New transportation board has familiar faces

But three of five members of a powerful oversight board he appointed yesterday are holdovers from previous transportation boards that had been enthusiastically eliminated under the mantra of reform.

News of the appointments to the board of the new Massachusetts Department of Transportation came yesterday afternoon, issued on a Friday, the day when the administration often releases news it would rather not promote.

“They each bring their perspective required of the statute,’’ Patrick said in a phone interview. “But they also bring individual judgment and focus on the traveler.’’

But criticism from Beacon Hill came swiftly, with many saying the appointments represent a setback for the long-awaited changes to the state’s troubled transportation system.

The unpaid board will wield power over billions of dollars in private contracts, thousands of acres of land, and thousands of public employees, making its members some of the most powerful officials in the state, even if their profiles remain low. The new state law was written to ensure that the board members had actual transportation, planning, and engineering experience. Critics questioned whether some of the new members meet those qualifications.

“I just thought in order to legitimize the new agency that the board needed to be free from politics or the perception of politics,’’ said Representative Joseph Wagner, a Chicopee Democrat and cochairman of the Legislature’s Transportation Committee. “I think these appointments miss the mark, perhaps not all, but in part.’’

Among those appointed were Janice Loux, leader of the Unite Here! Local 26 union, who has been close with Patrick and has served 12 years on the MBTA board; Ferdinand Alvaro, an attorney who also served on the T board; and John R. Jenkins, an insurance executive who served on the Turnpike Authority board and will chair the new board.

The other two members are Andrew Whittle, who heads the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Elizabeth Levin, a management consultant with a transportation focus.

Loux was singled out by several critics who question her expertise in transportation issues. The leader of 6,300 hotel and food service workers, she was instrumental in Patrick’s public feud with former MBTA general manager Daniel A. Grabauskas that ended in August with a $327,000 buyout. She has also been a key campaigner in his bid to bring casino gambling to the state and a champion of nonunionized Hyatt hotel workers fired from their jobs last month and replaced with temporary workers, an issue that drew a boycott threat from Patrick.

Senator Steven A. Baddour, a Methuen Democrat who leads his chamber on transportation issues, said in a statement that she “undercuts the very essence of reform,’’ an assessment that was echoed by the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.

“Her interest has only been on union and employee issues,’’ he said. “She never once stepped out and talked about being supportive of any of the reforms we talked about.’’

Patrick said the appointees all have expertise and a willingness to ask tough questions. Loux, in particular, has demonstrated a focus on MBTA riders, he said, responding to criticisms that some view her as divisive.

“I’m not interested in go-along get-along board members,’’ he said. “Sometimes that particular charge comes from folks who prefer to go along to get along.’’

Loux was conciliatory.

“My first response to Senator Baddour is that I look forward to working with him on this reform agenda that he helped to create,’’ she said. “And again, I think I bring a needed perspective on this board. . . . I think I am the longest-serving board member on the T. I’ve learned a lot about how that agency runs.’’

Sean O’Brien, president of Teamsters Local 25, representing some of the workers in the new agency, said it is important that the new board include representatives from labor, community groups, and business interests.

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