but rather because he quickly worked out what a sh*t show he'd inherited and that sacrificing his sanity and reputation weren't worth the pieces of silver.
That's very disappointing, if true. If the CEO can't fix it, and the board and senate and minister can't fix it, who the hell can?
It would have been a great opportunity for someone with some direct aviation knowledge to open the can of worms, suss out who the real roadblocks were/are, and make a few big decisions. I would have thought that would be an excellent reputation enhancer!. Much better to be known as the bloke who saw a big problem in a government agency and got stuck into it, rather than put the rock back down and walked away.
Possibly not that simple, but future job prospects or financial worries wouldn't have been an issue surely.