Officials in charge of the Dulles Rail project said Wednesday they are planning to travel to Richmond to convince Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell to remove strings attached to the $150 million he promised to the rail project. The governor signed on to a memorandum of agreement for the project last week — but also sent three letters in the space of a week to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which is in charge of the project, with a long list of demands.
McDonnell wants the airports authority to accept his new board appointees, which have so far been blocked from the board as part of a legal fight. And he wants to make sure the second phase of the rail line, which will extend from Reston to Loudoun County, doesn’t mandate union labor, which the governor says defies Virginia’s right-to-work laws.
It isn’t the first time McDonnell has threatened to withhold money in exchange for more power on a local transportation board. The governor recently threatened to withhold $50 million of Metro funding and wound up gaining a new seat on the transit board.
Some airports authority board members aren’t happy with the Virginia governor for appearing to attach conditions to the promised $150 million.
“We got to the point where this board, which has been fractured by many, many issues in the past year, voted 13 to nothing to approve this [agreement on Dulles Rail],” said MWAA board member Bob Brown. “I think it’s regrettable that we don’t have all the parties fulfilling their obligations.”
Some of McDonnell’s fellow Republicans may make it even more difficult for McDonnell to sign on to the labor agreement and pay the $150 million: Two different bills to prohibit mandatory labor agreements popped up in the Virginia General Assembly last month.
“Understand that there have been several bills introduced in the legislature that would prohibit funding under that, and so I think that’s something the governor has to wrestle with, and I think he needs room to maneuver as well,” MWAA board member Tom Davis said. “It’s in a fairly delicate stage, given the legislation coming out of the General Assembly.”
MWAA insists that D.C. must also change its law before the new Virginia board members can take their place at the table. Potter said the airports authority reached out to D.C. to get the process moving forward, but spokesmen for both Mayor Vincent Gray and D.C. Council transportation committee Chairwoman Mary Cheh denied being contacted by MWAA.
