Many bridges to cross

Here's a simple fact of life in state government: Big ideas usually require big money.

Governor Deval Patrick has lots of big ideas, and there's nothing wrong with that. It's the big-money part of the equation that's a problem. His casino plan, which promised to generate many millions every year for the state, was a spectacular bust.

Now the governor wants to spend $3.8 billion fixing bridges with an elaborate big-money finance plan. Among its features: refinancing hundreds of millions of dollars in existing state debt by extending the payback period for another decade. It would also allow the state to raise its borrowing ceiling in the near term. All this would lower the state's debt payments and avoid an immediate money squeeze but leave bigger bills and less borrowing ability for the future.

State Treasurer Tim Cahill didn't waste any time lining up as a skeptic of the bridge plan. A treasurer with greater ambitions would logically gravitate to the role of fiscal watchdog in an era of big ideas and serious budget pressure. There's sure to be lots to bark about.

Cahill came up with his own scaled-down plan to finance bridge repairs across the state in a different fashion. He presented it yesterday in meetings with the governor, as well as with House and Senate leaders.

The Cahill plan would raise $2 billion for bridge work, a little more than half the $3.8 billion suggested by the governor. Cahill doesn't estimate how many bridges that kind of money would fix, but just draws a line when it comes to available money.

The treasurer wants to pay for the work with something called grant anticipation notes. That's borrowed money repaid with a part of the state gas tax and future federal highway funds. Cahill's pitch: The notes will produce less debt to be repaid over fewer years, dedicate gas and highway money to appropriate uses, and leave the state's general obligation bond status unaffected.

Everybody agrees it's important to finally repair our bridges in serious need of attention. It can make your head spin trying to figure out the best way to pay the bill.

But two interesting things have happened so far. The governor sounded like he was more willing to listen to other points of view, and Cahill wasted no time leaning against the latest big-money plan. That's a position that may serve him, and us, well over the next couple of years.

Highfields Capital Management, a Boston investment firm that isn't shy about expressing business opinions privately and sometimes in public, apparently got the attention of executives running the country's largest title insurance company.

First American Corp. of Santa Ana, Calif., said yesterday that it had agreed to add five people picked by Highfields to the company's board. Two sitting directors will step down, leaving the board with 17 total members when the Highfields five join.

No one from Highfields itself will join the First American board. Among the newcomers are the former chief financial officer of Station Casinos Inc. and the former chief investment officer of XL Capital. Most interesting, the group of five new directors also includes Patrick F. Stone, the former president of First American's top competitor, Fidelity National Financial Inc.

Highfields is the largest shareholder of First American, owning about 9.6 percent of the company's stock. (The Baupost Group, a Highfields neighbor near Copley Square, owns about 2.4 percent.)

First American reported a larger than expected quarterly loss of $67 million for its latest fiscal quarter. The company's stock has slumped by about 26 percent over the last year. A plan to split its insurance and financial data units into separate companies is in the works.

Highfields principals Jon Jacobson and Richard Grubman said encouraging things in prepared comments about the First American board additions yesterday.

So did chief executive Parker Kennedy. "We welcome these new directors and look forward to capitalizing on the breadth of experience they will bring," he said. You think?

The Red Herring
Speaking of public comments, the chief executive at Power Financial Corp. of Montreal was saying supportive things about managers at Putnam Investments yesterday. Jeffrey Orr said a turnaround at the investment firm owned by Power Financial was "on track." He said Power remained "very pleased" it purchased Putnam, which has struggled with declining assets under management.

Steven Syre is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at syre@globe.com.