Former Pike chairman presses to drops ethics case

The attorney for former Turnpike Authority Chairman Matthew Amorello said he may call for ethics charges against Amorello to be dropped because information related to the case is being used in ongoing Big Dig litigation and has been illegally shared with the media.

The state Ethics Commission charges that Amorello improperly authorized improved severance packages for turnpike employees the day before he resigned in July 2006 amid Gov. Mitt Romney's legal proceedings to remove him.

The commission set a July 15 date for Amorello's civil hearing at a pre-hearing Wednesday.

After the pre-hearing and in case documents, Amorello's lawyer Thomas Kiley questioned the commission's authority to pursue ethics charges at the same time the state is involved in a grand jury investigation related to the Big Dig, which Amorello oversaw as pike chairman.

"In my view you can't have parallel proceedings," Kiley said. "You can't be taking information for one purpose and then handing it out for another and then acting on it again."

Kiley also said that the commission's confidential preliminary investigations had been illegally leaked to the Boston Globe, but acknowledged that he had little power to find the source of the leaks.

Kiley said it was unlikely the two parties would settle the case.

"If I couldn't settle it with Mr. Reasonable back there, I can't settle it with Mrs. Unreasonable," Kiley said, referring to Steve Fauteux, chief of the commission's enforcement division, and Karen Gray, who is representing the state in the civil proceedings.

In November, Kiley said his client had negotiated a separate severance package with the state and did not receive any additional benefits based on the change he approved, which was later reversed.

But Amorello's senior staff was eligible to take advantage of the policy, which increased the amount of unused sick leave that employees could redeem, the commission wrote in a press release.

Amorello is in India on business, but will return in mid-June to take a vacation and to appear at his July hearing, Kiley said.

If ethics commissioners determine he has violated the state's conflict of interest laws, they could fine him up to $2,000 for each of three charges.

Lindsey Parietti can be reached at lindsey.parietti@cnc.com.

The MetroWest Daily News