Maine Turnpike

"You can't get blood out of stone" goes an old saying. With Paul Violette's net worth declared by affidavit at "approximately $180k" (PRECISION ADDED) the Maine Turnpike Authority has accepted a settlement in which the disgraced former chief executive agrees to pay back $155k, about a quarter of what he was billed for in a court complaint in July.

Maine Turnpike CEO Peter Mills has told the Portland Press-Herald that if the Turnpike can lower its labor costs in negotiations with unions then a proposed 25% toll increase may not be needed in 2013.  The current labor contract which expires Dec 31 is costly because it provides:

- triple pay working holidays

- longevity bonuses

- cashouts of unused vacation and sick spy

- health insurance premiums paid 100% by the Turnpike

At the Maine Turnpike they have a tradition of entertaining motorists waiting in line at the York toll plaza by having a staffer walk the lanes in a moose suit. The idea of the late Dan Paradee, former PR at the Turnpike, the man moose was dubbed Miles (like 1.6km).

Sometimes Miles the Moose was backed up by another weird suited figure, a clawless lobster, named of course: D Claude Lobster. (Groan here)

Former chief executive (CEO) of the Maine Turnpike Authority Paul E Violette was today hit with a lawsuit demanding repayment of about half a million dollars it alleges that he cost them in alleged fraud and abuse between 2003 and 2011. Violette, a former Democrat Party politician was CEO at the state Turnpike from 1988 until March this year when he was forced to resign by a scandal unearthed by a legislative oversight agency.

Maine Turnpike's executive director Peter Mills is officially an "Interim" and we asked him during a wide-ranging interview this morning why that was. Didn't they trust a former pol to be a real permanent ED? Was the "Interim" in his title a kind of short leash?

The New Maine Times has been running a three part "Investigations" piece on the Maine Turnpike Authority.  It repeatedly refers to the Maine Turnpike Authority as a "private corporation." The series begins: "SOMEWHERE NORTH OF THE YORK TOLLS - Everyone who drives a car and travels anywhere from Augusta and Lewiston to Kittery is intimately aware of the Maine Turnpike, if only because they grumble as they look for enough money to pay the tolls.  Even

The state house in Maine has passed unanimously (144 to 0) a bill that greatly reduces the independence of the state Turnpike - a reaction to the self-indulgence under former CEO Paul Violette. Major loss of power comes with a provision that the proposed annual budget of the Turnpike must be submitted and approved by the Legislature each year. And an independent auditor will vet expenditures.

The Maine Turnpike Authority will not be submitting to the Feds the Violette-era response on the proposed new York toll plaza. Paul Violette's successor as chief executive Peter Mills has decided it would be prudent to take time for a full review of the Turnpike's old proposals before they go back to the US Army Corps of Engineer

The York toll plaza is the Turnpike's busiest and collects some 40% of total tolls on the Turnpike.

The tumultuous end to the long reign of Paul Violette at the Maine Turnpike continues to see moves for changes in its governance. A bill in the legislature LD1538 would require the executive director to be approved by the state senate, require contracts for goods and services to be awarded by competitive bid, order more details in budgets, make removal of board directors easier, and send 5% of operating revenue to the state DOT.

The bill sponsored by state representative Richard Cebra (Repub, Naples) has 50 cosponsors. Cebra dubs his legislation the "Turnpike Restart Bill."

Newspaper, TV, radio and the net out of Poertland Maine are full of new developments in the "Violette scandal" this week even though it's over a month (March 7) since he was forced to resign from his 23 year job as executive director.  Legislators and journalists continue to slowly but steadily unravel a story of persona