Aloisi e-mails zero in on Grabauskas

It was war, at least in the metaphorical sense.

“I’m weary of this, but let me be clear,’’ Transportation Secretary James A. Aloisi Jr. wrote to his aides in e-mail less than an hour later. “If this is our 1939, I sure as heck am not going to allow myself to be Poland.’’

A deputy secretary responded with similar World War II hyperbole: “I would say you want to be more Churchill than Chamberlain.’’

The July 21 e-mail exchange, one of dozens obtained by the Globe under the state’s public records law, provides a behind-the-scenes look at the initial skirmishes between Aloisi and Daniel A. Grabauskas, which had begun a week earlier and culminated Aug. 6 with the forced resignation of Grabauskas as general manager of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.

The ouster, which cost the state $327,000 in buyout money, has been heavily criticized by top legislators and Patrick foes, who labeled it purely political. Grabauskas has argued that Patrick and Aloisi wanted to fire him so he could be blamed for a proposal, since shelved, to raise fares by nearly 20 percent.

Patrick and Aloisi have maintained that performance, not politics and personalities, was the driving force in the removal of Grabauskas.

Whatever the impetus, the e-mails obtained by the Globe show that the early public fighting between Aloisi and Grabauskas, which began with a salvo from Aloisi, was in some regards a coordinated event, with top Patrick aides vetting public comments Aloisi made in a key television interview on Channel 5 that seems to have started the feud.

Patrick’s press secretary, Kyle Sullivan, and Aloisi’s spokesman, Colin Durrant, both said yesterday that their offices conferred on talking points for the interview because they were both asked to comment for the same story and wanted to coordinate a response through Aloisi. The story related to a highly critical report about a 2008 MBTA crash from the National Transportation Safety Board.

“These e-mails, if anything, confirm what was Jim’s high level of frustration with the former general manager’s refusal to publicly address the NTSB report,’’ Durrant said.

Grabauskas could not be reached yesterday afternoon, though messages were left on his home and cellphones.

Patrick aides had long distrusted Grabauskas, a rare holdover from the administration of Governor Mitt Romney. But Aloisi had actually seemed to have a strong working relationship with him since becoming transportation secretary in January. In fact, in another e-mail, an Aloisi aide referred to the “political capital’’ that the transportation secretary had spent trying to treat Grabauskas with respect.

The seeds of a deteriorating relationship were planted July 14. That day, the NTSB released a highly critical report of the MBTA’s handling of a fatal May 2008 Green Line crash in Newton, with one member of the federal board criticizing the T for a “lack of safety culture.’’ The report said that the prime cause of the accident was operator error.

When the report was released, neither Grabauskas nor Aloisi, who chairs the MBTA’s board of directors, made public comment about the findings.

The next day, Aloisi e-mailed his aides at 6:57 a.m., noting that the T story that morning was “nasty in several ways.’’

“Why didn’t Dan respond more forcefully?’’ Aloisi asked in a follow-up e-mail. “This looks like we are ducking.’’

Aloisi’s spokesman responded that Grabauskas had been “in a bunker’’ since the T released a proposal, a few days earlier, to raise its fares.

With Grabauskas continuing his media silence, Aloisi decided that day to speak to one television reporter, Channel 5’s Janet Wu; according to the e-mails, Aloisi’s remarks were scripted, in advance, with help from top Patrick advisers.

Durrant sent proposed talking points early that afternoon to Patrick’s chief of staff, Arthur Bernard; his senior communications adviser, Joe Landolfi; and Sullivan. Landolfi and Sullivan would each send revised versions back to Durrant, before they were relayed to Aloisi.

The talking points, which became increasingly critical of Grabauskas as the exchange proceeded, highlighted the report’s most critical findings, saying that Aloisi was “particularly disturbed by the findings of the ‘lack of safety culture’ at the MBTA.’’ They emphasized that Grabauskas bore responsibility for the T’s day-to-day operations.

Grabauskas “is accountable to the riders and the public at large, and part of that responsibility is answering the public’s and the media’s questions on such a disturbing report,’’ the memo stated.

Later in the afternoon, Durrant warned Grabauskas’s spokesman, Joe Pesaturo, that the television appearance was coming.

Durrant told Pesaturo that his boss had been trying to reach Grabauskas to discuss the NTSB report and media response, but could not. Pesaturo then explained, possibly for the first time, that Grabauskas was on furlough. Grabauskas later said he had planned the time off for months, converting it from vacation to furlough days after he mandated unpaid time off for all top managers.

“If asked about the GM being on furlough (which will probably be one of Wu’s questions) he will say he thinks the GM should be available to speak to the NTSB findings,’’ Durrant wrote to Pesaturo.

Pesaturo shot back: “You really want to go down that road?’’

When Aloisi finally gave the interview, he added that he had tried to reach Grabauskas to discuss the report, without success. Later, before the report aired, Grabauskas tried to reach Aloisi, according to an e-mail from Pesaturo to Durrant.

Later that night, an angry Grabauskas called several reporters who had heard about the Wu interview, to insist that he was in fact reachable 24 hours a day by cellphone. Grabauskas did not reveal his location.

The next week, Grabauskas made his own television appearance, on WGBH’s “Greater Boston.’’

“He didn’t try to get in touch with me,’’ Grabauskas told host Emily Rooney. “It’s a lie.’’

Aloisi watched the program, and within 30 minutes had written another e-mail to his aides, promising a rebuttal.

“He referred to me as a liar,’’ Aloisi wrote, “so I guess he has set his own stage.’’

Noah Bierman can be reached at nbierman@globe.com.