Governor's transportation chief resigns amid turmoil
Governor Deval Patrick's top transportation adviser submitted his resignation yesterday, 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 in an interview with the Globe that he was not being pushed out, despite his 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 Big Dig and other major transportation projects and controversies for the past three decades, according to a well-placed State House official. Aloisi is politically savvy and well connected but was passed over two years ago for the job in part because of his close association with the troubled Big Dig project, which he helped plan. As the Turnpike Authority counsel in the 1990s, he also helped draft the law that put the agency in charge of the Big Dig and its debt - a financial burden that is driving the current debate over tolls.
Aloisi declined to comment early yesterday, and could not be reached after Cohen's resignation became official last night.
The new leader will take over at a crucial time for the millions of people who rely on the state's roads and transit systems each day. The financial crises at the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority and the MBTA, which are both facing crushing debt and yearly deficits, 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. Legislators have complained that Patrick has dragged his feet in delivering a specific reform plan, which he first promised more than a year ago.
Cohen said he submitted his resignation yesterday to Patrick, effective Jan. 2. He said he would spend the next several weeks finishing the details of the governor's controversial transportation reorganization plans, which includes dismantling the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority.
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 a recent recommendation to raise tolls, doubling them at some locations.
"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 cochairs the Joint Committtee on Transportation. Cohen, 62, earns $150,000 and said he believes he could earn more in the private sector.
"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 an administration consultant to work on "several initiatives." He would not say which initiatives because he said the details have not been worked out.
Patrick last night issued a statement praising Cohen's leadership, particularly his efforts to reorganize the overlapping transportation bureaucracies.
"We have begun to reverse decades of neglect and are much closer to realizing our shared vision of a better, more efficient transportation system," Patrick said.
Cohen 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."
In response to questions, Lieutenant Governor Timothy Murray praised Aloisi at a transportation press conference yesterday. He would not confirm that Aloisi was the administration's choice, but denied that he was too much of a lightning rod to take the post. Murray instead blamed problems with the $15 billion Big Dig 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.
Aloisi, a director in the law firm Goulston & Storrs and an 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's also written books on Massachusetts politics, including a biography of John F. Fitzgerald.
Aloisi was among the young aides who worked with Frederick Salvucci, governor Michael Dukakis's transportation secretary who was the driving force to create the Big Dig in the 1980s. 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.
"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 he was dismantling the turnpike authority, Cohen was on vacation in Europe.
A month later, when the administration revealed that the Massachusetts Port Authority was 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 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 cochairman 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."
Noah Bierman can be reached at nbierman@globe.com. 