Massport changes rejected
Instead, lawmakers apply changes to Pike

By Raphael Lewis, Globe Staff, 8/2/2002

In the final hours of their legislative session early this morning, state lawmakers passed a transportation bill that threw out nearly all reforms proposed by a governor-appointed commission for the embattled Massachusetts Port Authority.

The Carter Commission, appointed by Acting Governor Jane Swift after the Sept. 11 attacks, had issued recommendations to overhaul Massport, which had been criticized as a haven of political cronyism ill-equipped to keep Logan Airport secure.

Soundly rejecting Swift's recommendation that all the proposals be adopted in a $300 million transportation bond bill, House and Senate leaders yesterday abandoned the centerpiece of the panel's proposal - a restructuring of the agency's board.

The lawmakers, saying they preferred to give the agency a chance to stabilize under new leadership, kept some recommendations, including mandatory professional standards for board members. But it struck provisions in the bill that would have expanded the board by two members, one from Boston and another from nearby communities. The commission had argued the exapansion would provide better and more diverse representation.

''It's very disappointing,'' Swift spokesman James Borghesani said. ''What we got was flawed.''

In a strange twist, lawmakers decided to apply the Carter Commission's recommendations for Massport to the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority instead.

Saying recent turmoil at the Turnpike has turned the agency that oversees the $14.6 billion Big Dig project into a ''circus,'' lawmakers included provisions in the bill that would increase the size of the Pike's board from three to five and require all board members to have professional experience in construction, finance, or transportation.

Also mirroring the commission's suggestions for Massport, lawmakers required that one member of the Turnpike board reside in one of the towns in Boston's western suburbs, reflecting concerns that recent toll hikes were unfair to those commuters.

If enacted, the bill created by the Democrat-dominated Legislature would give Swift, a lame duck Republican, a chance to exert more influence over the Turnpike's board, which has often defied her agenda and hurt her politically. In February, Swift appointed the current chairman, Matthew Amorello, so she will soon have placed three out of five of the board's members in their seats.

The Carter Commission, named after its chairman, former State Street Bank executive Marshall N. Carter, ''was a preeminent gathering of experts who truly understand transportation and business. ... We were hoping their recommendations would not be tampered with,'' Borghesani said.

Borghesani demurred when asked if Swift, who must act on legislation within 10 days of passage, will veto the Massport sections of the bond bill.

As for the Turnpike language, ''there's a better than 50 percent chance that the governor will sign that portion of the bond bill,'' Borghesani said.

Massport has already adopted some of the Carter Commission's recommendations. But several changes had to come from Beacon Hill, such as creating a 500-foot security buffer zone around Logan Airport, banishing clammers from the shore of the airport, and increasing Massport's ability to fine airlines that violate security rules.

Yesterday's bill established the 500-foot security buffer, but clammers will be allowed back to Logan's shores as long as they submit to criminal background checks, register in advance, and stay in groups of less than 50 people.

The lawmakers allowed the clam diggers back over strong protest from Massport and the US Transportation Security Administration, which now runs security at the nation's airports.

''It essentially defeats the utility of having a security zone,'' said Massport spokesman Jose Juves, responding to the bill's language. ''From a distance, a pilot or law enforcement officer cannot tell the difference between a potential terrorist and a clam digger.''

State Senator Robert Havern, the Arlington Democrat who co-chairs the Legislature's Joint Transportation Committee, said lawmakers decided in the end to forgo many of the Carter Commission recommendations because ''we decided to go slowly.''

Havern said that lawmakers were largely responding to the lobbying efforts of Massport's new executive director, Craig P. Coy.

''Their major concern over there is stability,'' Havern said. ''We did as little as we could, recognizing that the best thing we could do at this point is to let them get back on their feet.''

State Representative Joseph Sullivan, a Braintree Democrat and the other cochair of the transportation committee, said: ''The House felt strongly that we should implement the Carter Commission recommendations, including the board expansion. However, with the new CEO, we'll measure Massport's effectiveness over the next year and perhaps come back at a later date.''

Yesterday, community members who had been looking forward to having a voice at Massport said that if the horrors of Sept. 11 were not enough to generate change, nothing could.

This story ran on page B1 of the Boston Globe on 8/2/2002.
© Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.
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