E-mails don't fly: Nomination for Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood airport chief withdrawn

Jun. 23--The search for someone to run Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport abruptly returned to square one Friday after Broward County officials learned the finalist for the job had written e-mails criticizing them and their airport operations.

County Administrator Pam Brangaccio withdrew her nomination of Richard Walsh, the former director of the airport in Palm Springs, Calif., after she confronted him with published e-mails and he walked out of her office.

Walsh was her third choice for the job following a nine-month nationwide search.

The botched search is adding fuel to growing concern among commissioners about oversight of the busy airport, particularly in light of expansion plans. Some of the commissioners are demanding an investigation into charges Walsh raised in his e-mails that the airport has a $13 million deficit and no solution on how to pay for the multibillion-dollar expansion.

Brangaccio vowed late Friday to rebuild the airport's management and ensure there is the depth of leadership that commissioners want. She said she would talk to commissioners at their Tuesday meeting on how now to find a new director.

"I was disappointed and disgusted and upset anyone would impugn Broward County as he did," Brangaccio said.

Walsh could not be reached for comment despite several calls to his cellular phone.

His nomination was already in trouble when the e-mails he had written to friends from his Palm Springs city account were posted on the Miami Herald's Web site. A committee of commissioners had interviewed him Thursday, and some left that meeting doubting whether he had the experience necessary.

Walsh served as Palm Springs' aviation director from 2004 until April and previously was an administrator at airports in San Francisco and Pittsburgh.

In his e-mails, Walsh used expletives to say he considered Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International to be "big-time" mismanaged and added he was being hired to "clean house." He said Brangaccio and Interim Aviation Director Robert Bielek were "clueless" and that Brangaccio "is not long for this world."

The airport has been a growing source of concern for commissioners this year even as they approved construction of a second major runway.

In May, they discovered half of $247 million they borrowed three years ago for construction remains unspent. Earlier this week, commissioners questioned memos in which key consultants said they were told not to attend the meeting on building the runway and that one consultant had not been paid since December and was owed almost $1 million.

Commissioners Ilene Lieberman and John Rodstrom said they want the county auditor to investigate Walsh's charges.

"This man is an outsider looking in and it verifies everything that I've been saying about the airport," Rodstrom said. "You might not like the context or how he said it, but this is a guy with some knowledge about airports."

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