Amorello tries to preserve his power

With Governor Mitt Romney set to seize control of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority board this week, chairman Matthew Amorello is making a last-ditch effort to change the board's bylaws so he can hang onto his power running the agency, board members and administration officials said yesterday.

Amorello has called a special meeting tomorrow of board members to push for changes in the bylaws to preserve his authority.

A new Romney-installed majority will be in place on the board by July 1. The shift in balance is expected to be a serious blow to Amorello, who has been engaged in a bitter 3 1/2-year struggle with the governor over control of the authority and the Big Dig.

Amorello did not return repeated phone calls yesterday. But an outline of the proposals in letters he sent to board members announcing the meeting signals that he wants to put in place clear lines of authority, giving him the power over day-to-day operations of the authority as he serves out his term through June 2007.

Amorello's move immediately set off alarm in the governor's office and from board member Mary Connaugton, whom the governor appointed last year. Connaughton sent Amorello a letter yesterday in which she charged that his planned changes to the rules are designed ``to hamper the future of a duly appointed board to uphold its fiduciary responsibilities."

``In my opinion . . . these amendments may serve to effectively confer unprecedented powers upon the chairman with respect to policy making and managing the day-to-day activities of the MTA," she wrote in her letter to the chairman.

Romney is preparing to install two loyalists, former consumer affairs chief Beth Lindstrom and Administration and Finance Secretary Thomas Trimarco, to the board, senior administration sources confirmed yesterday.

Along with Connaughton, they will comprise a majority of the five-member board. Trimarco, a State House insider who has a reputation for aggressively challenging state bureaucracies, is replacing Daniel A. Grabauskas, general manager of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, who is stepping down today

Trimarco is expected to attend the meeting tomorrow and challenge Amorello's proposals. Trimarco has sent word to legislative leaders friendly with Amorello that the Romney-appointed board is not seeking to embarrass him, but will demand changes in operations, including more public disclosure, a senior administration official said yesterday. Trimarco declined comment.

The new Romney appointees worked closely together when they served under state Treasurer Joseph D. Malone in the 1990s. Lindstrom was State Lottery director; Connaugton was the lottery's chief financial officer; and Trimarco was first deputy treasurer under Malone.

The Romney appointees are expected to aggressively push for major changes in the operations and management of the turnpike authority that would curb Amorello's powers both as chairman and chief executive officer.

To thwart the Romney move, Amorello is looking to two of his supporters on the board, Jordan Levy and John Moscardelli. Moscardelli, an appointee of Acting Governor Jane Swift, is scheduled to serve through 2007. Levy's term is set to expire Friday. Lindstrom will take Levy's seat.

Levy yesterday acknowledged that the proposals outlined by Amorello would preserve Amorello's ability to run the agency and protect him from interference from the Romney-installed board members.

``I am sure the governor is going to try to start to run the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority through the board," Levy said. ``The chairman has one more year; let him do his job. This governor has personalized this thing with Amorello, for what reason I don't know. But it tells you what the governor is going to try to do in the next six months."

The showdown is the latest of a series of confrontations between Amorello and Romney. From the time he took office in January 2003, Romney has sought to eliminate the authority and fold its functions into the state Highway Department. In 2004, Romney called for Amorello's resignation after leaks developed in the Big Dig tunnels .

Earlier this month, the Senate, where Amorello served in the 1990s, quietly inserted a rider in its version of the budget that would extend Levy's term until Jan. 15, keeping the key Amorello loyalist on the board for an extra six months. That measure now appers to be moot because the state budget is still being negotiated in the Legislature.

The tensions were evident yesterday when Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom responded to an inquiry from the Globe about Amorello's proposed changes to the bylaws.

``The governor expects his appointees to do what's best for the taxpayers and tollpayers," Fehrnstrom said. ``Matt Amorello seems more interested in doing what's best for Matt Amorello, and that's sad."