Aloisi pens parting shot

And then there’s James A. Aloisi Jr., Governor Deval Patrick’s divisive, outgoing transportation secretary, who may have taken the parting shot to a new level with a 12-page manifesto replete with grievances, accomplishments, admonitions, and a lengthy quote from President Theodore Roosevelt.

In a letter he sent to Patrick on Thursday, Aloisi, whose job officially ends today, calls himself “a voice to the voiceless’’ and describes a transportation system that was in complete chaos before he arrived 10 months ago with candor, innovation, and new subway maps.

“I have learned first-hand that some truths are inconvenient, but when I took this job I was committed to doing it right, regardless of the personal price I would have to pay for my candor,’’ Aloisi wrote in a section titled “A Culture of Candor.’’

“I have established both a new way of doing business - one that is more transparent and forward-looking - and a new way of thinking about our state’s transportation needs,’’ he wrote in the introduction.

Aloisi’s assessment did not sit well with his predecessor, Bernard Cohen, who served as transportation secretary until late last year.

“I think he could have taken credit for his accomplishments without falling into the self-serving trap of denigrating the record that preceded him,’’ Cohen wrote in an e-mail. “I am very proud of the tangible progress we made while I was secretary of transportation, while still recognizing the unfinished business of transportation needs that will fall to the next leadership team, and the one after that.’’

Aloisi did not respond to phone messages yesterday.

In his letter, he seeks to distance himself from the administration’s controversial decision to force out Daniel A. Grabauskas as MBTA general manager; Grabauskas took a $327,000 buyout in August after a public feud with Aloisi.

“Regrettably, the former general manager’s separation from the MBTA was not of a time or approach of my choosing,’’ he wrote, after pointing out that “deep-rooted mutual animus and mistrust’’ between Grabauskas and the administration made his efforts to improve public transportation more challenging.

Aloisi also criticized the Patrick administration for a “well-intentioned’’ program that borrows billions of dollars against future federal funding to repair bridges, “a practice that masks the urgent need for new revenue left unresolved by this year’s sales tax revenue ‘solution.’ ’’ Patrick officials have promoted the bridge program as proof that he has taken on the hard but unglamorous work of fixing the state’s crumbling bridges.

Aloisi called the increase in the sales tax - passed in part to avoid toll increases on the Massachusetts Turnpike and major fare hikes on the MBTA - a short-term, politically expedient solution that fails to address urgent needs. He warns that an MBTA fare hike can be put off only for a short while unless the Legislature finds significant relief for the T’s $8 billion in debt payments.

Aloisi’s departure was announced last month after a tenure that included the passage of a landmark transportation bill, along with numerous public controversies and feuds, including one with Senate President Therese Murray.

But while Aloisi may have hoped his letter would stir policy makers into making changes or second-guess forcing him to leave, the letter was met with a lot of indifference and at least one chuckle.

His replacement, Jeff Mullan, said yesterday that he had not read the letter. State Senator Steven A. Baddour, a Methuen Democrat who cochairs the Legislature’s Transportation Committee and frequently clashed with Aloisi, laughed when told of some of the letter’s contents.

Representative Joseph Wagner, a Chicopee Democrat and House chairman of the Transportation Committee, declined to comment, as did House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo and Senate President Therese Murray.

Patrick said he had a copy, but did not yet know what it said.

“I’ve been out of the building most of the day,’’ Patrick said in a telephone interview. “I haven’t been through it yet, but I do appreciate his service. He had a really tough assignment . . . He leaves as a friend.’’

Toward the end of his letter to the governor, he quoted Roosevelt, who said, “It is not the critic who counts; nor the man who points out how the strong man stumbles . . . the credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena.’’

“I believe I have sown the right seeds,’’ Aloisi wrote. “History will determine whether they were given a chance to take root and flourish.’’