Are Dems Protecting FAA Patronage Plum?
President Bush may have nominated FAA Deputy Administrator Robert Sturgell to head the aviation agency, but his man may never take the post. The nomination as FAA chief requires confirmation by the U.S. Senate, and that body has repeatedly put off hearings toward approving Sturgell for the job. A number of reasons have been rumored. Among them is that labor-friendly Democrats in the Senate are miffed at the agency stiffing the air traffic controllers’ union in contract negotiations, and Sturgell is paying the price for that. One insider in Washington’s aviation community points to a more base school of thought: Democrats are confident they can wrest control of the White House from Republicans come the national election in November. Therefore, they are protecting every plum of political patronage that they can. The FAA administrator’s post is a choice one, this thinking holds, so Senate Democrats are likely to put off Sturgell’s nomination until it can be withdrawn and replaced by one o
