NEW: Denver airport leader decries “cheap and unfounded partisan attacks” for sinking FAA nomination
“It’s hard not to take it personally when people are making false accusations and taking cheap shots,” he said in an interview with The Denver Post. “However, I am a professional. None of this really surprised me.”
Washington said he is committed to staying in the DIA job in the coming months — at least until the next Denver mayor decides whether to appoint a new chief executive after taking office in July. The military veteran and longtime transit executive in Denver and Los Angeles has overseen DIA since mid-2021. Federal law requires that the FAA administrator “have experience in a field directly related to aviation.” He was an unorthodox choice to lead the FAA, but he wouldn’t have been the first leader with experience mostly outside the aviation industry — a background that supporters argued would be an asset for an agency accused of being too cozy with the companies it regulates.
His nomination has faced unified Republican opposition on the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee. Sen. Ted Cruz, the ranking member, and others questioned his credentials, suggested he couldn’t serve without a congressional waiver because of his military background and highlighted“I have nothing to hide, senator,” Washington told Cruz about the probe, which concerns the awarding of a no-bid contract for a sexual harassment hotline for riders, during his March 1 confirmation hearing.
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