Cohen out as state transportation secretary

By Noah Bierman and Frank Phillips, Globe Staff

Governor Deval Patrick's top transportation advisor told the Globe today that he is resigning, adding a new level of uncertainty to the administration's increasingly high-profile effort to repair the state's crumbling road and public transit system.

Bernard Cohen, the state transportation secretary, insisted he was not being pushed out, despite diminishing clout and discussions in government and transportation circles that Patrick and his inner circle had grown disenchanted with Cohen's political and communication skills.

The administration's first choice to replace Cohen is James A. Aloisi, Jr., a lobbyist and veteran of state government who has been at the center of the state’s major transportation projects and controversies for the past three decades, according to a well-connected State House source. Aloisi is politically savvy and well connected -- he's written books on Massachusetts politics -- but was passed over two years ago for the job in part because of his close association with the troubled Big Dig project.

Cohen said he submitted his resignation today to Patrick, effective Jan. 2. He said he would spend the next several weeks finishing the details for of the governor's controversial transportation reorganization plan, which includes dismantling the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority.

''I am leaving of my own accord,'' Cohen said. He said he has no specific plans, but that the governor agreed to his staying on as a consultant to the administration to work on ''several initiatives.'' He would not say which initiatives because he said the details have not been worked out.

The financial troubles of the agencies that oversee roads, highways, buses, subways, and trains in Massachusetts have pushed the transportation debate to the top of Beacon Hill's agenda as commuters worry about large toll hike proposals this year and the potential for heftier transit fares that could follow soon after. Legislators have complained that Patrick has dragged his feet in delivering a specific reform plan, which he first promised more than a year ago.

Speculation over Cohen's future had been rampant in recent days, threatening to become a distraction as lawmakers hold hearings on whether to raise the gas tax and the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority contemplates whether to stick with a recent recommendation to raise some tolls, and double others.

"My concern is that in the middle of this very important discussion and dialogue about transportation reform, we've got uncertainties as to who some of the key players may be," said Representative Joseph F. Wagner, a Chicopee Democrat who co-chairs the Joint Committtee on Transportation.

Cohen, 62, earns $150,000 in his current job and said he is eager to earn more in the private sector.

He came to the job with decades of experience working in transportation systems in Boston, New York and Philadelphia. Transportation specialists praise his ability to understand the details of what makes subways run and the specific implications that planning decisions have on quality-of-life issues. His lack of political skills created a rift with Patrick's staff, particularly aides in the inner circle who have been close with Aloisi.

“It's unfortunate that Bernard Cohen is taking the fall for the governor’s own inaction. Clearly Secretary Cohen’s hands have been tied and he can only do so much," said Mary Z. Connaughton, a member of the turnpike authority board who has sparred with Cohen frequently. “He’s taken a lot of the punches for the Patrick administration.”

When asked whether Aloisi was too much of a lightning rod, Lieutenant Governor Timothy Murray praised him and blamed the $15 billion Big Dig's problems on elected officials who ran state government and made the decisions that led to today’s struggles.

"Jim is somebody who understands the ins and outs of our transportation system at the state level, at the federal level," Murray said, without confirming that he was the choice.

Aloisi, a director in the law firm Goulston & Storrs who had been early supporter of Patrick's long-shot campaign for governor, was a finalist when the governor-elect was looking for a transportation secretary two years ago. His advocates say he is highly knowledgeable about transportation financing issues and has deep political connections that have spanned both Republican and Democratic administrations.

He was among the young aides who worked with Frederick Salvucci, governor Michael Dukakis' transportation secretary who was the driving force to create the Big Dig in the 1980's. As control of the state's transportation system shifted to the Republicans, Aloisi thrived. He served as general counsel for the turnpike authority and later worked as its outside counsel. He helped draft the laws that put the turnpike authority in charge of the Big Dig and its debt, the source of some of today's problems.

“It doesn’t get any worse than this,” said Christy Mihos, who served on the turnpike authority board from the end of 1998 to 2004. “We fired him and his law firm back in 2001 because they wouldn’t substantiate legal bills between $800,000 and $1 million.”

As Patrick has moved transportation to the top of his agenda, Cohen has been relegated to the background at key moments and lost responsibility within his own office.

When Patrick announced in October that he was dismantling the turnpike authority, the central element of his plan, Cohen was in Europe, on vacation.

A month later, when the administration revealed that the Massachusetts Port Authority was being asked to take over the Big Dig and the eastern portion of the turnpike, Cohen’s office did not return phone calls seeking comment. Instead, the Patrick administration directed the turnpike authority’s executive director, Alan LeBovidge, to explain to the media the plan to dismantle his own agency.

And in late October, Cohen lost day-to-day control in his own office. His deputy, Jeff Mullan, was appointed to a new position, chief operating officer, running daily operations.

At the same time, Cohen took a beating from state legislators this month when he represented the administration at a high-profile transportation committee hearing.

Legislators criticized the recent toll hike proposal and the lack of specifics on Patrick’s plans to dismantle the turnpike authority and repair the state’s transportation system’s finances.

“Why haven’t we had a plan?” said Senator Steven A. Baddour, the Democrat who is co-chairman of the transportation committee. “What’s transpired over the last 18 months?"

Cohen responded without mentioning that Baddour and other members of the Legislature had failed to offer their own plans during that time. “This is complicated,” Cohen said. “We have spent a lot of time trying to think through the regulatory issues, the legal issues, the financial issues, the political issues.”

• Comment
• Permalink
• Email