Big Dig firms aided campaign, report says

METHUEN -- State Senator Steven A. Baddour, co-chairman of the Legislature's Joint Committee on Transportation, has accepted more than $30,000 in contributions from Big Dig contractors, their lawyers , and their lobbyists from 2002 to 2005, the Eagle-Tribune reported.

The $31,733 is 7.3 percent of the $432,789 the Methuen Democrat raised from 2002 through 2005, according to the newspaper.

While the transportation committee does not have direct oversight of the $14.6 billion highway project, Baddour's position gives him influence in the debate about how to bring the sprawling project under control.

Baddour said the contributions from Big Dig affiliates have not influenced his work on the project.

``You can't make a connection between the campaign side and the governing side," he said. ``If you look at my record on the Big Dig, it speaks for itself."

For example, in 2003, Baddour co-sponsored legislation to extend the statute of limitations for civil and criminal cases against Big Dig contractors. In 2004, he chaired hearings investigating leaks in the Big Dig tunnels.

State Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly, who is heading the criminal investigation into the fatal Big Dig tunnel accident, has accepted $68,000 from Big Dig interests, accounting for less than 1 percent of Reilly's campaign money.

Baddour's largest Big Dig contributions came from J.F. White Contracting Co. , which along with its attorneys gave the senator $11,050. J.F. White was a contractor for the Ted Williams Tunnel and was responsible for connecting the harbor tunnels to underground sections of Interstate 93.