Posted on 07/15/2006 6:34:18 AM PDT by PajamaTruthMafia
Business as usual on Big Dig boondoggle By Joe Fitzgerald Boston Herald Columnist
Saturday, July 15, 2006
Insanity, according to one insightful definition, is doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results.
That’s us, the populace of Massachusetts, doing what we have always done, which is why we are getting what we have always gotten, except it’s never been more flagrant than what we’re witnessing right now.
What makes this Big Dig scandal so atrocious is its scope, not its substance, for corruption, greed and graft are nothing new in Massachusetts.
Indeed, we have become so inured to the venality of so-called public servants that we’ve coined a term, “politics as usual,” meaning we’re really not all that surprised whenever we discover that they’ve sold us down the river once again.
But this time it wasn’t a new courthouse in Cambridge or a garage beneath the Common or a convention center boondoggle that squandered public funds and betrayed public trust; those were family matters, fouling only our own nest here in Massachusetts.
But the Big Dig, the largest public works project in American history, would become its biggest pork barrel, too, with more than $14.6 billion being entrusted to a crowd that we know winks at the notion of integrity, grabbing all it can, wherever it can.
So shouldn’t we have known what was going to happen?
Lonise Bias, whose son Len died from an ingestion of cocaine 20 years ago, just days after being drafted No. 1 by the Celtics, likes to tell youthful audiences a tale about a young man who came upon a snake that he befriended.
He held it, cuddled it, fed and nurtured it, until the day it sank its fangs into him. Howling, the boy asked why he had been bitten, to which the remorseless reptile replied, “You knew what I was when you picked me up.”
Seriously, if you’re from Massachusetts, are you really shocked to discover you’ve been betrayed again by empty vessels masquerading as servants of the people?
Offended? Yes. Repulsed? Certainly. Infuriated? Absolutely.
But if you’re truly shocked, you must be from out of town.
They say Milena Del Valle was killed by a three-ton ceiling panel. Wrong. That was the instrument of her death, not the cause of it. The cause was the ethical indifference that made the instrument lethal, and those whose character flaws were involved know who they are this morning.
Del Valle and her husband did nothing wrong.
How could they have known that entering a Big Dig tunnel meant they’d be passing through the valley of death?
In the wake of that tragedy, Matt Amorello’s knee-jerk response was to insist the tunnels were still safe, two days before it was revealed more than 240 additional fixtures were questionable.
The man insulted our intelligence.
Politicians - including one who’s running for president and one who’s running for governor - insisting there’s nothing political about their pronouncements are also insulting our intelligence.
Can’t they be candid, just once?
Legislators jumping into the fray to make sure their constituents are well-represented are insulting our intelligence, too, if they’re the same ones who just conspired to muzzle those constituents on the volatile issue of homosexual matrimony.
It’s enough to make you despair, if this is where you make your home. But truth be told, we’re only reaping what we’ve sown in Massachusetts, and it’s a bitter, fatal harvest.
Political leadership ought to be seen as moral leadership, too, but here they’re regarded as a choice, not a combination.
Obviously there were more than a few who made the wrong choice.
Then again, what’s new?
The People in Taxachussets have been making the wrong choices for decades.
It ain't gonna be just Taxachusetts that's gonna pay for this folks; remember this is part of the Federal Highway system and was a Federally funded project from the git-go.
Whatever the cost, it will be borne by all of us yet again.
What was the cost projection in the '80's? $2 Billion?
Now $14 Billion and counting.
Have to wonder how much of this was merely a funnel from taxpayer through contractors to fat, plain envelopes quietly passed to certain Senators and Congresscitters.
Once again, another Bastion of Liberalism, proves to us all how completely disfuctional Liberalism itself is.
This boondoggle may have an interstate designation, but it is really under the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, which mean the MassPike is responsible for repairs, not FHWA. The Massachusetts politicians can lobby Congress for a direct appropriation or earmark (which is how the Big Sieve was funded in the first place).
I can't bear to watch any of the local news channels out of Boston, but for some reason I didn't reflexively change the channel when the 10:00 news came on after 24 one time last year. They featured an "investigative report" on the Big Dig's cost overruns and other scandals. So at the end of this 20 minute segment, the "reporter" came to the conclusion that this is all Ronald Reagan's fault. That's right. RONALD REAGAN! Never mind that the guy was dead, but he'd been out of office for over 20 years, and they still found a way to blame him. Something about that he didn't want to fully fund the project back in the '80s, and this led to all of the problems. I don't remember the logic (since none was used). It just sickened me.
Is this the culture of corruption that we've been hearing so much about?
For those not familiar with the Len Bias story, here's the Cliff Note version: an extremely talented young basketball player, drafted by the Boston Celtics as the Larry Bird era was coming to an end. Len had the promise to keep the magic going and the town was stoked. Then young Len o'd on cocaine in a dorm room and died. The Celtic dynasty was over and they have never really recovered.
Bless Len's mom for working with young people and warning them of the dangers.
Forgive my ignorance, but is this a toll road or an Interstate Highway? How can a state extract a toll for a highway that the Federal Government paid for?
Nope.
The Feds have already told Massachusetts not one for dime for the thing.
I've seen the clip several times, of him vetoing this. Calling it pure pork in a most Reaganesque way. Wish I could remember it word for word.
That's when Kennedy had to remind some folks of that time they were told " someday, and that day may never come, I'll call on you for a service.
Whatever the cost, it will be borne by all of us yet again.
Sorry, it's early. I meant to reply "The Feds have already told Massachusetts not one MORE dime for the thing."
The project's two major components:
Federal Interstate:
Replacing the six-lane elevated highway with an eight-to-ten-lane underground expressway directly beneath the existing road, culminating at its northern limit in a 14-lane, two-bridge crossing of the Charles River. After the underground highway opened to traffic, the crumbling elevated was demolished and in its place will be open space and modest development.
Toll Road:
The extension of I-90 (the Massachusetts Turnpike) from its former terminus south of downtown Boston through a tunnel beneath South Boston and Boston Harbor to Logan Airport. The first link in this new connection - the four-lane Ted Williams Tunnel under the harbor - was finished in December 1995.
Massachusetts is more like the American version of Fallujah (or say, Lebanon). The majority (moderates) are held captive by a corrupt, fanatical, liberal minority.
The State is so corrupt and the election system so rigged, we can't get these criminals out. A good example is Fat Matt (head of the Pike). The Governor, Senate President, House Leader and Mayor of Boston all came together to get rid of him yet he's still there at $250K/yr.
"these people of Massachusetts."....Several "up Eastern" states fit that mold.....
That, my friend, is a great analogy of the political situation in MA!!!
What you will never hear, that this is the same sort of local politics and contracting corruption that led to the failures of Katrina.
Then why, for cripes' sake, wasn't some kind of oversight instituted on this project from the second it was proposed???? It can come as no surprise to anyone with a room-temperature IQ that corners were cut, payrolls were padded, bills were sent for work never done. This is BOSTON!
You had to KNOW that this would be the most inefficient, graft-ridden project since that ski resort in Phoenix. Why wasn't an independent group of auditors employed to supervise before the first spade of earth was turned?
Answer? More corruption. And a willingness to tolerate "business as usual."
However, this time, the money Massachusetts wasted came from ALL the taxpayers, not just the pliable Massachusettans. This time, someone should fall.
And this time, I should get a knock on the door from the lottery folks ...
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