Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell appointed two more members to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority board Friday, even though the current board said it won’t allow new members to be seated for now.
McDonnell appointed Lynn Chapman, a failed Republican candidate for the House of Delegates in 2007, and Elaine McConnell, a longtime Fairfax County supervisor and founder of Accotink Academy, a school for children with disabilities.
The airports board is in charge of the $6 billion Dulles Rail project and became a source of frustration for McDonnell and other Virginia officials when it insisted on a union-friendly labor provision on the rail line earlier this year. It has since abandoned the agreement.
McConnell and Chapman may not be seated anytime soon, though.
The airports board has said it can’t seat Virginia’s additional members until D.C. approves legislation allowing for an expansion of the airports board. Virginia and Congress already passed legislation allowing the expansion.
McDonnell appointed two other members as soon as the federal legislation passed last fall: Todd Stottlemeyer and Caren Merrick. Stottlemeyer replaced Mame Reiley, who resigned for health reasons. Merrick is waiting for a court to decide whether she can take the place of Dennis Martire, a board member McDonnell ousted over reports that Martire had taken lavish overseas trips at authority expense. Martire sued McDonnell, and the airports authority asked a judge to settle the matter.
