industry Job 
By Kathryn A. Wolfe
Congressional Quarterly Today 


When FAA Administrator Marion C. Blakey leaves her post in mid-September,
she will join a lobby group for the aerospace industry.

Blakey, 59, will become the president and CEO of the Aerospace Industries
Association, a trade group for aerospace equipment manufacturers, including
giants such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

Industry sources said the White House is mulling using a recess appointment
to replace Blakey after Congress leaves town at the end of the first session
of the 110th Congress. In the interim, Deputy Administrator Robert Sturgell
would probably be named acting administrator.

One potential successor to Blakey is Barbara Barrett, an aviation lawyer who
was deputy administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration under
President Ronald Reagan and former vice chairman of the FAA's predecessor,
the Civil Aeronautics Board. If appointed, she would become the third in a
string of female administrators. Blakey succeeded Jane Garvey.

Blakey leaves the FAA at a critical juncture, as Congress struggles to pass
legislation that will reauthorize the agency for the next four years, a
situation that has concerned many on Capitol Hill. During a July 12 hearing
of the aviation subcommittee he chairs, Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV,
D-W.Va., asked Blakey if she'd consider staying temporarily until the
reauthorization is done. Blakey politely dodged the question.

Though Democratic members have not always agreed with Blakey's policies,
primarily attempts to outsource air traffic controllers, her gracious
Southern mien and willingness to testify have made her popular on Capitol
Hill.

The House Transportation and Infrastructure and Senate Commerce, Science and
Transportation committees have each approved measures to reauthorize the
agency (S 1300, HR 2881), but the tax-writing committees in both chambers
have yet to mark up provisions of the reauthorization dealing with fuel
taxes -- a critical piece that is holding up consideration of the entire
measure.

The Democratic leadership has indicated that it wants to complete an FAA
bill this fall, but whether that will be before the current authorization
(PL 108-176) expires Sept. 30 remains to be seen. A House aide said the Ways
and Means Committee may mark up its piece the first week back from recess.
But so far the Senate Finance Committee has yet to indicate when it might
move.

Additionally, a veto threat is expected over provisions in the House bill
that would change the way the FAA resolves union disputes. The portion
Republicans particularly dislike would effectively re-open a contract the
FAA imposed on its unionized controllers last summer.

Blakey has a long transportation pedigree. Prior to taking the reins at the
FAA, she chaired the National Transportation Safety Board, and in the early
1990s she was administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration.

Blakey has overseen the FAA since September 2002, including battles over air
traffic controller outsourcing, control tower privatization, the burgeoning
private spaceflight industry, ballooning flight delays and the safest period
in commercial aviation history.

At the Aerospace Industries Association, she succeeds John W. Douglass, who
has served as president and CEO since September 1998 and will remain with
AIA through year's end to "provide counsel and ensure a smooth transition,"
the association said.

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