Massport's board targets patronage hires

By Raphael Lewis, Globe Staff, 12/7/2001

Massport's board of directors yesterday vowed to implement several tough
procedures to prevent patronage hires for top authority jobs, but stopped
short of promising not to hire those referred by Beacon Hill politicians.

Saying they feared discriminating against qualified applicants with
political ties, the board agreed to form screening committees and adopt
minimum qualifications for high-ranking positions, as suggested by an
independent commission this week.

Doing so, they said, would ensure that politicians who try to get their
friends jobs at the port authority, which the commission called ''a
disturbing way of life at Massport,'' would have much less influence.

''It's enormously helpful that the moral force of the commission makes us
able to let Massport tell people to pound sand when they're referring
unqualified people for jobs,'' said Mark E. Robinson, chairman of the
Massachusetts Port Authority board.

Robinson said he could not envision creating such a process for jobs that
are not crucial to security and public safety, saying that ''would be
imposing.''

''I'm talking about the key positions that have to do with life safety,'' he
said.

Earlier this week, Acting Governor Jane Swift called on the state
Legislature to join her in a patronage moratorium at Massport. She did not
specify when the moratorium would end, however, raising the possibility
that, at some point, politicians once again will call the agency looking to
help friends find work. Swift had a $76,500-a year job created for her at
Massport by former Governor William F. Weld, after she lost a congressional
race in 1996.

The topic dominated headlines after the Sept. 11 attacks because Massport's
then director of security, Joseph Lawless, and its chief executive, Virginia
Buckingham, had intimate connections to Weld and his successor, Paul
Cellucci.

Swift created the commission, chaired by former State Street Bank CEO
Marshall Carter, to analyze Massport and create a blueprint for reform. The
report, released Monday, cited patronage as a ''four-headed monster'' that
made the agency inefficient and an easy target for public criticism.

The commission also said ''should be reinvigorated with new membership.''

The board members, all appointed by Weld or Cellucci and many politically
connected to the former Republican administrations, scoffed at the notion
that they should step down, saying they are well qualified.

Resigning en masse, they said, would destablize the authority's financial
standing with bond rating agencies.

''Besides, I wouldn't go out under a cloud,'' board Vice Chair James Coull
said in an interview. ''We need to restore the confidence of the public in
this agency, not send it into a fiscal freefall.''

The board created a 32-item list of suggestions made by the Carter
Commission this week, and work on 19 of the items was already underway, they
said.

Tops among personnel reforms was the creation of ''Sunshine Reports''
listing all job applicants referred by politicians and state and city
officials. The reports will be available to the public.

Also, the board agreed to designate certain jobs ''life safety positions,''
which would entail a host of baseline competence levels, ensuring that
unqualified political patronage candidates could not get the jobs.
Candidates for such work also will be recommended for hire by a screening
committee made up of three people: the head of Human Resources, the legal
counsel, and a board member.

Robinson, after the board's meeting, said he would like to see the screening
committee include at least one individual from an outside agency,
preferrably the US Attorney for Boston, or the Suffolk County District
Attorney. But Robinson, speaking to reporters after the board's meeting,
said he was unsure if he had the votes to make such a thing happen.

The board disagreed with some Carter Commission suggestions, however, and
said others were hopelessly complicated and extremely difficult to
implement, such as the sale of the Tobin Bridge, or the swapping of land
with the City of Boston.

This story ran on page B4 of the Boston Globe on 12/7/2001.
© Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.
==================================

Lawmakers write to Swift on Massport

By Raphael Lewis, Globe Staff, 12/8/2001

Three area congressmen have asked Acting Governor Jane Swift to give up her
power to appoint two new members to Massport's board of directors to ensure
the newcomers are beholden to the communities they represent, and not to
Beacon Hill.

The request, sent in a letter to Swift Thursday, was the latest fallout from
an independent commission report released Monday that accused the
Massachusetts Port Authority of being a patronage-laden agency that has
allowed community relations to deteriorate in recent years.

The commission, headed by former State Street Bank CEO Marshall Carter,
recommended that Swift create two new seats on Massport's seven-member
board - one to represent Boston and another to represent other communities
near Logan Airport. The report did not specify how the new board members
would be appointed.

US Representatives Michael E. Capuano of Somerville, Edward J. Markey of
Malden, and Stephen F. Lynch of South Boston - all Democrats - say they do
not want community seats taken up by people whose allegiance is to the
governor - currently a Republican.

''The point is not just to add two more people, but to bring voices on there
with a different viewpoint,'' Capuano said. ''If you really want the
community to have a voice, there are lots of ways to do it. But the way not
to do it is to appoint these members the way you appoint every other
member.''

Shawn Feddeman, a spokeswoman for Swift, said the acting governor
''appreciates the input of the three congressmen.''

''Their cooperation will be helpful as we seek to implement the
recommendations of the Carter Commission report,'' Feddeman said.

According to Massachusetts law, the governor may appoint any state resident
to Massport's board, as long as no more than four of the seven members
represent the same political party. Members should have ''extensive
expertise'' in engineering, finance, and commerce, and one member must
include a representative of a labor union ''free of communist influence or
domination.'' Terms last seven years.

While there is no provision for a community representative, traditionally,
the board has included one seat for such an individual. Currently, that role
is filled by Lois Catanzaro of Chelsea.

Relations between Massport and communities such as East Boston, Chelsea, and
Charlestown have reached new lows of late and, ironically, the Carter
Commission report may make matters worse in the short run. The commission
suggested that Massport severely limit its ''generosity'' to local
communities in the form of so-called mitigation programs and charitable
causes that add up to 4 percent of the authority's operating budget. Carter
said the payments are a more subtle kind of patronage geared toward winning
over local opponents to ''unpopular but necessary'' programs.

But the immediate termination of more than $200,000 in payments to the East
Boston Piers Park Sailing School has sparked an angry reaction. Locals have
assailed Massport's board for walking away from the community, but leaving
local residents with pollution from jet fuel and noise.

To mollify the groups, Massport's board Thursday suggested it could sell the
school the sailboats it uses, which are owned by the agency. The board said
such a sale would give the school the collateral to secure funds elsewhere.

This story ran on page B4 of the Boston Globe on 12/8/2001.
© Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.
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