Patrick puts Massport, turnpike in sights
Governor wants control of agencies
By Frank Phillips and Andrea Estes, Globe Staff | January 6, 2007
In what would be an unprecedented power grab, Governor Deval Patrick is looking to take control of the state's sprawling quasi-public agencies and authorities, including the Massachusetts Port Authority and the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority.
Patrick, appearing at the State House for his first full day of work yesterday, signaled that he is taking a serious look at how to implement a sweeping overhaul of the way Massachusetts has organized some of its quasi-independent authorities. The newly sworn-in chief executive said control of the agencies would be key to having an effective and streamlined administration.
"I want to make sure that the government is organized in a way that enables us to drive the agenda we were elected to drive," Patrick said as he prepared to hold his first Cabinet meeting yesterday. "I don't want to have to wait for control of this or that quasi-independent. I just want it to be simpler and more straight forward."
Without putting the agencies under the governor's control, Patrick would have to wait until the last year or two in his term before he gains a majority on the boards that control the agencies, which operate some of the most important projects and operations in Massachusetts, from Logan International Airport to the Big Dig.
The agencies are controlled by appointees of former governor Mitt Romney. Patrick would have to be elected to a second term to control the board of the Turnpike Authority, when the seat held by Thomas Trimarco, Romney's appointee and a strong advocate for removal of the tolls west of Route 128, becomes vacant in 2012, 18 months after Patrick's term ends. He would not gain control of the Massport board, now dominated by Romney's appointees, until July 2010, six months before his term ends.
Economic development policies are often driven by MassDevelopment, another quasi-independent authority run by a board dominated for the next several years by Romney appointees. On the education front, the governor appoints members of the state Board of Higher Education, the Board of Education, and the University of Massachusetts board -- all of them with staggered terms, which means Romney allies would dominate the agencies well into Patrick's term.
A takeover would require complex legislation for each agency, as well as deft political maneuvering by Patrick.
Romney, a Republican whose relationship with the Democratic legislative leadership was often strained, spent most of his term trying to gain control of the Turnpike Authority. He gained control of the authority after a fatal ceiling collapse in a Big Dig tunnel.
Lawmakers had consistently resisted his plan to merge the authority into the state transportation bureaucracy.
But with Democrats warmly welcoming the first Democrat to hold the governor's office in 16 years, Patrick will be in a far better position to get their cooperation, particularly in his first months in office.
Patrick's frustration at not having control of critical decision-making that shapes much of the state's public policy was evident when he talked with reporters yesterday. "I believe that when you separate responsibility and authority, you have a problem. So that's the point of view I bring to looking at how we organize this government," he said.
The governor's clearest path to taking over the authorities is getting House and Senate leaders to agree to rewrite the legislation that created each of the agencies and purposely insulated them from political currents.
Already, lawmakers are raising issues of legality, including the effect on bonds approved under the current state authorities. Bondholders, along with many companies that deal with the agencies, value stability in their operations. Also, by opening up the enabling legislation for the authorities for debate, lawmakers could create a firestorm among interest groups wanting to influence how the authority boards are constituted.
Patrick's press secretary, Kyle Sullivan, said the governor was not ready to offer any specifics of the plan; in addition, he said, legal questions are still being studied.
But Patrick's remarks yesterday reflected the more detailed talks that he has held privately with legislative leaders about the potential of overhauling many of the public and semipublic boards and commissions. One senior legislative source said Patrick raised the subject at a meeting with Senate President Robert E. Travaglini and House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi within days of his landslide victory at the polls Nov. 7.
Patrick's remarks came as he took control of his administration at the State House and began undoing some of the Romney administration's final actions.
He formally rescinded the $383 million in emergency budget cuts that Romney made in November.
According to a letter to the Legislature from Administration and Finance Secretary Leslie Kirwan, if there is not enough money at the end of the fiscal year on June 30 to pay for the restored services and programs, the administration will use the state's rainy day fund to cover the gap.
Patrick announced last week that he would restore all the cuts, which included millions for human service programs such as HIV treatment and Head Start.
The administration also began removing officials yesterday from key departments to make way for new appointees.
Ian Bowles, the new secretary of energy and environmental affairs, accepted the resignations of three commissioners and the chief of staff of the Division of Conservation and Recreation.
Bowles also named his own management team, including chief of staff Jane Corr, who served as deputy finance director for the Patrick/Murray Transition Committee, and assistant secretary for Communications and Public Affairs Robert Keough. Keough is editor of CommonWealth, the magazine published by MassINC, which Bowles ran.
? Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.
