Political Fallout
On July 13, 2006, the leaders of the state legislature, Senate President Robert Travaglini and House Speaker Sal Dimasi, called upon Turnpike Authority chairman Matthew J. Amorello, who provided oversight of the project, to consider stepping down from his position and accepting a diminished role. Governor Romney and Attorney General Reilly both called for the resignation of Amorello. This stance was supported in editorials in Boston's two major newspapers, the Boston Herald and The Boston Globe. On July 18, Amorello was presented with a formal list of charges that Romney intended to use to justify Amorello's removal.
Amorello made an unsuccessful effort to ask the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court to postpone the removal hearing before Romney. On July 27, 2006, after the Supreme Judicial Court rejected his request and shortly before the hearing was to have begun, Armorello announced his intention to resign as Chairman of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority effective August 15, 2006.
Massachusetts Secretary of Transportation John Cogliano also came under fire after he chose to hire Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff, the company that was responsible for overseeing the original construction of the tunnel, to inspect the repairs. The hiring of Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff resulted in an inquiry from the Office of Inspector General for the Department of Transportation. Cogliano admitted that he regretted reusing the firm and the state promised not to hire any Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff employees to work on repairs in the I-90 tunnel.
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“Man is by nature a political animal.”
—Aristotle (384–322 B.C.)