As reported in last week’s Warwick Beacon, Warwick residents and officials seeking to gain some more insight and accountability into the goings on of the Rhode Island Airport Corporation (RIAC) seem to have a bumpier runway ahead of them than previously thought.

Although Governor Dan McKee allegedly told Mayor Frank Picozzi in a previous meeting that he was supportive of letting him appoint one Warwick representative to the seven-member RIAC board, and overall supportive of the proposed legislation that is now before the General Assembly, it appears the Governor has had a sudden change of heart, and now has tried to join RIAC in their opposition of the bill, and in opposition to the changes it proposes.

We find this turn of events frustrating, confusing, and more than a little odd, considering the degree of what is being asked for here.

Warwick representatives, including its mayor, and elected leaders at the House and Senate levels of the legislature — heeding requests from constituents who have for years been concerned about and affected by the operations of RIAC and the airport, which is nestled among multiple neighborhoods in Warwick and whose growth has displaced Warwick residents in the recent past — are simply asking for one person with a vested interest in Warwick and its citizens, not the airport’s economical wellbeing, to have a seat at the table.

If those opposed, including RIAC and now, apparently, Governor McKee, thought about this issue honestly for five minutes, even from a purely PR perspective, it would be an obvious win-win to allow such an appointment to happen.

One person can do nothing to sway the opinion of a seven-member board. One person cannot upend or cause disruption to any kind of significant degree worthy of making this much of a fuss, and angering so many people. Even the argument used by the Governor’s Office, that it somehow violates the state Constitution, falls apart when put under the smallest amount of legal scrutiny.

Considering the governor’s sudden about face on this measure, and the halfhearted excuse that was made to justify it, this seems to us to be either a sudden power move by the governor, or he was contacted by someone who has a vested interest in maintaining the status quo, and convinced that he should want to maintain it as well.

Outside of that, we simply can’t understand why it’s such a big deal to allow one local representative to sit on a board that oversees one of the biggest and most impactful entities within a municipality. In fact, to not allow this seems to be a blatant disregard for the wellbeing of that municipality.