FAA chief appears to still hold airline stock, Cantwell says

The head of the US Federal Aviation Administration, Bryan Bedford, appears to have not divested stock in the airline he ran before joining the Trump administration, according to the top Democrat on the Senate committee overseeing the agency.

Senator Maria Cantwell, a Democrat from Washington state, sent a letter to Bedford Tuesday inquiring about his holdings in Republic Airways Holdings Inc., where he worked as president for more than 25 years.

“It appears you continue to retain significant equity in this conflicting asset months past the deadline set to fully divest from Republic, which constitutes a clear violation of your ethics agreement,” Cantwell said. “This is unacceptable and demands a full accounting.”

Republic completed a merger with Mesa Air Group Inc. in November that could have increased the value of shares Bedford was supposed to divest prior to that date, she said. Following his nomination for the FAA job, Bedford disclosed he held between $6 million and $30 million in Republic stock.

A spokesperson for the FAA said the agency would respond directly to Cantwell and didn’t comment beyond that.

Under the ethics agreement Bedford signed in June, he agreed to divest his equity in Republic no later than 90 days after his July 9 confirmation. But on the regulatory deadline of Oct. 7, he submitted a filing in which he said he hadn’t yet divested his holdings in the company.

“I am in the process of divesting that stock and will remain recused from matters affecting the financial interests of the company until after I have divested it,” Bedford said at the time, adding that he had sought an amendment to his ethics agreement to give him more time to comply.

The Office of Government Ethics, an independent agency within the executive branch, informed Senator Ted Cruz, the Republican chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, in a letter Monday that the amendment request “did not meet the standard” for approval.

Cantwell released the OGE letter Tuesday. A spokesperson for Cruz declined to comment.

In its letter, OGE said it still hasn’t been informed that Bedford has divested and that it has “advised Department of Transportation’s ethics officials to emphasize to Mr. Bedford that it is his personal responsibility to avoid taking any action that could create a real or apparent conflict of interest with his holdings.”

OGE does not respond to questions about specific individuals, a spokesperson said in an email.