Steve Burns
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON – (WMAL) Everyone in the D.C. region agrees – Metro needs help. But nobody seems to agree on how to do it. Nearly a dozen competing plans have arisen as the year comes to an end, and the region finds itself no closer to guaranteeing Metro the half a billion dollars its general manager says is needed to keep the system running well into the future.
The latest recommendation comes from Ray LaHood, the former Illinois Republican Congressman and Transportation Secretary under President Barack Obama. LaHood’s main thesis involves getting rid of Metro’s current 16-member Board of Directors and replacing it with a five-member “reform board,” aimed at making hard decisions and restoring the system’s reputation.
“We have found that the current board is unwieldy, too parochial, too much involved with opportunities to really look after their own little issues that they represent in their own jurisdictions,” LaHood told reporters Tuesday. “We felt it was necessary to create a five-person, temporary reform board, made up of people who get up every day and show up every day with the idea of making WMATA number one again.”
Unlike a bill introduced this week from Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.), LaHood said Metro does not need to radically reform its labor practices.
“The labor costs are not that much out of line with other transit systems around the country,” he said.
Comstock’s bill would change many union practices, including giving the reform board power to void existing union contracts, and converting pensions into 401k plans.
Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe called the debate over labor costs a “side tangent.”
“Let’s not try to divert on side issues that are not relevant to the issues we are trying to accomplish,” he said. “This is the reason we have been in the problem we are in today.”
To add to the competition, two Democratic Congressmen in the Maryland suburbs, Jamie Raskin and Anthony Brown, recently introduced a bill with backing from Metro’s primary union increasing protections for those workers.
The implementation of a reform board is also the subject of disagreement. Maryland Governor Larry Hogan has said it likely cannot be done without amending Metro’s founding document, known as the compact. Others, including LaHood, believe the compact does not need to be reopened if the current Board members all voluntarily step aside. Lawmakers from Maryland, Virginia, the District, and the federal government would all need to agree to compact changes down to the exact wording – a process many believe would take years to resolve.
LaHood’s report, prepared at the request of McAuliffe, left out any concrete plan to generate the funds that General Manager Paul Wiedefeld said will be necessary to avoid any future service cuts or fare increases. LaHood would only say there is a “commitment” among the region’s lawmakers to fund a system that has “accountability, respectability, credibility.”
Deep divisions still remain in the region over the best way to find that money.
A region-wide sales tax supported by District lawmakers is adamantly opposed by McAuliffe, who said Virginia would pay over 50 percent of the costs under the plan.
“Every jurisdiction should be given a number, and let them figure out what they can get through their legislatures or their city council chambers,” McAuliffe said.
McAuliffe said his budget will include dedicated funding for Metro, though he declined to specify what form it would take ahead of the budget’s release on December 18. He also said that funding will have no chance of passing in Virginia’s General Assembly without the reform board getting instituted first.
“I know my legislators,” he said. “I have worked with them for four years. I know what it takes.”
Another plan, offered up by Hogan in September, would give Metro $500 million more from his state, but only if it’s matched by the District, Virginia, and the federal government. Others have dismissed the idea of waiting on the Republican-controlled Congress to give more money to a public transit agency. Comstock’s bill increases the federal government’s contribution, but in exchange for major reforms in labor and governance.
The current Chairman of Metro’s Board of Directors, D.C. Councilmember Jack Evans, told WMAL the reform board only serves as a cover for politicians who do not want to make tougher choices.
“All they’re trying to do is avoid the hard decision of coming up with the money to fix Metro,” Evans said. “It’s easy to blame the board if you’re one of the governors, because you don’t want to take responsibility yourself.”
The region-wide sales tax, Evans said, is the only viable solution to keep Metro healthy into the future.
“Using the phrase ‘dedicated funding’ is meaningless without knowing what it is. Where’s it going to come from?” he asked. “I don’t know that these governors even understand the concept. Dedicated funding is important so you can borrow against it.”
Evans predicted a five-member reform board would only contain the same people that are on the current board, as the higher-ups who appoint board members have no reason to nominate anyone other than those who have already shown an interest in the system.
Evans has been a controversial figure in the debate surrounding Metro. Hogan and others, including Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), have called for his resignation, citing his often-inflammatory comments.
He said he is glad his remarks are getting attention.
“I as a resident here, putting aside being an elected official, Chairman of the Board, am appalled, absolutely appalled at the lack of leadership in this region, starting with the two governors,” Evans said. “They can rant all they want. They can call for my resignation all they want. But at the end of the day, the governors and the elected officials in this region have really dropped the ball.”
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