Natsios: "It's a new day for the Big Dig"
By Steve LeBlanc, Associated Press, 04/12/00
BOSTON - "It's a new day for the Big Dig," Andrew Natsios said this morning, during his first day on the job as chairman of the Turnpike Authority.
He said the new post is "very intimidating."
Yesterday, Cellucci ousted Massachusetts Turnpike Authority Chairman James Kerasiotes, replacing him with Natsios, who previously was the state's Administration and Finance Secretary.
Natsios authored the administration's most recent bailout plan, which relies on borrowing into the year 2050. Auditors criticized that plan, saying it "does not provide a sound source of revenue to cover the identified potential exposures."
Before speaking to the Greater Boston Chamber today, Natsios said he would review contracts and look for new ways of doing things on the project. He also planned to review management and determine who needs to be replaced.
"I hire people who are smarter than me," Natsios said. "My first management principle is that integrity is non-negotiable. I look for people with vision, people who innovate."
Cellucci requested Kerasiotes' resignation on Tuesday, moments after a meeting in Washington with federal highway officials, whose audit accused Big Dig managers of intentionally withholding project costs.
Cellucci said he decided to remove Kerasiotes after receiving the report, which sharply criticized Big Dig officials for telling federal highway officials on Feb. 1 that the project would cost $10.8 billion, and then divulging later the same day it could cost $1.4 billion more.
Now the task of overseeing the agency that oversees the Big Dig -- or, as it is officially known, the Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel project -- falls to Natsios, who once served overseas as a top humanitarian official for the Bush administration.
Kerasiotes had headed the project since 1992, when he was named the state's transportation secretary. Four years later, then-Gov. William Weld also appointed him to head the Turnpike Authority, which overtook control of the project in 1997.
Former Big Dig chief James Kerasiotes.
New Big Dig chief Andrew S. Natsios.
