Bad Aunt Fumo in the loft - Pennsylvania's embarrassment in seeking Fed OK to toll I-80

Pennsylvania's biggest problem in getting permission to toll I-80 may turn out not to be intricacies of federal highway law and regulations, but simply whether the Federal Government should turn over control of a major interstate to a bunch of crooks to make money out of. A local thinktank in the state capital Harrisburg, the Commonwealth Foundation puts this bluntly in a two-page letter from its president Matt Brouillette addressed to James Ray, Federal Highway Administrator. Ray is a former chief counsel at FHWA and as head of the FHWA will be the chief adviser to US Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters in deciding to deliver a Yes or a No to Pennsylvania on I-80 tollling.

Brouillette prefaces his important letter to Ray by saying that the Foundation is a strong supporter of user fees and tolling to pay for infrastructure. But he says on no account should it be turned over to the Turnpike Commission for tolling because of a "constant stream of misconduct."

Under the heading of "corruption" the Foundation letter notes that according to the 139-count US Department of Justice corruption indictment of the Turnpike's longtime political patron Vincent Fumo the sitting chairman of the Turnpike Commission Mitchell Rubin received $150k of supposed consulting fees for no known legitimate work.

Rubin also managed to get parking tickets to the tune of $10k dismissed.

Former associate executive director of the Turnpike Michael Palermo was paid $220k for "no discernible work" for the Turnpike except to be caretaker on Fumo's weekender estate up the Susquehanna River.

Under "inefficiency" the Foundation letter says the Turnpike has high tolls and is "dramatically overstaffed."

Excluding toll collectors it has three staff per mile of highway compared to PennDOT's one employee per three miles.

Under "wasteful spending" it cites $700k spent on lobbying activities.

Also the letter cites embarrassing extravagance by Turnpike Commission chairman Mitchell Rubin on the Turnpike's account in 2007 - $12,522 for 12 meals.

In Nantucket Massachusetts Rubin had a $1,870 meal on the Turnpike account. On his own account he paid over a thousand dollars for a single bottle of wine.

The Turnpike could save many millions of dollars by competitive bidding on procurements presently directed to cronies, the letter says.

The payroll of the PTC, the Foundation says "reads like a who's who of the politically connected." It says each summer "hundreds" of temporary political workers are put on the Turnpike payroll and it cites a former toll collector as saying: "They kick back in the office, smoke cigars, play cards."

The letter to Ray says: "The instances cited above are not isolated... systemic and persistent problems still plague the PTC 70 years after its creation... Their misconduct is not relegated to the hiring of a relative or a meal that costs too much...."

It bears on their suitability to manage a billion dollar enterprise.

Expansion of the powers of the Turnpike Commission over I-80 would be"disastrous" says Brouillette. It would be bad for the state of Pennsylvania and bad for the interstate system.

BACKGROUND: Fumo the Turnpike's patron in the state senate is due to go to trial in federal court in October, along with Ruth Arnao, chairman Mitchell Rubin's wife. Rubin himself is not charged with a criminal offense though he is identified in the Fumo indictment as the beneficiary of the $150k of corrupt payments.

Here is the Commonwealth Foundation letter to Ray:

http://www.tollroadsnews.com/sites/default/files/CF-FHWA.pdf

TOLLROADSnews 2008-07-23