J
Joe S.
Guest
Once again, GWBush reaches into his bag of incompetent fools and assigns one
to an important position.
QUOTE
The federal highway official responsible for the rebuilding of the collapsed
Interstate 35W bridge was dismissed in 2002 as chief executive of the
Massachusetts Turnpike Authority after his leadership of Boston's
controversial "Big Dig" tunnel project came under fire.
J. Richard Capka, the nation's federal highway administrator and a retired
brigadier general in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, arrived in the Twin
Cities on Monday night in preparation for the first public meeting today on
the design and construction of the new bridge. Gov. Tim Pawlenty and state
transportation officials say they are determined to complete the project by
the end of 2008.
Capka, who last week viewed recovery operations in the bridge collapse, said
in an interview that his short tenure with the Turnpike Authority ended with
his putting together a Big Dig financial plan that held steady for the first
time in the project's history. Capka's spokesman, Doug Hecox, said Capka was
chosen to oversee the federal recovery and rebuilding effort in Minneapolis
in part because he successfully handled transportation issues in New Orleans
after Hurricane Katrina and played a key role in the 1997 federal disaster
response to the California floods.
A graduate of West Point, Capka also oversaw an $8 billion Florida
Everglades restoration.
"This is not the first crisis he's been in the middle of and helped to kind
of bring a little order to the chaos," Hecox said.
A stormy tenure in Boston
But Capka's role with the $14.6 billion Big Dig project has twice drawn
criticism from U.S. Sen. John Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat, who briefly
blocked Capka's approval as federal highway administrator.
Capka headed the Big Dig, the nation's largest construction project, from
2000 to 2002. His dismissal came about seven months after he received
criticism for approving lucrative six-month severance agreements for three
attorneys on the project's payroll. Capka told the Boston Globe newspaper
that his decision to sign the severance packages without a vote by the
Turnpike Authority's board was "ill-advised."
But in an interview Monday, he said he regrets characterizing it that way.
In retrospect, Capka said, his approval of the severance packages was legal
and appropriate. His action drew negative publicity after the Massachusetts
Port Authority gave "significant" severance payments to officials associated
with the authority's Logan International Airport, where terrorists boarded
two planes used in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
"The timing was absolutely awful," Capka said.
According to Globe reports, Capka left the Turnpike Authority with his own
severance payment of $82,500. While the newspaper called his departure a
"dismissal," Capka said it was the result of the authority's board voting
2-1 to eliminate his position to avoid redundancy. Prior to the vote, the
board's chairman -- newly appointed by the governor -- had taken on some
chief executive responsibilities.
Another battle with Kerry
Two months after his dismissal, he was appointed the Federal Highway
Administration's deputy administrator. But when President Bush nominated
Capka last year to lead the agency, Kerry put the process on hold.
Kerry initially blamed Capka for some of the $1.4 billion in cost overruns
on the Big Dig project and called him a symbol of the Bush administration's
"incompetence" in running federal agencies.
But Kerry lifted his hold on Capka's nomination after what he described as a
"very candid" conversation with the candidate about his record as chief
executive at the Turnpike Authority.
"I'm confident that he understands that Congress expects aggressive
oversight of highway projects to ensure that the government is as careful
with taxpayers' money as they are with their own," Kerry said at the time.
In an e-mail Monday to the Star Tribune, Kerry said, "I expect DOT to make
the I-35W bridge its highest priority, and we will be watching every step of
the way."
Capka said he was "personally affronted" by Kerry's attack. But he said
their face-to-face meeting cleared the air and they remain cordial.
Hecox said Capka is committed to cutting any possible red tape to expedite
the bridge reconstruction. "We're not going to speed it along any faster
than we are allowed to, but it's the kind of thing that we're just not
willing to let the process drag on," Hecox said.
In July 2006, four years after Capka lost his job at the Turnpike Authority,
26 tons of concrete and steel fell from the roof of one of the Big Dig's
tunnels, killing a 38-year-old woman. As federal highway administrator,
Capka became involved in the investigation of the fatal accident.
Once again, Kerry intervened. He said Capka's involvement potentially
jeopardized the impartiality of the investigation. Capka bowed to the
pressure and recused himself from the probe.
"It may be a while before the people of Massachusetts feel complete
confidence about their safety again, but the wrong way to start rebuilding
their trust is not to have the same officials investigate the failure as
those who may have helped create the problem in the first place," Kerry said
last year in a news release.
Hecox said Capka recused himself from the investigation "because it was the
right thing to do," not because Kerry made the request.
"Presidential campaigns will make some people say just about anything,"
Hecox said.
http://www.startribune.com/462/story/1360930.html
END QUOTE
to an important position.
QUOTE
The federal highway official responsible for the rebuilding of the collapsed
Interstate 35W bridge was dismissed in 2002 as chief executive of the
Massachusetts Turnpike Authority after his leadership of Boston's
controversial "Big Dig" tunnel project came under fire.
J. Richard Capka, the nation's federal highway administrator and a retired
brigadier general in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, arrived in the Twin
Cities on Monday night in preparation for the first public meeting today on
the design and construction of the new bridge. Gov. Tim Pawlenty and state
transportation officials say they are determined to complete the project by
the end of 2008.
Capka, who last week viewed recovery operations in the bridge collapse, said
in an interview that his short tenure with the Turnpike Authority ended with
his putting together a Big Dig financial plan that held steady for the first
time in the project's history. Capka's spokesman, Doug Hecox, said Capka was
chosen to oversee the federal recovery and rebuilding effort in Minneapolis
in part because he successfully handled transportation issues in New Orleans
after Hurricane Katrina and played a key role in the 1997 federal disaster
response to the California floods.
A graduate of West Point, Capka also oversaw an $8 billion Florida
Everglades restoration.
"This is not the first crisis he's been in the middle of and helped to kind
of bring a little order to the chaos," Hecox said.
A stormy tenure in Boston
But Capka's role with the $14.6 billion Big Dig project has twice drawn
criticism from U.S. Sen. John Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat, who briefly
blocked Capka's approval as federal highway administrator.
Capka headed the Big Dig, the nation's largest construction project, from
2000 to 2002. His dismissal came about seven months after he received
criticism for approving lucrative six-month severance agreements for three
attorneys on the project's payroll. Capka told the Boston Globe newspaper
that his decision to sign the severance packages without a vote by the
Turnpike Authority's board was "ill-advised."
But in an interview Monday, he said he regrets characterizing it that way.
In retrospect, Capka said, his approval of the severance packages was legal
and appropriate. His action drew negative publicity after the Massachusetts
Port Authority gave "significant" severance payments to officials associated
with the authority's Logan International Airport, where terrorists boarded
two planes used in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
"The timing was absolutely awful," Capka said.
According to Globe reports, Capka left the Turnpike Authority with his own
severance payment of $82,500. While the newspaper called his departure a
"dismissal," Capka said it was the result of the authority's board voting
2-1 to eliminate his position to avoid redundancy. Prior to the vote, the
board's chairman -- newly appointed by the governor -- had taken on some
chief executive responsibilities.
Another battle with Kerry
Two months after his dismissal, he was appointed the Federal Highway
Administration's deputy administrator. But when President Bush nominated
Capka last year to lead the agency, Kerry put the process on hold.
Kerry initially blamed Capka for some of the $1.4 billion in cost overruns
on the Big Dig project and called him a symbol of the Bush administration's
"incompetence" in running federal agencies.
But Kerry lifted his hold on Capka's nomination after what he described as a
"very candid" conversation with the candidate about his record as chief
executive at the Turnpike Authority.
"I'm confident that he understands that Congress expects aggressive
oversight of highway projects to ensure that the government is as careful
with taxpayers' money as they are with their own," Kerry said at the time.
In an e-mail Monday to the Star Tribune, Kerry said, "I expect DOT to make
the I-35W bridge its highest priority, and we will be watching every step of
the way."
Capka said he was "personally affronted" by Kerry's attack. But he said
their face-to-face meeting cleared the air and they remain cordial.
Hecox said Capka is committed to cutting any possible red tape to expedite
the bridge reconstruction. "We're not going to speed it along any faster
than we are allowed to, but it's the kind of thing that we're just not
willing to let the process drag on," Hecox said.
In July 2006, four years after Capka lost his job at the Turnpike Authority,
26 tons of concrete and steel fell from the roof of one of the Big Dig's
tunnels, killing a 38-year-old woman. As federal highway administrator,
Capka became involved in the investigation of the fatal accident.
Once again, Kerry intervened. He said Capka's involvement potentially
jeopardized the impartiality of the investigation. Capka bowed to the
pressure and recused himself from the probe.
"It may be a while before the people of Massachusetts feel complete
confidence about their safety again, but the wrong way to start rebuilding
their trust is not to have the same officials investigate the failure as
those who may have helped create the problem in the first place," Kerry said
last year in a news release.
Hecox said Capka recused himself from the investigation "because it was the
right thing to do," not because Kerry made the request.
"Presidential campaigns will make some people say just about anything,"
Hecox said.
http://www.startribune.com/462/story/1360930.html
END QUOTE
