Karl Peterjohn, the man whom aviation leaders said would be bad for Sedgwick County, has stepped up to protect corporate jets.
This week, Peterjohn asked county staff to draft a letter to Kansas’ Congressional delegation as well as leaders in the U.S. House and Senate asking them to consider the importance of the aviation industry.
Congressman Barney Frank, D-Mass, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, earlier this month tried to block companies from receiving federal bailout funds unless they divested their corporate aircraft fleet or their jet leases.
Kansas leaders quickly rallied against the language in the Troubled Assets Relief Program bill, saying it would hurt the state’s already struggling aviation industry.
Although the measure to ban corporate jets tied to bailouts appears to be dead, Peterjohn joked with his colleagues that as the old saying goes, “If you have to be sick, do it at the capital because more things come back to life there than anywhere else.”
During his campaign to be commissioner, Peterjohn faced public criticism from Jeff Turner, the chief executive of Spirit AeroSystems, and others that he would bad for business. Turner said that companies would be hard-pressed to stay in Wichita if Peterjohn won his bid for Tom Winters’ seat.
Peterjohn now is pushing to help protect the aviation industry.