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Another RUMBO EXCLUSIVE
Mike Miller to be Named
Permanent Airport Director
(bank on it)
Published
08/16/01
When Andover Attorney and Lawrence
resident Mike Miller was named as the acting Airport
Director many of said this was just another friend of
Mayor Dowling getting a job because of his political
support for the Mayor. Speculation ran rampant that
Miller was being primed for the position permanently,
especially when the salary was substantially
increased before he even started the job. Now it
seems like our speculation was right! But,
circumstances over the last year have proven very
interesting as Mayor Dowling and Attorney Miller have
been politically estranged over the issue of selling
the airport land to developers.
Dowling wants to sell the land to developer friends
of hers (big surprise there, huh?) while Miller wants
to lease the land so that Lawrence and North Andover
will maintain control and benefit every year from
leasing fees. Dowling is furious with Miller for not
going along with her on the sale proposal and is
frantically trying to get the sale agreements
finalized before she abandons the city to take her
new judicial appointment.
Sources at the airport say that Miller is no
political hack as he has stood up to the mayor on the
sale vs. lease issue and sparked the mayor’s ire
because a lease agreement would benefit the city much
more financially than a one time sale of the land.
"Mike is a lawyer and we really need to have
someone with experience in the law, negotiating
contracts and reading all the fine print so that the
people of Lawrence don’t get taken advantage of
again," said one airport commissioner.
Miler said emphatically when he took the job that he
would not stay on as the permanent commissioner and
was looking forward to returning to his Andover Law
practice. Now, commissioners who were just as
emphatic about Millers temporary position are saying
they want him to stay on and advocate for the airport
despite the mayors political attacks against him. Our
sources at the airport say that if the vote were to
happen today Attorney Miller would have a unanimous
support from the board to stay.
"We have to find a way to convince him to stay,
I know he really wants to return to practicing law
but Lawrence really needs Mike and I’m going to
do everything I can to convince him to stay,"
another airport source said. Attorney Miller could
not be reached for comment.
If Mike Miller does decide to accept the job, as I
hope he will, his expertise in the law and his
overwhelming acceptance from the aviation officials I
spoke with, will mean Lawrence will finally have a
strong advocate for the City of Lawrence and the
airport. People who have been expecting to see Miller
ascend to the position permanently as the result of
his political alliance with Mayor Dowling will be
happy to know that this is not the case and If he
ascends to the position it will be despite his
outraging the mayor for not being her political
puppet and giving her everything she wants.
To me, that’s poetic justice.
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