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The Washington Post reports that Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell’s administration is holding up $1.5 billion funding plan for Metro unless the Commonwealth gets its way. What is it Virginia wants? Control over two of the four Virginia seats on Metro’s board.

Now, before anyone cries “extortion,” it has be said: Virginia has something of a point here. Currently, Metro’s board of directors includes 14 members. Those seats are apportioned according to contributions to Metro funding; so, for example, two seats are appointed by the Obama administration, which kicks in $150 million for the first year of the 10-year, $1.5 billion funding plan. For the Commonwealth’s matching funds, Northern Virginia appoints four locally elected members to the board. Virginia would like to take two of those seats and make them appointments available to statewide candidates.

The Post writes:

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, [Virginia Transportation Secretary Sean T.] 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.

It’s the state of Virginia’s money, but the state itself doesn’t have any say on how the Metro is run.