Big Dig: View from the 'hood; political fallout

Harold M. Clemons casts a Roxbury eye on the Big Dig scandal:

... They compare it to the Hoover Dam and the Panama Canal. I compare it to the New Deal because, on its account, good, decent, hardworking white boys that aren't highly educated can still make honest wages sufficient to provide for their families, while darkies of similar education and rearing fill the unemployment rolls and watch the prosperity from afar. On my word I ain't seen a nigga workin' the 'Dig' yet and it's been goin' on since I was like 10! ...

Jay Fitzgerald wouldn't be surprised if the scandal takes down Reilly, Healey and Romney in the 2006 and 2008 elections:

... [Romney] may try to spin this in campaign commercials as another Salt Lake City take-charge moment. But it's not going to work. The Big Dig is now a national joke. Mitt's going to get hammered for it by rivals in debates and in commercials, whether he deserves it or not. Can't you picture a future GOP or Dem rival, ala George Bush's bold 1988 Boston Harbor gambit, coming to Boston and posing for shots outside the mouth of a Big Dig tunnel? ...

Elias notes how Romney rushed up to NH for his vacation:

... You now see just what Governor Romeny really thinks of the whole matter...fodder for fear-mongering and posturing nothing more. A crisis sufficiently trivial that it can be left to his staff to sort out with "Lt. Governor Barbie" to act as an acceptable and decorous cut out at the press briefings. ...

Blue Mass. Group notes the similarities between Amorello's "I am not incompetent" interview and a certain former president's "I am not a crook" speech and pages Jim Kerasiotes:

Sure, there's lots of blame to go around, as many of you pointed out in response to my rant from yesterday. But it wasn't the legislature that was sand-blasting hard drives in the Big Dig's offices.

Hub Politics, however, detects raving hypocrisy in Demmie leaders handing over the investigation to a Republican governor while blasting the GOP:

... So, if Travaglini and DiMasi are meaning to imply that it's not Democratic leadership failures in the state legislature, but rather the "16 years of Republican control" in the governor's office that is more to blame, why on earth would they give control over the inspections to, that's right, a Republican governor?

Andy at Mass. Revolution Now doesn't like the investigation handover:

This is patently a mistake and another example of how the state legislature utterly fails to accept its responsibility to prevent further problems with the CA/T project.

Mitt Romney has had 3 years to address the problems at the Big Dig. Last year we learned of leaking walls. Why didn't he ask for this oversight authority then? ...

The Outraged Liberal, though, says all the outrage is misplaced:

... Where is the outrage at Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff, the mammoth organization that "managed" this project. Or Modern Continental, which has a very checkered, but unchecked history in constructing this mess. Not to mention a history of ignoring the rules.

None of these logical targets have in the sights of our (former) governor as he has professed anger over the Big Dig and focused instead on ousting Matt Amorello. Only now, sensing a potential threat to his sham image as a great manager, Mitt has "grabbed the reins" by seeking to head up the investigation. The Legislature, wanting to avoid the obstructionist tag, went along. ...

Mass. GOP News actually credits two of the three Democratic candidates for governor: Deval Patrick, Chris Gabrieli and Kerry Healey Brilliantly Quiet on Big Dig.

Tim Lavallee notes that the state has a Big Dig fraud hotline(1-888-TIP-BGDG) and suggests: Let's all call and say that a fraud has been perpetrated on the public trust.

Dan Kennedy has more links.