AUGUSTA – This week’s resignation of the head of the Maine Turnpike Authority hasn’t stopped lawmakers from pushing forward with their investigation of the authority’s spending and lobbying practices.

The Legislature’s Government Oversight Committee will meet today to examine the legality of the turnpike authority’s practices of withholding some budget information from the Legislature, lobbying state officials and giving money to dozens of organizations and trade groups.

Also, the committee will release new information it has obtained about $157,000 worth of gift cards that the authority donated to organizations but could not explain with any documentation.

The Legislature’s Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability documented the authority’s spending and practices in a report issued in January.

Paul Violette, who was the authority’s executive director for 23 years, resigned Monday, saying his leadership had “become an issue” for legislators in the wake of the report.

Violette’s resignation doesn’t mean that lawmakers should stop their work, said the committee’s Senate chair, Roger Katz, R-Augusta.

“We’ve got $150,000 of public funds largely unaccounted for,” he said. “If we don’t try to get to the bottom of it, we are not doing our job.”

Violette’s departure will allow the turnpike authority to establish new procedures, said Rep. Donald Pilon, D-Saco, the ranking Democrat on the committee.

Blame for the turnpike authority’s lack of transparency may lie with the Legislature, which failed to be responsive or set up appropriate rules, Pilon said. “Perhaps we fell short,” he said.

Rep. Edward Mazurek, D-Rockland, the ranking Democrat on the Transportation Committee, which reviews the turnpike authority’s budget, said the public should not overlook the fact that the 106-mile toll road has been well-maintained and that the authority’s AA bond rating is exceptionally good, allowing it to borrow money cheaply.

He described Republicans’ criticism of the authority as “overblown.”

“What they are trying to do is throw mud all over the place and see where it sticks,” he said of Republican lawmakers. “It’s part of their propaganda machine. We have to look at the positives as well as the negatives.”

Mazurek and three other members of the Transportation Committee will attend today’s Government Oversight Committee meeting so they can hear from Meghan Burke, the turnpike authority’s bond counsel.

In addition, the Attorney General’s Office will provide an opinion about whether it is legal for a quasi-government agency to lobby state officials and donate money to groups that appear to be outside its primary mission.

The program evaluation report shows that from 2005 to 2009, the turnpike authority donated $454,238 — separate from the gift cards — including more than $100,000 to the Maine State Chamber of Commerce, $2,500 to the Maine Irish Heritage Center, $1,000 to the Nature Conservancy of Maine, $10,000 to the Maine Center for Economic Policy and $10,000 to the Maine Restaurant Association.

The authority, which collected more than $99 million in toll revenue last year, also has spent about $25,000 a year on lobbying services. It uses the Portland law firm Preti Flaherty.

Violette, a Democrat, was the Senate majority leader in 1985 and 1986. After he left the Senate, he worked as a lobbyist for St. Paul Insurance Co. and U.S. Sprint.

The authority’s board of directors plans to move quickly to hire an interim executive director, said Scott Tompkins, the authority’s spokesman. The board has developed a list of candidates that includes Democrats, Republicans and independents, he said.

The directors hope to choose an interim director “in days rather than weeks, if they can do it,” Tompkins said.

MaineToday Media State House Writer Tom Bell can be contacted at 699-6261 or at:

tbell@mainetoday.com

 

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