Aloisi named secretary of transportation

James Aloisi

Governor Deval Patrick appointed James Aloisi Jr. yesterday as his transportation secretary, shrugging off criticism from those who said that elevating a well-connected lawyer and key player in the tumultuous history of the Big Dig undermines the governor's message of reform.

Aloisi was appointed at a sensitive time, and Patrick is gambling that Aloisi's deep connections on Beacon Hill, institutional knowledge of the Massachusetts transportation bureaucracy, and political savvy will help deliver a massive transportation proposal that is at the top of Patrick's 2009 agenda.

"I'm sure there will be bumps along the way, no pun intended," Aloisi said in an interview. "But I'm going to do the best I can, given my experience, to get it right and get something historic done. I don't want to reform around the edges."

In the interview, Aloisi also said he was open to putting off the toll hikes on the Massachusetts Turnpike and harbor tunnels, even though Patrick said just last month that "there is simply no way around an increase in the short run."

"I'm going to look at it with a fresh eye," Aloisi said yesterday. "I'm a son of East Boston. I understand what it's like to be separated by the harbor and having to pay a toll. I'm in the camp of wanting to take a look and see first. If there's any way we can help people first, we're going to do it."

An administration spokeswoman, Rebecca Deusser, said later that Aloisi's comments did not indicate a shift and that while the tolls are subject to a public hearing, "the governor still believes that an increase in tolls is unavoidable."

Aloisi, who will take the $150,000 post in early January, declined to say whether he would support an increase in the gasoline tax, although he served on a transportation commission that unanimously recommended raising the tax by 11.5 cents and then tying it to inflation.

Aloisi's candidacy for the powerful post was unpopular among some Democrats and Republicans in the days leading up to yesterday's appointment. In a move that diminished the attention it received, Patrick announced the final decision on a Friday afternoon when much of the state was dealing with a major snowstorm. Patrick aides said the governor was busy monitoring the storm and declined to make him available to discuss the Cabinet pick.

"Jim brings a deep understanding of the challenges we face in reforming our transportation network," Patrick said in a written statement. "He will be a skilled and energetic advocate for our reform agenda."

The state's faltering transportation system has risen to the top of Patrick's agenda as the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority and the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority struggle under increasing levels of debt, billions of it connected with the $15 billion Big Dig.

While Aloisi is intimately familiar with the state's transportation problems, he is also a controversial choice, in part because he wrote the law that saddled the Turnpike Authority with the Big Dig's debt and later made money representing the authority as outside counsel.

As a key lawyer working on the Big Dig, he was part of the team that kept a cloak of secrecy over the true cost of the $15 billion project. He has been a staunch defender of Matthew J. Amorello, the combative former Turnpike Authority chairman, praising him in a book Aloisi wrote about the project.

As a gubernatorial candidate, Patrick ran as an outsider and railed in televised ads against the "Big Dig culture."

"They've got one hell of a challenge to cut through the public relations of this," said Senator Mark C. Montigny, a New Bedford Democrat who has been critical of Aloisi's candidacy for the job. "How do you convince the public to have faith in the leaders when, in this case, Jimmy Aloisi's talent and experience have been a common thread in all of the problems."

But others say that picking Aloisi could prove to be a smart choice, bringing a sense of pragmatic politicking to an administration that sometimes seems out of step with the ways of Beacon Hill.

Because of Aloisi's work as general counsel and outside counsel at the Turnpike Authority, his defenders say he could be well suited to help with one of the governor's goals: shutting down the agency and merging its operations with Massport.

"He has a combination of both policy and political savvy, which I think is exactly what the administration needs now to help navigate through the whole issue of transportation funding and reform," said Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation and, like Aloisi, a member of the Transportation Finance Commission. "His appointment is a chance for the administration to take a fresh look at all of this."

Aloisi will be replacing Bernard Cohen, who had a deep knowledge of transportation issues but was generally ineffective at navigating the state's political waters. Cohen submitted his resignation to Patrick Monday, effective Jan. 2.

The governor's choice of Aloisi did not appear to sit well yesterday with some in Patrick's core constituency, sparking a discussion on Blue Mass Group, a left-wing blog that has been strongly supportive of Patrick.

"When it's the bottom of the ninth, two outs, two on, and the home team down by two . . . who do you want at bat?" wrote David Kravitz, one of the blog's cofounders. "Do you want a .205 hitter with a record of not many extra-base hits and a lot of strikeouts? 'Cause that's how Aloisi strikes me."

Republicans also ridiculed the governor's choice yesterday.

"The hypocrisy of this appointment is staggering," said Barney Keller, spokesman for the Massachusetts Republican Party. "James Aloisi is the embodiment of the Big Dig culture that candidate Patrick once decried."

When asked yesterday whether he was a part of the Big Dig culture, Aloisi said: "I don't even know what that phrase means. I don't think so. I know I can distinguish what has worked and what hasn't. Judge me not by what you think I'm going to do but by what I actually do."

Matt Viser can be reached at maviser@globe.com.