Tim Kaine's State Of The Union Guest Is Manassas Man, NATCA Head

MANASSAS, VA—A local man who happens to be president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, Paul Rinaldi of Manassas, will be the guest of U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-Virginia) at Tueday's State of the Union address. Kaine's office made the announcement Monday ahead of President Donald Trump's speech.

"As a leader of thousands of hardworking air traffic controllers, Paul knows the pain that federal workers endured during the shutdown and the threat to public safety it posed," Kaine said in a statement. "I hope his presence on Tuesday serves as a reminder that we need to ensure Americans don’t go through that again."

During the shutdown, which lasted more than month, the plight of air traffic controllers who reported to work without being paid and the ensuing impact on flyers played a major role in the government re-opening. Many called in sick, causing dangerous work shortages.

At one point NATCA, the Air Line Pilots Association, International, and the Association of Flight Attendants released a statement, as reported by NBC News, that said in part: "In our risk averse industry, we cannot even calculate the level of risk currently at play, nor predict the point at which the entire system will break. It is unprecedented."

About the invitation, Rinaldi said the following: "On behalf of the 20,000 men and women aviation safety professionals represented by the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), I am tremendously honored to accompany Senator Kaine to the State of the Union address on Tuesday night. Senator Kaine supported NATCA’s membership before the recent government shutdown and was a big source of support and inspiration during the shutdown when he spoke out against using our members and their salaries as bargaining chips in the political debate that took place."

Photo: Tim Kaine's Senate office