BOSTON — Massachusetts Turnpike Director Alan LeBovidge resigned on Wednesday, a month after he was widely criticized for a pair of cost-cutting moves he nonetheless felt were necessary for the financially ailing authority.
In a tart resignation letter, he recounted being hired by Gov. Deval Patrick to institute "reform before revenue."
LeBovidge wrote, "However, the last two months have made it clear to me that the basic operating premise has shifted."
The director was criticized for shutting off the blue lights on the Zakim Bridge, one of the Boston's signature spans, to save the $5,000 monthly electricity bill. He also sparked motorist outrage for massive Easter Sunday traffic backups after deciding not to use overtime to replace tolltakers who called in sick for the holiday.
In the aftermath of the moves, the famously blunt-speaking LeBovidge was unapologetic.
"Sometimes you have to grin and bear it," he told reporters amid the public outcry over the Easter backups. "You know, if you don't have money, you can't buy food, and you have to go hungry sometimes."
Patrick and Transportation Secretary James Aloisi initially backed LeBovidge. But state Republicans called for his resignation, and eventually both Democratic executives undercut him. Patrick and Aloisi announced a series of steps to prevent future holiday backups. They also reilluminated the Zakim lights with donated money, while asking LeBovidge to develop a long-term solution.
"Our job is to keep faith with taxpayers while also keeping faith with drivers who use our roads and bridges," Aloisi explained at the time.
The Turnpike faces $2.2 billion in long-term debts from inheriting the Big Dig construction project. It also has an operating deficit this year.
In a letter to Aloisi, who also serves as the Turnpike's board chairman, LeBovidge said his resignation was effective immediately.
"As you know, in keeping with my mandate, I approach everything at the MTA from a financial, not political or other, viewpoint. From my perspective, everything must pass a cost-benefit test. Given today's circumstances, I cannot in good conscience say to the members of the board, or more importantly our tollpayers, that my daily contribution to this mandate is cost justified when measured against my compensation," he wrote.
LeBovidge donated his $160,000 state salary to charity.
Aloisi issued a statement thanking LeBovidge for his service and announcing that his top deputy, Undersecretary Jeffrey Mullan, will oversee daily turnpike operations.
"As everyone knows, transportation reforms proposals from the governor, Senate and House all include the elimination of the Turnpike Authority," Aloisi wrote. "Going forward, our mandate from Governor Patrick is to change the status quo and bring meaningful reforms to our transportation agencies to make them more accountable, transparent and responsive to the needs of residents."
Sen. Steven Baddour of Methuen, a Democrat who co-chairs the Joint Committee on Transportation, issued a statement calling the resignation "a blow to real change and reform in our transportation system."
"In spite of what some may say after the Easter Sunday incident, Mr. LeBovidge has proven himself as cost-cutter and fiscally prudent manager who refused to sway to the political winds in order to re-establish public confidence in the Turnpike Authority," said Baddour, who has clashed with Patrick on transportation policy.
The resignation echoed one earlier this year by former Transportation Secretary Bernard Cohen. He was recruited to run the state's transportation bureaucracy but later criticized for lacking the political skills to move the governor's agenda. Aloisi replaced Cohen in January, but was quickly criticized himself for clashing with Turnpike board members, Senate President Therese Murray and publicly deriding a Boston Globe reporter.
Aloisi subsequently apologized and blamed his faults on his "passion for realizing the governor's reform agenda."
LeBovidge became wealthy as an accountant, before turning in his later years to public service. He served as Revenue commissioner for former Gov. Mitt Romney before being fired by Patrick in June 2007.
Five months later, Patrick tapped LeBovidge to serve as executive director of the Pike, a notorious patronage haven.
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