Various people are speculating that Mayor Lyda Krewson – despite her announced reason of lack of support in the community – decided to pull the plug on the airport privatization deal on December 20 because she knew the city was going to lose the pending lawsuit on the lack of transparency, said attorney Mark Pedroli, founder of the Sunshine and Government Accountability Project.
All Pedroli knows, he said, is that they had a very strong case, alleging that St. Louis officials violated the law when they closed public records and public meetings regarding the privatization process of St. Louis Lambert International Airport. And the second lawsuit they were planning on filing this week was going to be equally strong.
“Had we won on either, it could have unwound the whole thing,” Pedroli said, “and made them restart again in a way that was compliant with not only the Missouri Sunshine Law but also the St. Louis City Charter and the city ordinances.”
Had they won the first lawsuit suit, filed on December 6, they would have asked the court to order that all actions taken by the Airport Working Group during improperly closed meetings or in violation of the Sunshine Act be null and void.
The Working Group’s voting members are Budget Director Paul Payne and representatives for Krewson, President of the Board of Aldermen Lewis Reed and Comptroller Darlene Green. All are named in the lawsuit.
Since July 2018, the Airport Working Group has held about 47 meetings to evaluate the possibility of privatizing the airport, according to the suit. During these meetings, the Working Group members have allegedly closed meetings to discuss information that should have been open to the public, it states.
On December 20, Krewson announced that she was asking her representative on the Airport Working Group to not proceed with RFP for potential leasing the airport. Krewson’s spokesman Jacob Long said that the lawsuit did not factor into her decision.
“She inherited this idea when she took office in April 2017,” Long wrote in an email. “Since then, she’s been listening intently to residents, business leaders, our partners at the airlines, and other elected officials. They have all expressed serious concerns and reservations about moving forward, and about the possibility that a private entity might operate the airport.”
The American asked if some of the “serious concerns and reservations” she was hearing were about the lack of transparency. Long responded that, “No, and the reference to a ‘lack of transparency’ sounds like a biased judgment call. When you’re engaged in competitive processes like this one, the law allows for some information to be withheld because it is proprietary in nature.”
The American explained that the phrase “lack of transparency” has been used by U.S. Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay (D-Missouri), city elected officials, university experts and community members. Were they making “biased judgment calls?”
“No, I’m not saying that about them,” Long said. “They’re entitled to their opinions.”
And we asked, when the mayor said she is “listening,” was she not listening to this concern? Long said that Krewson understands and heard that many people wanted more information available.
“The law also allows for public officials to discuss said information in executive session, as public bodies have been doing for a very long, long time,” Long said. “So, no, concerns over transparency were not a driving factor in the mayor’s decision. We are ready to move on.”
He said the City Counselor’s Office is in the process of identifying additional information and seeing what can be released and will release it when they are able.
In a statement, Comptroller Darlene Green said, “From the very beginning, I opposed airport privatization. Our airport is well-managed and I thank all our airport employees for their hard work and dedication. I’m encouraged that the city can now move forward. I’m grateful to the residents of St. Louis city and our region for speaking up and expressing their opinions about airport privatization.”
Documents containing the minutes of a closed-door meeting, leaked to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Tuesday, reveal potential conflicts of interest related to one company — STL Aviation Group.
According to the minutes, the mayor’s deputy mayor on development, Linda Martinez, who represents Krewson on the Working Group, pushed back on why the company was not included on a shortlist of eight companies recommended by consultants to the group, St. Louis Public Radio reported. STL Aviation Group is being advised by former Mayor Francis G. Slay’s campaign manager and chief of staff Jeff Rainford. Slay initiated the privatization process at the end of his term as mayor in 2017 by submitting an application to the Federal Aviation Administration.
At a recent town hall meeting, community members expressed their concern about the overall conflicts of interest involved in the privatization process. The team that is acting as the city’s consultant is led by Grow Missouri, Inc., an organization funded by retired conservative financier Rex Sinquefield. Grow Missouri paid for the application into the Federal Aviation Administration’s Airport Privatization Program. If the city privatizes airport operations, then the consultants will be paid “success fees.”
“Any fruit that could come from the process being used would be fruit from a poisoned tree,” said Ray Mundy, former director of the University of Missouri-St. Louis’ Center for Transportation Studies.
According to the city’s contract with Grow Missouri, Sinquefield would only be reimbursed if the city goes through with privatization. Krewson told St. Louis Public Radio on Friday the money would not be reimbursed.
SEIU Local 1, which represents almost 100 janitors at the airport, said that Krewson’s decision was a victory for all St. Louis residents.
“From the start, it was clear only insiders and the status quo would benefit from the privatization of St. Louis Lambert International Airport,” said Keyahnna Jackson, of SEIU Local 1. “Working people and community allies came together and fought hard to hold wealthy special interests accountable and to stop the privatization of one of our city’s most important assets. Privatization of our airport would have lowered standards for passengers, workers and our entire region.”
