CAA: GA News, "McCain off the mark with Boyer remark"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@cwnet.com>]

Friday, May 12, 2000

Editorial
McCain off the mark with Boyer remark
GA News


He may not have won the Republican nomination for president, but there’s no
denying that John McCain earned the admiration and respect of the American
public during the recently concluded primary campaign season.

Wartime sacrifices and a penchant for straight talk tend to bode well for
political candidates.

McCain fell a notch or two in our eyes, however, when he dressed down AOPA
President Phil Boyer during last week’s confirmation hearings of the FAA
Management Advisory Council.

“I seriously question your qualifications for this council,” McCain publicly
told Boyer.

How incredible. How outrageous. How self-serving. How . . . Congress-like.

McCain blatantly disparaged Boyer because the two disagree on aviation user
fees. McCain supports them; Boyer doesn’t. McCain has also been miffed for
the past several years about AOPA’s strident opposition to user fees.

Boyer, who owns a Cessna 172 and flies AOPA’s Citation, is head of the
largest private-pilot organization in the world. He is the voice in
Washington, DC, and elsewhere for his 360,000 members. His top-management
experience extends to 27 years at ABC television in New York.

A difference of opinion is one thing, but to question Boyer’s credentials as
a general aviation representative to the FAA Management Advisory Council
would be laughable if it weren’t so disconcerting. (If he’s confirmed, he’ll
be the only council member who opposes user fees.)

As much as he has cozied up to the American public in recent months, McCain
still hasn’t been able to shake a reputation as a loose cannon. What he did
to Boyer — and the entire general aviation industry — was a broadside
attack.

The senator from Arizona should be ashamed of himself.


   Post your opinion on this story in the CAA General Aviation Forum
http://www.californiaaviation.org/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?conf=DCConfID2

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