I agree.

I also recall that Bethune didn't really fish or cut bait on DL McCoy. He couldn't decide on who to promote, Debbie or Fred. I don't think either one liked the other. But he kicked the can on both of them and let them sort of do their thing. It looked like good cop - bad cop when they were both at the helm. No one was really sure who was in charge, or it least that was my opinion.

I liked the idea of a Captain making informed decisions, and helping to advise on routes and route structure and on aircraft capability. I think Debbie and Fred were competent in that regard. However, when one was a tiger shark feeding on their prey, the other was a catfish scavenging at the bottom for leftovers. Leadership out of fear and intimidation. That doesn't garner much loyalty.

As it turns out, the walls started coming down after the merger. When Fred could no longer protect his friends, the friends that were his wall of protection and power started getting peeled away, like peeling the layers of an onion. Fred's power started to be peeled away as well.

Fred also had a habit of hiring and promoting former IACP and ALPA volunteers that were friendly towards his policies. It's all about the relationship..... So anything that happened favorable to flight ops in which there was union support, Fred found a way of making the "pfrends of pfred club" a big bigger, adding more layers to the onion. Fred was pretty smart actually. He used relationships and managed those relationships to protect and enhance his career.

Smizek likely never cared about what Fred was doing. As long as pilots came to work he was happy. He didn't care about the hostile work environment Fred created with his military employees, nor the climate of promoting and protecting bafoons like Starley, et-al. I do think Fred backed off on the heavy-handedness that he saw under DL McCoy. That backfired on Flight ops ultimately due to the constant grievances and law suits, so it wasn't worth Fred's time or effort.