The chairman of the University of Massachusetts board of trustees, Stephen P. Tocco, is refusing to step down under increasing pressure from Governor Deval Patrick, setting the stage for a showdown at next month's board meeting.
Tocco canceled a meeting he had scheduled with Patrick's top aide yesterday amid increasing tensions. Tocco's allies said he is confident he can muster enough votes on the 19-member board to withstand Patrick's ongoing attempts to remove him.
But Patrick administration officials are equally convinced that they have sufficient votes to depose Tocco and replace him with the board's vice chairman, Robert J. Manning, a Boston investment executive.
Tocco canceled a meeting yesterday with Doug Rubin, Patrick's chief of staff, that was scheduled to broker a way out of the dispute. Tocco's canceled after news of the meeting and Patrick's determination to get rid of Tocco were reported by the Globe yesterday morning.
"It's a real war now," said one trustee, who feels caught in the middle because of loyalties on both sides. The board member asked not to be identified by name. "Steve is digging in his heels, and the governor is not budging."
Tocco - who is chief executive of ML Strategies, the lobbying arm of the Boston law firm Mintz Levin - and the governor's office declined to comment.
Tocco, whose term as chairman expires in June, had been hoping to negotiate a compromise with Patrick that would allow him to depart sometime early next year. The governor, however, is not budging in his insistence that Tocco be gone as chairman by the December meeting. Tocco has said he would remain on the board if he is removed as chairman.
The conflict first flared in September when Tocco narrowly beat back a move by Patrick allies on the board to delay his reelection to a new term. It was an embarrassing political defeat for Patrick, who had just appointed five members to the board.
Both Manning and Tocco are appointees of Governor Mitt Romney. Patrick's decision to remove one Romney appointee for another has perplexed some of his partisan supporters. Administration officials say Patrick wants to ensure that the chairman is loyal to him and in sync with his agenda as UMass tackles challenges next year that include a major capital construction campaign.
