Thursday, 4:30 PM
Romney swears in new Turnpike head
Governor Mitt Romney swore-in Secretary of Transportation John Cogliano this morning as acting chairman of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, the first of several steps to bring the agency in-line with Romney's goal of making it a more transparent agency.
"There's a new era here," Cogliano said today. "We are going to have for the first time accountability, transparency and reform."
The board is expected to accept an offer of free services by the executive search agency Korn/Ferry International to conduct a search for a new Turnpike chief executive officer. The board is also expected to repeal provisions that had given the Turnpike chairman increased power over the board's agenda.
The board is also set to approve an anti-patronage policy requiring anyone seeking a job at the Turnpike to disclose the names of any family member and anyone related to any family member who already works for the Turnpike, works for the state, or is an elected official.
"More important than the substantive decisions you will make during your tenure on this board will be your insistence that this agency rebuff patronage, self-interest and favoritism always in favor of the public interest," Romney told the board.
"Today the Turnpike becomes the road to reform," he said.
Romney now largely takes control of the Turnpike Authority, something he pledged to do during his 2002 campaign for governor. The two agencies were to merge next year, but Romney succeeded in replacing former Chairman Matthew Amorello in the wake of last month's fatal accident that killed 39-year-old Milena Del Valle when ceiling panels fell from a Big Dig tunnel and crushed her car.
Romney seized on the accident, saying Amorello had mismanaged the Big Dig. As chairman of the independent authority, Amorello was out of Romney's direct political control. Amorello resigned after a court ruling that Romney could hold a closed-door personnel hearing on whether to fire him.
This afternoon, Romney is also scheduled to talk about a "stem to stern" review of all Big Dig tunnels in light of the July 10 ceiling collapse in the I-90 connector tunnel. He then plans to fly to Iowa for a political fundraiser.
Cogliano is expected to manage the day-to-day operations at the Turnpike until a full-time manager is chosen.
Material from the Associated Press was used in this report
