Massachusetts seeks Big Dig refund

Yahoo news ^ | 3-18-06 | Reuters

[george76]

Massachusetts' attorney general is demanding that contractors refund $108 million for poor work on Boston's "Big Dig," which is the biggest public works project in U.S. history and has been plagued by leaks and delays.

Attorney General Tom Reilly's office plans to sue Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff and other companies if the two sides do not reach an agreement over some 200 complaints of shoddy work in putting a major highway running through downtown Boston underground...

Costs for building the 7.8 mile underground roadway through Boston ballooned from under $3 billion to the current $14.6 billion.

[Clara Lou]

LOL. Meaningless gesture that will come to nothing,as the attorney general well knows.

[RKV]

Is this a grandstand play to cover up government complicity in this screw-up or what? So you have never heard of a company low-balling the bid to win the contract and then getting well on the change orders?

[NonValueAdded]

What does it matter, it soon will be under water according to the junior Senator. Stock it with fish, its time is up!

[george76]

Jobs for life for the unions.

[george76]

[Cicero]

Most likely most of the contractors and subcontractors in question are nephews of the politicians who ran this scam. Tom Reilly is probably suing a couple of his own nephews if he follows the usual pattern for road work in Massachusetts. Yes, it's an empty gesture.

He is shocked, shocked, that his nephews have cheated on their contract.

I lived in Massachusetts for many years. Route 128 was a permanent scam. Friends and relatives of the politicians would block off a lane, park a bunch of wrecked trucks and backhoes on it, and they would sit there for months and years, collecting daily fees for work not done.

[george76]

Are the tunnels still leaking ?

[jiggyboy]

It leaks like hell all over the place, still isn't done...yeah a 1%-3% discount is about right. Hope the contractor's kids don't go without food.

[Calvin Locke]

Meaningless gesture

Yahoo or Reilly? Nothing about Reilly running for Dem candidate for Governor, or did he drop out over his interference
in an underage DUI deaths investigation and his choice of a Lt. Gov, naturalized, of color, running mate that's a tax deadbeat?

How about his failure to pursue the politically connected subcontractors that actually did the crappy work?

[facedown]

Massachusetts seeks Big Dig refund

Big Louie says "Fuggeddaboutid".

[P.O.E.]

Want voters want, voters get.

[satchmodog9]

Somehow we will see Kapka(sp) and Bid Dig get tied to Bush. This is two stories in three days. I smell the beginnings of the next fabricated Bush scandal.

[dfwgator]

The contractor's credo: "When you see the light at the end of the tunnel, make more tunnel."

[george76]

New Orleans of the North ?

[BlessedBeGod]

Only $108 million?

ROFLMHO!

[george76]

Bid was $3 billion to the current $14.6 billion...

[patriot_wes]

"I lived in Massachusetts for many years. Route 128 was a permanent scam. Friends and relatives of the politicians would block off a lane, park a bunch of wrecked trucks and backhoes on it, and they would sit there for months and years, collecting daily fees for work not done."

In Massachusetts?... NO!...NO I SAY - I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!

[george76]

“Government is like a baby: An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.”

— Ronald Reagan

[BJungNan]

[P.O.E.]

Isn't a week that goes by I don't miss that man's insights. Wonder what he'd be saying / doing in today's world.

[george76]

New Ward Churchill Art Discovered     ..."Fake but Accurate"...  

 

 

(  hint  ? Try

this.)

[george76]

He was wonderful.

The best since Lincoln and Washington.

[johnny7]

Union Rule #1: Don't Kill the Job!

[george76]

Funny, true, and sad...

"When you see the light at the end of the tunnel, make more tunnel."



14 posted on 03/18/2006 8:40:27 AM PST by dfwgator

[mowowie]

It wouldn't rain for a week and you could still count 50 puddles in the tunnel.

[bill1952]

The voters who won got what they want, correct?

Along with Kerry and Kennedy forever.
It is becoming harder and harder for me to take the NE seriously.
What a shame.

[george76]

Zombies or ...?

Check out this short video clip (WMV). Bob Hope was a good man.

[bill1952]

LOL! I'm glad I have broadband. I've got to keep that one!

[P.O.E.]

Maybe Mark Twain.

[sanjacjake]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

ONLY THING MISSING IS THE YELLOW, STRIPED OUTFITS..Jake

[george76]

Thank you.

There are some wonderful quotes.

[FoxInSocks]

Massachusetts' attorney general is demanding that contractors refund $108 million for poor work on Boston's "Big Dig,"

I wonder why a state attorney general is doing this. Does he plan to pass the monies on to all the taxpayers throughout the country?

Quote from an April 2000 article at Taxpayers for Common Sense:

"When Congress originally approved construction of the project, it was to cost $2.5 billion and be completed by 1998. According to the audit, the project’s total cost could reach a staggering $13.6 billion – $2.8 billion more than projected just six months ago.

"When money for the Big Dig was debated on the Senate floor in 1991, Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) stated, 'There is no intention of repeating or coming back for additional resources.' Taxpayers should hold Congress and the State of Massachusetts to that promise."

[AGreatPer]

Silly question. Why don't they just make the contractors fix the thing?

[mcshot]

New tourist attraction unless there is a cost overrun on the glass subs.

mc

[chiefqc]

I what way was teddie the drunk involved?

[Disturbin]

He's only doing this because he's running for governor and he wants to look like he has some stones for going after the contractors. He has none. He's one of the main ones pushing for in-state college tuition for illegals.

[george76]

"When money for the Big Dig was debated on the Senate floor in 1991, Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) stated, 'There is no intention of repeating or coming back for additional resources.'

Taxpayers should hold Congress and the State of Massachusetts to that promise."


33 posted on 03/18/2006 9:56:24 AM PST by FoxInSocks

[VeniVidiVici]

Massachusetts' attorney general is demanding that contractors refund $108 million for poor work on Boston's "Big Dig," which is the biggest public works project in U.S. history and has been plagued by leaks and delays.

This kickback, I mean "fine" can flow right back into the Federal coffers.

[Twist_T]

would the project manager be liable in this case? i thought it would have been his respondsibilty to make sure the job gets done correctly

[VeniVidiVici]

One would thing but with a boondoggle the size of this one, who knows what is hidden where and who is responsible for it.

Personally, I hold Uncle Ted and Aunt John responsible for it.

[Disturbin]

Not only is Atty General Reilly completely inept, but he is running for governor. As Atty General, he represents Fatt Matt (head of this boondoggle) in court. The current governor is trying to get Fat Matt removed. If Reilly wins, do you think he'll do ANYTHING about the Big Dig?