"I know what happens...I read the book...I believe I just got the goodbye look..."
Governor Deval Patrick's top transportation adviser submitted his resignation yesterday, adding a new level of uncertainty to the administration's increasingly high-profile effort to repair the state's crumbling road and public transit system.Bernard Cohen, the state transportation secretary, insisted in an interview with the Globe that he was not being pushed out, despite his diminishing clout and discussions in government and transportation circles that Patrick and his inner circle had grown disenchanted with Cohen's political and communication skills.
The administration's first choice to replace Cohen is James A. Aloisi Jr., a lobbyist and veteran of state government who has been at the center of the Big Dig and other major transportation projects and controversies for the past three decades, according to a well-placed State House official. Aloisi is politically savvy and well connected but was passed over two years ago for the job in part because of his close association with the troubled Big Dig project, which he helped plan. As the Turnpike Authority counsel in the 1990s, he also helped draft the law that put the agency in charge of the Big Dig and its debt - a financial burden that is driving the current debate over tolls.
Aloisi declined to comment early yesterday, and could not be reached after Cohen's resignation became official last night.
The new leader will take over at a crucial time for the millions of people who rely on the state's roads and transit systems each day. The financial crises at the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority and the MBTA, which are both facing crushing debt and yearly deficits, have pushed the transportation debate to the top of Beacon Hill's agenda as commuters worry about large toll hike proposals this year and the potential for heftier transit fares that could follow. Legislators have complained that Patrick has dragged his feet in delivering a specific reform plan, which he first promised more than a year ago.
UPDATE: More from the Globe and Michael Graham.
SECOND UPDATE: More from Scott Allen Miller, the Globe and Herald.
