By Lisa Rein and Anita Kumar
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, June 17, 2010; B01

Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell's administration threatened Wednesday to unravel a $1.5 billion federal funding plan for Metro unless the state gets two members on the agency's board of directors.

The governor's transportation chief said McDonnell (R) wants more accountability for an investment that would cover more than half of Virginia's contribution to Metro. The state and local jurisdictions both provide funding.

The federal government is providing the money for capital needs during the next 10 years but requires the District, Maryland and Virginia to match it.

"We are now the largest contributor from this side of the Potomac, and we don't have a seat at the table," said Virginia Transportation Secretary Sean T. Connaughton, explaining his push to take two of the four Northern Virginia seats away from the jurisdictions that appoint them. The state is "extremely concerned about management, operation and safety" in the wake of last year's fatal Red Line crash.

If Virginia reneges on the pledge to match the $150 million from the federal government, the repercussions would be immediate, Metro officials said: An $886 million contract for 428 rail cars that the federal program will fund will be in jeopardy.

The first $12.5 million of Virginia's share is due July 1. "I personally don't plan [on paying it] until we have an agreement," said William Pittard, chief financial officer of the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation.

The Metro board has 14 members, including two appointed by the Obama administration as a condition of the funding contribution. The federal government plans to name two more members. The four Northern Virginia members are the only ones from Virginia.

State appointees would have more expertise than the current board members from Northern Virginia, who as local elected officials can devote only a portion of their time to their Metro duties, Connaughton said.

"We have part-time local government officials showing up part time on the [Metro] board overseeing a multibillion-dollar transit system," he said. The state would choose one voting member and one alternate.

Connaughton said McDonnell would hire a transit expert to sit on the Metro board and to work on other transportation issues.

Metro board member Jim Graham, a D.C. Council member (D-Ward 1), said that if Virginia refuses to pay, the District and Maryland would be obligated to withhold their payments.

"This is very serious mischief," he said. "It's a serious breakdown of regional cooperation, which has been the essential element of Metro."

Some members of the all-Democrat Metro board said that the change, first raised by McDonnell last month on WTOP Radio, would be a setback for riders because local elected officials are more supportive of the region's transit needs than an appointee who might not live in Northern Virginia. They say McDonnell would be irresponsible to tie safety funding to his effort to alter the makeup of the board, a complex change that would require amending the agency's founding documents.

"It's startling," said Catherine M. Hudgins, a Virginia board member and Fairfax County supervisor (D-Hunter Mill). "I hope there will be a sense of sanity about this. We did not spend a lot of time lobbying our federal legislators to provide funding that was to be arbitrary." Hudgins is chairman of the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission, which appoints nominees from the local jurisdictions served by Metro.

Said Mortimer L. Downey, a federally appointed board member: "We don't want to be talking about shuffling the deck chairs while the Titanic is sinking."

Congress passed the $1.5 billion, 10-year funding plan in 2008, and President Obama signed a spending bill this year that includes the first $150 million. The money has to be authorized each year, and the administration included an allocation in the next federal budget. Priorities for the first round of funding include safety upgrades as well as rail cars to replace the oldest ones in the system, which date to the 1970s.

The federal money is a linchpin of a $5 billion, six-year capital plan the Metro board is scheduled to approve next week.

During his campaign last fall, McDonnell appealed to Northern Virginia voters with a promise to improve the region's transportation network. His hardball play could win over constituents concerned about the troubled transit system. It could also turn off voters who think he is playing politics with Metro's safety needs.

"The very thought that anyone would second-guess paying their share is criminal," said Metro board member Jeff C. McKay, a Fairfax County supervisor (D-Lee). "It's all political. Does the governor really want to be the one who reneges when Metro's capital needs are so great?"

Responded Connaughton: "When the people were killed a year ago, it didn't matter what political makeup they were." Nine people were killed and 80 injured in a Red Line crash in June 2009.

Metro officials said they think Virginia's pledge was affirmed by the General Assembly. But current and past officials, including Connaughton, said the state never passed a bill promising to provide the money. The state appropriated the money in its budget.