Patrick defends comments made by Turnpike head
Governor Deval Patrick yesterday found himself in the awkward position of having to defend comments made by his new interim executive director of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, who told a Globe reporter earlier this week that Turnpike employees who oversaw construction of the Big Dig "did a fabulous job."
Appearing on Jim Braude and Margery Eagan's radio show on 96.9 FM, Patrick suggested that Mary Jane O'Meara, who just moved to the Turnpike Authority from the Massachusetts Port Authority, was talking about the engineering, not the management, of the massive public works project.
"I read that comment," said Patrick. "I’ve said the same thing. From a purely engineering point of view, meaning the conceptualization of this idea -- and frankly the execution of it in many respects, in many respects -- it's a marvel."
But his praise for the project, whose management Patrick assailed during last year's campaign, stopped there.
"We have a very serious problem with the cost overruns and the lack of inspection of the ceiling panels," he added. "Serious problems. But that does not diminish the fact that in many respects it is a construction marvel"
O'Meara's comments left others scratching their heads, wondering what she was thinking, particularly on a day when the National Transportation Safety Board released a critical report about the causes of a fatal ceiling collapse last summer.
State House insiders were also befuddled by her comment that the Turnpike Authority's finances are in great shape. Administration officials, outside consultants and transportation groups have all described the agency's finances as precarious.
"I don't know the individual," said Congressman Mike Capuano, referring to O'Meara. "But saying the Big Dig was well managed? What have they been reading? The NTSB report was only the latest in a series of things saying it was mismanaged from the get-go. There may have been an individual who did something extraordinary in the middle of the mess, but it had to be the exception, not the rule."
