Posted on 04/27/2009 10:48:31 PM PDT by smoothsailing
By MIKE FAHER
The Tribune-Democrat
April 27, 2009 11:55 pm
—
Johnstown’s airport is being unfairly portrayed as an overfunded Washington pork project, a prominent local businessman said Monday.
Bill Polacek, president and CEO of JWF Industries and JWF Defense, was reacting to multiple reports in the national media linking airport funding to the supposed “pork-barrel spending” of U.S. Rep. John Murtha, D-Johnstown.
Polacek said the authority governing the Richland Township airport works hard to secure needed funding.
“We’re really not getting any more money than any other airport would,” said Polacek, who also is a member of the airport authority.
The facility, which bears Murtha’s name, has made national news several times in the past week.
A CNN report is representative of the coverage: The cable news network said Murtha is “one of ‘the kings of pork’ ” in Washington and has directed nearly $200 million to the airport, mostly in the form of legislative earmarks.
While the airport “may not see many passengers,” the facility has “seen plenty of arrivals of tax dollars from Washington,” CNN reported.
The network also quoted a taxpayer advocate as saying Murtha has “dumped in nearly $200 million into this project that has virtually no passengers. It’s practically a museum piece.”
Local officials are taking exception to those statements even as more major media outlets fly into the airport to take a crack at the same story.
On Monday, Polacek interviewed with “Inside
Edition.” He has an interview scheduled today with Fox News.
The businessman argues that funding for airport improvements is tied to its ridership, adding that the facility recently lost $850,000 in federal money because passenger counts fell below the 10,000 mark.
“These funds are highly scrutinized by the (Federal Aviation Administration),” Polacek said.
“You have to have ‘X’ amount of activity to get that.”
Polacek does not deny, however, that Murtha has helped steer funds to the airport.
“Does he help us from time to time? Sure he does,” Polacek said. “That’s what he’s paid to do.”
Also, a significant amount of the money Murtha has brought to the airport has been targeted for military purposes. The National Guard, Army Reserve and Marine Corps all have a presence around the airport.
Polacek believes there are political motivations behind the recent rash of publicity surrounding Murtha’s spending practices.
“I think it’s the Republican party looking to discredit the congressman,” he said.
Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.
Photos
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA The Tribune-Democrat
Compared to Murtha, that’s chump change, so be warned! :-)
When the MSM points out a Democrat/Liberal scandal, they invariably blame the Republicans as being behind a smear campaign, meanwhile the Left hand is using the distraction to hide a much bigger scandal.
Translation: Look for the bigger, more real and tangible scandal elsewhere. This Murtha business is a “no-go” and will be condoned as “business as usual” in the end.
ping
To be added to the Murtha Watch ping list please notify myself or RedRover.
Wonder what Fox News show this guy will be interviewed on? Could be interesting if he tries to blame everthing on evil Republicans as he does at the end of this article.
I was watching some Fox News today. Carl Cameron is in Johnstown on location at the airport. He may be doing a whole special.
Sounds like there’ll be a video of it if Cameron is there and I’d doubt he will make it the Repubs fault. It’d be nice to see him really rip Murtha and this turkey.
Excellent, I’ll keep an eye out. It’s just wondeful that airport bears Murtha’s name. His vanity is now chomping him in the posterior.
LOL! Like a toothed bear trap!
Couldn't happen to a bigger a$$.
The National Guard, Army Reserve and Marine Corps all have a presence around the airport.
Does the Military actually USE this so-called airport, or do they simply have bases NEAR the airport?
(Please forgive me if my question was already answered elsewhere. I'm playing catch up from last week.)
I haven’t read anything specific about NG or Reserve units being stationed at the base. There was mention of NG using some facility in one article I read if I remember correctly, it’s not like an Air Guard fighter wing is based there.
Maybe Smooth is more up on it.
While going through pages of pings back to last Friday trying to catch up, I did see in one article that said one of the units use the airport, but they only fly helicopters. No need for a multi-billion dollar runway.
Thanks, Justa. That was the one I saw but couldn’t remember the specifics. It’s h*ll to old. ;-)
LOL! And to BE old, too! ;*)
Okay, back out to the yard work! Talk about old and decrepit! I'm still in pain from 2 days ago.
See! I told you, I can’t even write a coherent sentence. LOL!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.