Senators ask US to disclose if FAA administrator sold stake in airline

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON, Feb 5 (Reuters) – Three Democratic U.S. senators on Thursday asked the Transportation Department if the head of the Federal Aviation Administration has sold his shares in Republic Airways and whether he will be forced to give up any gains for not selling the stake before a required divestment date.

In December, FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said he had not divested his shares in Republic but that he would continue to recuse himself from issues that could impact the airline’s finances as he works to sell his holdings. Senator Maria Cantwell said Bedford, who previously served as CEO of Republic, had been in violation of his ethics agreement after he had not completed the sale of the shares despite earlier agreeing to divest his holdings by October 7.

Cantwell, joined by senators Tammy Duckworth and Ed Markey, said in a letter seen by Reuters that the DOT should “initiate appropriate disciplinary or corrective actions to address Mr. Bedford’s noncompliance.” They added: “A lack of accountability in this case would send the message that senior DOT officials can disregard their ethical commitments without consequence.”

The FAA said it would respond directly to the senators. DOT did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The letter also said that Bedford “may receive a windfall totaling millions of dollars by holding onto his Republic shares months past his deadline to divest.”

At the time of his confirmation, Bedford reported holding stock in Republic worth between $6 million and $30 million. On November 25, Republic completed a merger with Mesa Air Group. Bedford told the Senate Commerce Committee in December that he believed he had followed the rules when he sought an extension of the deadline and relied on advice from career ethics officials.

“We are waiting for the new shares to be reissued at which point they will be divested as soon as reasonably,” Bedford said in December.

Cantwell earlier released a December 8 letter from the Office of Government Ethics that said Bedford had not complied with the ethics agreement and had sought an amendment to extend the divestiture timeframe. OGE said the request did not meet the standard for granting an amendment. 

(Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Matthew Lewis)