The Salt Lake International Airport's board of directors doesn't like the proposed realignment of congressional districts and wants to air its concerns in a private meeting with Gov. Norm Ban-gerter and legislative leaders.
Airport authority board members haven't scheduled the meeting yet. But Chairman Pat Shea said an informal survey of the board Wednesday showed they want their views known to those making the decision in special session this month."They are concerned about keeping the airport consolidated into a single district," Shea said.
Under the proposed plan, the airport would be in the 1st Congressional District, while its owner - Salt Lake City - would remain in the 2nd Congressional District. And the residential area affected by air traffic noise is in the 3rd Congressional District.
That means federal help with land development would require dealing with two U.S. representatives, instead of one. And a third would be involved in noise abatement issues, Shea said.
The board's concern is that the airport gets the attention it deserves, Shea said. "(The airport) is a higher priority for one congressman" than it would be if the facility's federal needs were split up among three.
"Nobody has focused on this because the motivations (for realigning districts) are political," Shea said.
But it could appear political motives are prompting Shea - a former state Democratic Party chairman - to use the airport as a tool to accomplish party goals.
The Republican controlled Legislature's proposal to carve up Salt Lake City among three congressmen has upset Democrats because the plan realigns Democrat Wayne Owens out of his seat in the House of Representatives.
Currently, the airport is in Owens' 2nd District. Republican legislative leaders recommended that the airport go into the 1st District, which has been held by Rep. Jim Hansen, R-Utah. The leaders want the airport in Hansen's district, even though Hansen has never represented any part of Salt Lake County, because they he supports the C-17 military cargo plane while Owens fiercely opposes is.
McDonnell Douglas, which has an assembly plant at the airport, is the chief contractor on the C-17. Salt Lake City is one of nine communities bidding to get a huge McDonnell Douglas commercial airline assembly plant.
Republican leaders argue that McDonnell Douglas may be less than enthusiastic about locating their commercial airline plant in Salt Lake City if the airport is represented by Owens, a man who opposes a totally separate - but very important - aspect of McDonnell Douglas' business. Thus, the reasoning behind the Republicans' giving Hansen the airport.
Shea is aware of the political undertones of his opposition to the proposed realignment. "That's why we (the airport) are not making a big splash about this. We want to quietly convince the Legislature not to split up the city," he said.