LOS ANGELES, April 6, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- Theodore Stein, Jr., has announced his resignation as president of the Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners. Attached are his letter of resignation addressed to Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn, a statement, and a statement from Mayor Hahn:
April 6, 2004 The Honorable James K. Hahn Mayor City of Los Angeles City Hall Los Angeles, California Dear Mayor Hahn: As we discussed on the telephone, I have made the difficult personal decision to resign from the Board of Airport Commissioners, effective immediately. I am attaching to this letter a statement I will release to the news media in connection with my resignation. I have been committed to helping you and Los Angeles World Airports develop a master plan that would ensure the safety and security of LAX in a post-9/11 world. By all objective accounts, the plan we are bringing to completion fulfills your vision to make LAX the safety and security model for all U.S. airports in the 21st century. It is also consistent with your goal of making Los Angeles the safest big city in America. Getting the master plan implemented with all deliberate speed, and despite political opposition, has been my top priority. It is now apparent to me that the distractions associated with the totally unfounded and malicious "pay to play" allegations against me are interfering with the important work of Los Angeles World Airports and complicating speedy approval of the LAX Master Plan. I want to thank you for providing me with the opportunity to serve the citizens of Los Angeles as President of the Commission. I believe deeply in public service, having started my career as a deputy district attorney and having served as an unpaid, volunteer commissioner for more than 12 years of my life, the past 2 1/2 years as president of the Airport Commission. I am grateful and proud to have been part of a team that set the standard for dealing with the post 9/11 world. LAX was the first large US airport to fully comply with the new federal security regulations. During this period, LAX earned the highest S&P rating ever bestowed on an airport. I also want to express my appreciation to my fellow Commissioners and all the hard-working members of the airport staff. I wish you, the airport department, and the City the very best. Sincerely, /signed/ Theodore Stein, Jr. Statement of Ted Stein, President, Board of Airport Commissioners April 6, 2004 For the past six months, I have been subjected to an array of false, defamatory, and unsubstantiated accusations suggesting that I engaged in, or orchestrated, a plan to force URS (an airport contractor) to make political contributions in order to continue doing business at Los Angeles International Airport--what has been dubbed "pay to play." While the URS allegations seem to change with each new "unnamed source" or politically motivated leak, they all have one thing in common: they are patently false. I have never solicited political contributions from anyone at URS. I never told anyone at URS that the Company would have to make political contributions if they wanted to do business with the City. I never told anyone at URS that they would be penalized for failing to make a political contribution (and the record plainly reveals that URS continued to receive work from the Airport Commission nonetheless). And I never instructed any third party to take or withhold any action based upon whether URS made or did not make a political contribution. I have not spoken until now in the hope that these false and mean-spirited rumors would die of their own politically motivated weight. But I cannot allow these defamatory and unsubstantiated allegations to go unchallenged as they have impugned not only my reputation, but the reputations of the entire Board of Airport Commissioners and the hard-working professional staff of the Los Angeles World Airport. It is offensive that "unnamed" individuals are suggesting that the dedicated men and women of the LAWA staff have compromised their independent judgment and integrity to participate in this so-called "pay to play" scheme. It simply did not happen. Decisions regarding the continued employment of URS have been based solely on whether the particular contract was, and is, in the best interest of the airport and the City. The record is there for anyone to review, and that includes the fact that URS has received approximately $23 million from the City to date. It is also deeply troubling that URS officials, or those representing them, are reportedly making false statements about me and the Commission staff, while at the same time categorically denying these very same statements to others. This irresponsible and reckless practice has clearly been designed to harm anyone who has shown a willingness to take on entrenched contractors looking to continue feeding at the public trough. This practice is wrong and I intend to explore every means available to hold URS and others accountable. In addition to the false URS allegations, the Airport Commission and LAWA staff have been unfairly maligned by a fundamentally flawed report issued by the City Controller that ignores uncontroverted facts and, instead, seeks to cast doubt through unsubstantiated innuendo, speculation and rumor. Perhaps more troubling than the poorly researched report itself are the Controller's refusal to correct the errors in the report and her unwillingness to admit that she, and her auditors, made fundamental mistakes. The tactics employed by the Controller -- including publicly implying that the Commission may have engaged in wrongdoing yet refusing to produce any evidence to support her claim -- represent the worst traits in government. A public official should not be permitted to ignore research material, timelines, emails and other information simply because it exposes flaws in her work product and demonstrates that her attacks were unwarranted. But that is precisely what Controller Chick did here. I believe deeply in public service, having started my career as a deputy district attorney and having served as an unpaid, volunteer commissioner for more than 12 years of my life. For the past 2 1/2 years, I have been committed to helping the Airport Commission develop a master plan that would ensure the safety and security of LAX in a post-9/11 world. By all objective accounts, the plan that the Commission and the Mayor are bringing to completion -- which will guard against car bomb and other attacks by directing all traffic to a remote drop-off area -- is the right plan to protect the millions of people travelling in and out of Los Angeles each year and the thousands of people who work at LAX each day. Getting the master plan implemented with all deliberate speed, and despite political opposition, has been my top priority. It is now apparent to me that the distractions associated with these false allegations are interfering with the important work of LAWA. For that reason, I have notified the mayor that, effective immediately, I will step down as President and a member of the Airport Commission. I want to thank the Mayor for providing me with the opportunity to serve the citizens of Los Angeles as President of the Commission. I am grateful and proud to have been part of a team that set the standard for dealing with the post-9/11 world. LAX was the first large US airport to comply fully with the new federal security regulations. During this period, LAX earned the highest S&P rating ever bestowed on an airport. I also want to express my appreciation to my fellow Commissioners and all the hard-working members of the airport staff. They are a dedicated and remarkable group of men and women, and it has been a privilege and an honor to have worked with each of them. STATEMENT FROM MAYOR HAHN ON RESIGNATION OF TED STEIN Ted Stein has a long history of service to the people of Los Angeles and I appreciate his dedication to our city. In the last two and a half years, he has worked tirelessly to increase service to Ontario Airport and enhance safety and security at LAX in the post-September 11 environment. Ted has a long history of working to make Los Angeles a better place, including service as a deputy district attorney and 12 years as a city commissioner, under the administrations of Mayor Bradley, Mayor Riordan and myself. During Ted's tenure at the Airport Commission, LAX was the nation's first leading airport to fully comply with new post-September 11 federal security requirements and earned the highest S&P rating of any airport in history. I thank Ted for his service and will continue to value his friendship.