Surrender, Charlotte

Published July 19, 2013

By Doug Clark, Greensboro News-Record, July 18, 2013.

One of the most baffling stories I've followed out of Raleigh this year -- and there have been plenty -- has been the legislature's determination to take Charlotte-Douglas International Airport from city ownership and put it under a regional authority.

The Charlotte airport is immensely successful and a major driver of the area's economy. No evidence has been presented indicating that it is poorly managed. It is financially self-sufficient. Polls show a large majority of residents want to continue city ownership. The legislators pushing this change say they want to make sure the airport doesn't come under political influence from the city, but they can't say when that has ever happened.

If there's politics here, it is politics working against the city. The council is controlled by Democrats. In the new scheme, the mayor and council would get to appoint only four of 11 authority board members. County commissioners from Mecklenburg and five other counties -- Cabarrus, Union, Lincoln, Iredell and Gaston -- would appoint six members. Then those 10 would appoint the 11th. Those counties are more Republican, so the airport is more likely to be run under Republican influence. Can anyone tell the difference between a Republican airport and a Democratic airport? Maybe the legislature thinks so.

The bill also contains a provision saying the airport could use its revenues to maintain and improve existing airports in those other counties. Aha! So there's a money trail, diverting Chairlotte airport revenue to outlying counties. Is this just a money grab?

I understand that the state's other major airports are owned by regional authorities -- Raleigh-Durham and Piedmont Triad, for examples.

That makes sense if the airports serve more than a single major city. Our airport, Piedmont Triad, serves Greensboro, Winston-Salem and High Point. Should Charlotte's airport be renamed Charlotte-Monroe-Concord-Lincolnton-Gastonia-Statesville International Airport?

As tangled as that sounds, the financial fallout could be greater. State Treasurer Janet Cowell has urged caution in making this transfer of ownership because of the uncertain status of outstanding bonds. What's the legislature's response? There's been no study of that question, and the transfer is directed to take place immediately upon enactment of its bill.

The final vote on this bill is scheduled for this afternoon. A straight party-line vote is expected in the Senate. (Update, 2:30 p.m.: yep.) For the life of me, I can't understand why any legislator, unless he or she represents the counties that would benefit at Charlotte's expense, would vote for this monstrosity, which is more likely to produce a financial plane crash than to improve Charlotte's airport.

Perhaps most puzzling of all is why the former mayor of Charlotte, now-Gov. Pat McCrory, has stood by and watched. It means he either supports this takeover of his former city's airport but won't say so, or he has tried to stop it behind the scenes and utterly failed.

(Update: McCrory explains his position to media during a visit to Charlotte this morning. Sounds like he's trying to put a happy face on an ugly situation.)

It's a sad story, but let me try to end with a smile, courtesy of Charlotte Observer cartoonist Kevin Siers. He poked a little fun this morning at state Rep. Ruth Samuelson, a Charlotte Republican who's been one of the foremost advocates for the airport grab.