Amorello

Former Massachusetts Turnpike chief Matt Amorello pled guilty today to August 8 charges of drunken driving in Haverhill District Court today. He had his driving license suspended for 45 days, was fined $500 and ordered to take alcohol abuse courses.

He said afterwards he had "made a horrible mistake" and "took responsibility for my actions."

Local police say former Mass Pike chief Matt Amorello was "extremely intoxicated" and had to be pepper sprayed to get him out of his smashed vehicle in the early hours of Saturday morning. Amorello was clinging to the steering wheel refusing to accept arrest when he was pepper sprayed. Unwilling or unable to walk he was then dragged to the police cruiser, the police report says.

It isn't just Penn Pike bigshots who have trouble with the booze. Massachusetts Turnpike's colorful former chairman and CEO Matt Amorello was booked by police for drunk driving, and leaving the scene of a crash, in the early hours of Saturday morning. He was held in the local lockup overnight.

The incident occurred on River Road, a major surface arterial in Haverhill, a northern suburb of Boston.

Former chairman and chief executive of the Massachusetts Turnpike Matthew Amorello was found guilty of violating state conflict of interest law in the final weeks of his reign at the Turnpike by the Massachusetts State Ethics Commission and fined the maximum penalty of $2,000. The panel found that Amorello's intervention in Turnpike policy on severance benefits produced a "huge increase" in his own personal entitlement:

The Massachusetts Ethics Commission has charged former Massachusetts Turnpike Authority (MTA) chairman and CEO Matt Amorello with altering the Turnpike's sick pay benefits rule to his personal benefit on the day before he announced his retirement in July 2006. The Commission says Amorello changed retirement rules under which he was entitled to $15k of sick leave compensation to a rule which provided him with $75k.