How an Act of Political Courage Created the Airport Authority

It was an act of bipartisanship rarely seen these days.

In the late 1990s, against considerable odds and conventional political wisdom, Bob Cranmer, a Republican Allegheny County Commissioner, teamed up with a Democratic colleague, Mike Dawida, to create the Allegheny County Airport Authority.

“What Cranmer did was very important, and we would not have an authority if he had not done that,’’ said Jeffrey Letwin, the lawyer hired to shepherd the creation of the ACAA who now serves as its solicitor. “He was always someone who wanted to do the right thing and he knew in many instances it would cause the end of his political career.”

At the time, Cranmer and the other commissioners were in their last terms. A new form of county government, led by a single executive, would take office in 2000. In the race for County Executive, Democrat Cyril Wecht opposed the creation of an airport authority. Republican candidate Jim Roddey favored it.

On Sept. 16, 1999, the county commissioners approved the transfer of two airports to the airport authority in a 2-1 vote, with Republican Commissioner Larry Dunn the lone no. The deal still needed the approval of the Federal Aviation Administration, and the agency was in no hurry to make a ruling. The FAA tends to defer to local lea