Tibbits-Nutt’s remarks rile transportation task force

GOV. MAURA HEALEY tried to squelch the furor over her transportation secretary’s comments by ruling out tolls at the state’s borders, but it appears the remarks are also reverberating within the task force charged with coming up with a new way of funding the state’s transportation system.

James Rooney, the president and CEO of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce and a key member of the task force, said the remarks by Monica Tibbits-Nutt to the advocacy group Walk Massachusetts on April 10 were disappointing on a number of fronts.

Tibbits-Nutt, the chair of the task force, told the Walk Massachusetts group that the task force is looking at tolls along the state’s borders, a hike in the payroll tax, and new fees on Uber and Lyft rides and package deliveries. But Rooney said none of those issues had been discussed previously within the task force.

“For the secretary to go out on her own and express such strong feelings is disappointing,” Rooney said. “I plead guilty to talking about things that might be discussed, but without advocacy.”

During an interview with Healey on WBUR on Tuesday, host Tiziana Dearing played an excerpt from Tibbits-Nutt’s remarks in which she appeared to talk about the power she wields as secretary. “I will 100 percent use that as a weapon because once I say it, it is now a policy,” she said.

Healey distanced herself from those comments. “I’ve already spoken to the secretary about that,” she said. “That was a very poor choice of words. That’s not how we do things. That’s not how we operate.”

Tibbits-Nutt in her remarks said what sets the task force apart is the fact that it’s not being censored, implying it was free to look at any issue. Dearing asked Healey if her decision to rule out tolls at the state’s borders meant that independence was being compromised.

Healey didn’t answer the question. “I’m focused on making Massachusetts more affordable and more competitive and that applies to transportation as well,” she said.

The governor said she would wait to see what the task force recommends. “I’m going to leave it to the experts that I appointed to that task force. They’ll meet over a series of months and we’ll see what they come forward with,” she said.

Rooney, however, said the task force will need to reset in the wake of Tibbits-Nutt’s comments. He said the task force was already off to a very slow start, and now it will need time to figure out how to move forward. He said the task force isn’t just about crunching revenue numbers. It also needs to examine the impact of the various revenue options and attempt to develop a political consensus about the best approach, he said.

“There’s a divisiveness and alienation that has been created by some of these comments,” Rooney said. “It makes it hard.”

For example, Rooney was troubled about Tibbits-Nutt’s derisive comments about people who drive Ford F-150 pickup trucks. Rooney said he looked it up and discovered pickups from Ford, Chevy, and Dodge are among the best-selling vehicles in the country. “Why are we alienating these people?” he asked.

“There’s an advocate in heart and spirit in there,” Rooney said, referring to Tibbits-Nutt. “Sometimes the transition to government service is difficult.”

Healey’s decision to take border tolls off the table raises questions about whether higher tolls will be discussed at all within the task force since Tibbits-Nutt in her remarks to Walk Massachusetts said she was opposed to tolls in the rest of the state.

Rooney said tolls are worth discussing but no easy solution. He noted installing tolls on federal roads requires federal approvals and tolling on state roads requires a public review process. He also said tolls on state roads require the money to go for maintaining the roads, which may make the tolls less attractive as part of an overall effort to fund the state’s transportation system.

Looking ahead, Rooney said the task force has an enormous amount of work ahead of it, and may need to focus on short-term funding issues now and put off until next year longer-range issues. He noted gas-powered vehicles under current state law cannot be sold in Massachusetts beyond 2035, meaning the gas tax will become a diminishing revenue source.

Rooney said the clock is ticking. “There is a lot of work and a monthly meeting for 90 minutes isn’t going to get it done,” he said.