Here’s a juxtaposition for you:
“Patronage will be replaced by professionalism,” Romney said. “Secrecy will be replaced by openness.”
The governor mentioned state Secretary of Transportation John Cogliano as a likely candidate to replace Amorello as the agency moves toward a new leadership model that includes a chief executive.
Blink. Blink.
Cogliano, 42, is a Republican loyalist and a donor to GOP candidates who has moved up the ranks of government by impressing colleagues with his quiet competence. He was appointed deputy highway commissioner in 2000 by Amorello himself, and a year ago Romney named him secretary of transportation. He came to state government after working at the former Blue View Nurseries in Canton, run by his family.
“My best education was the family business,” he said in an interview with the Globe last year.
Now look, Cogliano may be a good egg and he may not be — but does he really represent “a new era of reform and accountability”? Does he represent a new era of anything?
Governor, please … just put down the hacks, and slowly back away.
Quiet competence? Not much to go on here. I’d like to see a list of accomplishments on the order of the one he is about to undertake…
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Years ago I met the guy who was brought in to finish construction of Seabrook Unit 1 because he built St. Lucie Unit 2 Nuclear Power Station (Florida) AHEAD of schedule… I wish I could remember his name but that guy knew construction and ran a tight ship…
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Frankly Romney needs to go outside his circle of friends…
I think splitting the job in two will make Cogliano a viable candidate. His half of the job will be highway finance, and cost management. SOMEBODY ELSE will be making decisions like epoxy vs. screws and so on.
Sorry to be so visceral …. but cost-hawkishness and some engineering chops would really go hand-in-hand here. The big problem here has been an inability to get something good, on-time and on-budget. Whoever does this job has simply got to have experience in all those.
manager. But where’s Cogliano’s engineering experience?
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We know Romney’s going to pick one of his own hacks for the job. The least he could do is dig deep, and even fake reassure us – give us a candidate with fake credentials, at least make an effort…
I give Mr. Cogliano all the benefit of the doubt that he’s a perfectly swell, earnest guy — if only because I don’t know any different. Being swell and earnest ain’t gonna cut it. If running the family nursery business was the best training he ever got, that ain’t gonna cut it.
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Doesn’t anyone here know how to fix this thing?
He is still listed as the contact for Blue View Nurseries on the New England Nursery Association’s web page. I think the CA/Tastrophe should be renamed the Sword of Damocles Project.