Panel: No Pressuring By Lax Head
Posted on: Friday, 9 May 2008, 00:00 CDT
By Art Marroquin
The airport commission has thrown its support behind the executive director of Los Angeles International Airport, saying Gina Marie Lindsey did not improperly steer a pair of contracts toward firms that she previously worked with.
"Any inference of impropriety on her part is not well-founded and (is) destructive," Airport Commissioner Walter Zifkin said.
However, the commission's vote of confidence came Monday as further questions were raised about a series of similar contracts approved under Lindsey's watch while she was in charge of Seattle- Tacoma International Airport.
Lindsey has repeatedly denied allegations that she pressured a team of airport executives into selecting Los Angeles-based DMJM as project manager to oversee more than $5 billion worth of upgrades at LAX.
DMJM's project management team is led by Loren Smith, who previously worked for Pasadena-based Parsons Corp. when he oversaw $3 billion worth of improvements at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. From 1993 to 2004, Lindsey was airport director for the Port of Seattle, which operates Seattle-Tacoma.
Under Lindsey's leadership, the port in 1998 awarded a one-year, $3.5 million project management contract that was extended annually - - without competition -- to more than $127 million, according to an audit released in December by the Washington state auditor. Such a maneuver is a violation of Washington state law, according to the audit.
art.marroquin(at)dailybreeze.com
(c) 2008 Daily News; Los Angeles, Calif.. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
Source: Daily News; Los Angeles, Calif.
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