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Stein points to bipartisan coverup of Big Dig abuses
Monday, October 9— “State efforts to investigate the Big Dig problems have carefully avoided the elephant in the room,” says Jill Stein, physician and community advocate who is Green-Rainbow Party candidate for Secretary of the Commonwealth. Stein says that “The effects of corporate influence peddling on contract oversight is the key problem that we have to address—and it won’t be fixed by stronger epoxy cement or a few more engineers hired for quality control. Unfortunately, the Republican and Democrat leadership have shown a bipartisan interest in keeping the real problem off the table.”
Stein noted that state senator Marian Walsh had written legislation to set up a special investigatory panel, adding that it is essential that such a panel be given free rein.
Stein stated that previous efforts to investigate Big Dig projects were thwarted by the lobbying power of Bechtel and other contractors.
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“We’ve seen a series of watered-down, misdirected, half-hearted probes controlled by politicians seeking damage control. It’s time for a real investigation that will represent the taxpayers and the people who are driving through the tunnels.
"If we are to restore confidence in state government, we need to build a firewall between Beacon Hill influence peddling and the investigation. Conflict-of-interest criteria are essential to avoid appointees who are associated with any political party’s fundraising activities. That’s the only kind of commission that we can trust to face the problems squarely.”
Stein noted that similar problems faced the Ward commission investigation of state contracting in the 1970s.
Conducted under the leadership of John William Ward, then president of Amherst College, the Ward Commission rooted out waste, fraud and abuse in the construction of the state college and university system. “Despite efforts of the legislature to block the investigation, the Commission managed to persevere because it had independent leadership,” she added.
“As the Ward Commission concluded in 1979, waste and abuse in state contracting goes far beyond a couple bad apples in any one particular construction project. It’s the whole system of influence peddling as a way of governance that is the problem. Or in the words of the Ward Commission, ...where money and power came together, the system has been rotten.
"Influence peddling leads to inadequate oversight, shoddy construction, cronyism in appointments and wasted tax dollars. And it promotes secretive, insider-run government with a proliferation of public private partnerships where the public takes all the risk, and the private takes all the profits.
"We are going to relive the Big Dig abuses again and again in transportation, construction, and state contracting in general unless we get influence peddling under control.”
Stein emphasizes the problem of insider influence on public policy in her race for Secretary of State: “The Secretary oversees lobbying and campaign finance as a dimension of election fairness. So, the Secretary has an important role to play in ensuring openness and throwing the spotlight on lobbying abuses.”
She criticized the Legislature for placing the Big Dig investigation in the hands of Governor Romney rather than creating an independent panel.
“Appointing a Republican governor to investigate problems with Bechtel—a corporation that has been a major financier of the Republican Party—is a prescription for keeping the lid on the problem. The Governor’s interest in honest investigations can be judged by his attempts to eliminate the Inspector General’s Office—one of the few governmental entities that has shown any real interest in getting to the truth.”