(Bumped, for glory. - promoted by David)
Item: Newly-named Secretary of Transportation Jim Aloisi is unfamiliar with the Big Dig culture.
When asked yesterday whether he was a part of the Big Dig culture, Aloisi said: "I don't even know what that phrase means."
Fortunately, BMG is here to help. (After all, it's our phrase!) Here's what our own Charley, the inventor of the phrase, thinks it means:
the Big Dig culture of Beacon Hill -- which has been a bipartisan failure, over a long period of time -- gives taxpayers a strong suspicion that their money is being flushed down the toilet.
And here's what Deval Patrick, who made the phrase famous (and who is also Aloisi's new boss), thinks it means:
The state must also confront the "Big Dig culture" on Beacon Hill -- which is one of neglect and inaction, where politics is more important than governing -- because that culture created the conditions for last week's calamity.... The Big Dig culture of Beacon Hill allowed corners to be cut and oversight to be lax. The culture is a failure to take the role of government seriously.
So it seems that the "Big Dig culture" consists of the following elements:
- A culture of neglect and inaction
- in which politics trumps governing
- and which fails to take governance seriously,
- such that corner-cutting and lax oversight run rampant
- leading taxpayers to think that their money is being flushed down the toilet.
Got it? Great. Now, of course, that's all theoretical. Maybe a concrete example would help. Such as ... hmm, let me think ... oh, I know! Remember when Big Dig officials learned from their outside counsel of a $1.35 billion cost overrun in late 1999, but decided not to disclose it because they thought the political fallout would be too severe, which resulted in inaccurate bond disclosure documents? The ones that ended up part of an SEC investigation? All of which led the MA Inspector General (pdf, see "Finding 4," pp. 47-48) to describe the episode as "an example of bureaucratic arrogance," continuing:
Big Dig officials sought self-preservation at the expense of the public interest. These officials created policy options not for the purpose of achieving a public good, saving the taxpayers money, or improving transportation. Rather, Big Dig officials developed these plans, in total disregard of the taxpayers, to avoid bad press, avoid negative issues during an election year, save management from excessive scrutiny, and preserve the bureaucracy from its inability to perpetuate itself through toll increases. The plans also sought to protect the bureaucracy from having to explain "promises made during bonding."
But of course you remember that, Jim. Because you were the outside counsel who told the Big Dig officials about the cost overrun, emphasizing that "these are 'hard' numbers - not worse [sic] case #s."
Now, let's be clear: I'm not saying (and neither did the Inspector General) that Aloisi was integral to the decision not to disclose the cost overrun. He may have had no involvement in that decision. But the point is that Aloisi was intimately involved with these events, and others (like the Amorello fiasco) that have repeatedly embarrassed this state, and that have turned "Big Dig culture" into household words around here.
We hope that this little review of the "Big Dig culture" has been helpful. The unanswered question -- for Aloisi, for the Governor, and for all of us -- is whether Aloisi is the right guy to navigate the state's transportation bureaucracy out of that culture, and into the new era of reform that we've been promised. For all of our sakes, I sure hope so. |
