The U.S. Senate might want to actually give DIA chief Phil Washington a proper vetting before rubber stamping him as President Biden’s pick to lead the Federal Aviation Administration.
When Washington was hired, the city sort of glossed right over an investigation into questionable contracting with a sexual harassment hotline that haunted Washington from his time as CEO of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
PeakNation™ will recall there was a flurry of bad press when Denver Mayor Hancock appointed Washington just one year ago to lead DIA at a salary of $266,143.
Less than a year on the job, the city gave Washington an enormous 30% salary bump for an annual salary of $346,975.
It was never explained how Washington earned that raise.
PeakNation™ will also vividly recall when just a few months into the job, a Christmas holiday party went terribly awry when the airport’s top lawyer was accused of slapping one of his employees in front of Washington and other top level executives.
Scott McCoy resigned just weeks later but insists that his hand never made contact with his employee’s face.
Washington never said a word about the incident, which was sparked when McCoy was demonstrating his theory on police tactics with minorities. It just so happened the employee he practiced this tactic on was also a minority.
It doesn’t appear that Colorado’s own U.S. senators will make any effort to vet Biden’s pick.
Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper released a joint statement applauding Washington’s nomination about five minutes after it was announced by the White House.
“President Biden could not have made a better choice in nominating Phil Washington to run the FAA. Phil has served Colorado extremely well, and I’m confident he will lead the FAA with integrity,” said Bennet.
If we had to bet, Bennet probably never even heard the name Phil Washington until a staffer told him to sign off on the press release.
Stay tuned for Senate confirmation hearings.