Mar 18, 2007 3 min read

It’s well and good that Fayette County Commissioners Joseph A. Hardy III and Vincent A. Vicites took a jaunt to Washington, D.C., on Hardy’s jet last week to ask for more money for the facility now known as Joseph A. Hardy -Connellsville Airport. They asked U.S. Sen. Bob Casey and U.S. Rep. John Murtha (who like Vicites are Democrats), and U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter and U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster (who like Hardy are Republicans), to corral $7.38 million in federal funds this year and next. But given Hardy’s and Vicites’ close affiliation to the airport authority board, where they’ve teamed up to appoint three members whose votes were instrumental in renaming the facility in honor of Hardy, we hope the airport hasn’t jumped to the head of their list for reasons other than complete merit.

Assessing the meeting, Vicites said while the federal officials were given funding requests for “millions” of dollars for other county projects, the airport was the only project discussed. What, then, of the Mon-Fayette Expressway, for one? Does anyone doubt it to be a project of equal or greater value to the overall community?

Commission Chairwoman Angela M. Zimmerlink turned down an invitation to attend because based on who was accompanying her peers – airport authority Chairman Jesse Wallace and airport consultant Gene Lakin – it appeared to her view that the airport was going to be the only topic on the agenda.

“The airport is a substantial project, but not the only one,” said Zimmerlink, who supports the airport project but sees other federal funding needs as well.

Meeting face-to-face with federal elected officials may yield more results than if that contact didn’t occur. But it’s not like Hardy or Vicites is a stranger to the area’s federal delegation.

It’s hard to imagine that Hardy, in office nearly four years, or Vicites, who’s finishing up his 12th year, lacks the ability to pick up the phone and make these same officials personally aware of their desire for more airport money. And if they haven’t done so as part of an ongoing process, particularly in the case of Specter, Murtha and Shuster, we wonder whether a single visit is suddenly going to get the airport a key to the federal vault.

Larry Smar, a Casey spokesman, says while the federal legislators agreed to work together, “We can’t guarantee anything at this point.”

That’s probably a pretty honest assessment, but it’s a tepid one as well. Nothing in those words has even a hint that a big chunk of federal money is about to roll the airport’s way anytime soon. Factor in the federal government’s own budget deficit problems, and you’ll find another obstacle that must be overcome before more than $7 million gets pried away for the runway extension.

The county has many worthwhile and needed infrastructure improvement projects, in addition to extending a runway so that corporate jets can take off and land at Joseph A. Hardy – Connellsville Airport.

There’s nothing wrong with Hardy and Vicites trying to get federal money for any project. But if they’ve decided to make the airport No. 1 on their list when talking to federal officials, they should tell us why.