Feb 22, 2007 3 min read

How many times have you polled 100 people about anything and found a unanimous consensus? The chairman of the Fayette County Airport Authority, Jesse Wallace, says he’s talked to 100 to 200 people and “100 percent” of them agree that it’s a good idea to rename Connellsville Airport in honor of county Commissioner Joseph A. Hardy III. The only way we see that as possible is if the people Wallace talked to are members of his own family or the families of fellow board members Todd Radolec, Mark “Kingfish” Wasler, Terry Shallenberger and Myrna Giannopolous. Wallace’s focus group obviously didn’t include anyone who attended Tuesday night’s airport board meeting, where name-change opponents chewed up an hour of public comment time.

In the end, the five-member board, which voted in early January to change the name to Joseph A. Hardy Regional Airport, changed the name again – this time to Joseph A. Hardy Connellsville Airport. In so doing, the board and its solicitor Mark Rowan basically ignored the validity of a 1936 agreement that stipulates the name could not be changed from Connellsville Airport. Rowan’s reason? A supposed legal technicality, which was that the 1936 agreement was never recorded or “preserved” in the 1966 deed that transferred ownership to the county.

Rowan knows all too well that this means anyone who wants to fight the name change will have to go through the time and expense of taking it to court, which isn’t likely to happen unless someone has deep pockets. The cash-strapped city of Connellsville isn’t likely to foot that bill, not with other pressing financial concerns.

What we’re interested in hearing is Rowan’s ruling on whether three airport board members who have direct business ties to Hardy – Radolec, Wasler and Shallenberger – have a conflict of interest in voting on anything involving Hardy. Disc jockey Wasler, Shallenberger’s construction company and the engineering firm that employs Radolec have all been enriched by work at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort & Spa, which makes their votes on this matter quite suspect.

Consider that Hardy, as a county commissioner, voted to put those three on the airport board, and the tie-ins become even stronger. We view this no differently than if those same board members voted to award a contract to a Hardy enterprise, or to hire a Hardy employee at the airport. If that were to happen, questions about their business associations would surely – and justifiably – be raised.

We believe those three should recuse themselves from any votes dealing with Hardy. And if that’s impossible, they should resign from the board. The connections are too strong and deep to ignore.