FAA right to halt theft of airport funds

Editorial Focus: Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan's attempt to shoplift airport funds for the city's general coffers got shot down by the FAA this week. Money generated at airports must be used to improve aviation facilities and operations.

"Until such time as this amount is returned, the Federal Aviation Administration is suspending for 180 days, or until further notice, all payments of funds on FAA grants for projects at Los Angeles International Airport, Ontario, Palmdale and Van Nuys airports, and considers the city ineligible to apply for new FAA grants," said an FAA report released Monday.

About $60 million in federal grants are pending.

Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, who was elected four years ago and now is running for re-election in April, has been trying to purloin airport funds for the city's general coffers during his first term in office.

The FAA ruling is the latest financial jab in a political jousting match.

The city's deputy controller, Tim Lynch, said Monday that an appeal will be filed.

"We think the decision is flawed," Lynch said. "We intend to carefully review the report and seek an appeal." The city can request a hearing on the matter within 20 days, said a U.S. Department of Transportation spokesman.

The latest battle over the funds has been brewing since last fall when the airports department transferred $31.1 million into the city's general fund.

The move came after the city issued an audit saying the department owed Los Angeles up to $350 million for past contributions to airport development between 1950 and 1972. The FAA immediately questioned the transfer.

Federal government officials said those development fees were settled in the form of a $5.2 million one-time payment to the city in 1975.

Controller Rick Tuttle, however, accepted the $31.1 million transfer into city coffers in September 1996, just days before President Bill Clinton signed a law blocking reimbursement of airport debts older than six years.

The Department of Airports is not a fund-raising branch of the city of Los Angeles. Its mission is to provide the best facilities and the smoothest operation for the aviation industry, passengers and cargo.

The FAA has the same mission. The idea that a well-managed airport department that is able to keep itself financially solvent should be handing over its money to the city's general fund is patently ridiculous.

If Riordan and his greedy cohorts siphon off airport monies, there is little hope that Palmdale Regional Airport can ever achieve its destiny.

The FAA is protecting the interests of the flying public, and that means just about everybody.