Who Helped Pick Turkia Mullin for Metro Airport CEO?

ROMULUS, Mich. (WJBK) - The airport authority board now has to find a new chief, and this time let's hope they don't bungle it by bending over backwards to pick a candidate with close ties to the county power players and its CEO Robert Ficano.

Just three months ago, Turkia Mullin was a finalist for the airport CEO job. She was hand picked by the Southfield headhunting firm Trustinus, for which it was paid $50,000.

It's president, John Krasula, didn't have to search far. He was also an investor and director of the Pinnacle race course, a project in which the county through Mullin's development department kicked in $40-million of your money. The track went bust last year.

The three members of the airport board who led the search for the new CEO -- Suzanne Hall, Samuel Nouhan and Charlie Williams -- whittled Krasula's list down to six. All three of those members have financial dealings with the county. They selected Mullin, although no background check on her was provided to them.

"All this information has come out since the search committee convened," said Wayne County Airport Authority Board Member Bernard Parker.

Then, the board as a whole unanimously selected Mullin. The process took just two weeks, and at least two board members told me they never read her contract.

I asked Parker whether he regretted not having read a contract for such a large amount.

"I never received it, so could not have read it," he told me.

"Whoever they settle on, everybody should read the contract," said Bill Shea.

He covers Metro Airport for Crain's Detroit Business.

"A lot of people are looking at this and saying, well, this was a done deal before it ever began," Shay remarked. "They knew who they wanted from the start, and they gamed the system to get there."

So, whenever and however a new airport chief is selected, this time we'll be watching because Mullin made $250,000 a year with severance as director of Metro Airport. The head of the Federal Aviation Administration makes $180,000 and gets no severance at all. It's your money.