Au revoir to Charlie Isdell who was airport director in Philadelphia. Charlie did an excellent job in a very tough place and was well-regarded. He earned the plaudits sent his way by the mayor of Philadelphia.
Charlie Isdell
I spoke to Charlie last week and he wants to become a teacher. He will spend the next few months on his student teaching before pursuing his new career. As someone who wants to teach later in life myself, I will probably be back in touch with him down the road a bit. Good luck to you Charlie.
Farewell to Larry Nagin who died this past week. I knew him as general counsel at United. He worked for a number of other great names in aviation such as Flying Tiger. He was also counsel to the airports in Los Angeles during the turbulent 70′s. We could use his perspective right now. RIP.
And good riddance to fomer Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. I was overseas when news of his arrest broke and it is hard the describe the embarrassment that comes with that.
I once worked for someone I think was among the best governors the country ever had and got to know and observe many of the nations governors during the golden period of governors in the 80′s including then-Illinois Governor Jim Thompson. A guy like Blaegojevich doesn’t belong in the same room with any of them.
I also follow Illinois politics closely as I once lived there, got married there, and all my in-laws live there. I have been around such people as former Senator Chuck Percy, former Congresman Bob Michel and his successor current Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. The late Senator Paul Simon is one of my real political heroes and someone who helped me directly when I came to Washington.
I love history and have read of such giants as Senators Paul Douglas and Everett Dirksen. And, of course, the greatest of all, Abraham Lincoln.
Illinois has some problems to work out, but this guy obviously has no respect for his office, his state or the people he represents. The “press conference” he gave after his conviction was disgusting. Good riddance . . . and get a haircut!
