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John Murtha's Magic Touch, Continued

By Doug Bandow on 5.13.09 @ 9:03AM

Far be it for President Barack "new politics" Obama to interfere with Washington's fabled ways.

Reports the Washington Post:

The Federal Aviation Administration, after reviewing concerns about a project at a regional airport named after  Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), has decided to go forward with plans to use $800,000 in stimulus funds to repave the airport's alternate runway.

Late this afternoon, a spokesperson for the Department of Transportation confirmed that the department had completed its review and would be releasing the funds for the Johnstown, Pa., airport project.

DOT spokesperson Jill Zuckman said the review was undertaken after a "senior policy" official at DOT decided he wanted to reconsider the project, but she declined to identify who that was or detail the reason for the reconsideration. She said the runway's concrete hasn't been replaced in many years and is in need of repaving.

"The bottom line is it deserved the money based on the merits," Zuckman said. "It's not an earmark."

The FAA had notified the John P. Murtha-Johnstown airport authority that the project was under review, and authority board members said press reports about other federal funding steered to the quiet regional airport was leading the FAA to reconsider the repaving project.