First off, CAL already had first hand experience with Skywest, and they terminated that agreement. They must not have liked what they saw, or maybe they were just too expensive, who knows. As far as determing wether or not keeping these planes was the right decision: only time will tell....but if it hurts RAH in the short term by making them bring a bunch of crapped out, weight restricted canadairs back from the desert, then that could only be good.
I'm sure reverend Bedford was holding weekly prayer sessions, asking for divine intervention so he could get his grubby hands on the 69, but I guess he molested one too many kids at church camp this year......oh well......