Reilly's big talk, Coakley's Big Dig dilemma

IT'S WIN-WIN for Tom Reilly and lose-lose for Martha Coakley

Coakley, the incoming attorney general, will have to sift through all the Big Dig dust the outgoing AG kicked up with great fanfare. Then, she must build a case out of it.

Reilly set the expectations bar very high last month when he filed a civil suit against 15 companies connected with the Big Dig. Three defendants -- Bechtel, Parsons Brinckerhoff, and the Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff joint venture -- are accused of gross negligence. The others are accused of negligence.

Yet Coakley's biggest problem isn't the civil suit; it's Reilly's assertion in public that the July 10 tunnel collapse that killed Milena Del Valle was criminal. He said his investigation convinced him that people and companies connected with the tunnel's construction should face manslaughter charges -- but he did not indict anyone. That puts enormous pressure on Coakley to pursue a criminal case.

"Unless you are absolutely sure you have a criminal case, I, myself, wouldn't say that," said former attorney general Francis X. Bellotti, when asked about Reilly's statements. "But I don't know what he [Reilly] has, that I don't know about." While reluctant to criticize the AG as he leaves public office after a disappointing run for governor, Bellotti said Reilly's comments "may heighten expectations about what people think she [Coakley] should do."

If the evidence turns out to be solid, a grand jury will hand down indictments. If not, because of how Reilly set this up, Coakley could end up looking like she, too, is letting Bechtel off the hook, just as Reilly and every other public official did. But the stakes are even higher for Coakley, because she takes over after the Big Dig claimed a life, not just billions of taxpayer dollars.

Coakley declined comment. She reportedly urged Reilly not to seek a manslaughter indictment before leaving office because she believes such a case "isn't there yet." However, that didn't stop Reilly from stating that his investigation suggests that the design and construction of the tunnel ceiling in the Interstate 90 connector were so reckless as to be criminal.

Bechtel is gearing up for a big legal fight. David E. Kendall, the Washington super lawyer who represented Bill Clinton during his impeachment trial, was brought on once a criminal investigation began in the wake of the tunnel collapse.

The AG is standing by his belief that the tunnel collapse was a crime scene. "If it [the tunnel ceiling] came down, someone would have been killed. In my mind, that's reckless," he said. "I would not be presenting evidence to a grand jury, unless I believed criminal charges were warranted, based on what I saw and everything I learned. When the facts come out here, people are going to be shocked, absolutely shocked. We can back this up. When the facts come out about how that ceiling was secured. . . . It [the ceiling] was going to come down, it was just a matter of time."

Usually, a criminal case is prosecuted before a civil suit is filed. However, lawyers at the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority warned Reilly about a provision in state law that requires lawsuits over faulty construction to be filed within six years of the project's completion. In the connector tunnel, one ramp opened to the public on Nov. 29, 2000.

While Reilly said he did not agree with the conclusion, he didn't want to take any chances. So, he filed an 11-page, bare-bones civil complaint. His office now plans to file a "motion to stay," which will essentially freeze the civil litigation until the criminal investigation is completed. That will take several months, he said, raising the question yet again: Why talk about a criminal case that is not yet ready to go?

It's big talk from an AG who talked big before. Remember, after a 16-month investigation into the clergy sexual abuse scandal, Reilly decided not to indict Cardinal Bernard Law. This time, Coakley will be judged against Reilly's big talk.

It is only human nature for Reilly to try to change the picture from losing gubernatorial candidate to crusading attorney general. He can tell himself and us that he is doing the people's business right until the end. But, he first took care of his own business -- the urge to go out with a bang, not a whimper.

It's a short-term win for Reilly, but what the Commonwealth really needs is a winnable case against Bechtel. Hype and headlines won't help Coakley make it.

Joan Vennochi's e-mail address is vennochi@globe.com.