Someone Finally Held Accountable At MnDOT

11/15/2007

Firing Doesn’t Solve Pawlenty’s Crisis of Accountability; Continued Mismanagement at MnDOT Warrants Molnau’s Resignation


St. Paul, MN (November 12, 2007) After MnDOT’s top disaster manager was fired Friday five months after a MnDOT employee told a supervisor about “some potential misconduct,” the Minnesota DFL Party said today that the firing will not solve the crisis of accountability in the Pawlenty administration and that continued mismanagement at MnDOT warrants Lt. Governor Molnau’s resignation.

“Firing one person at MnDOT doesn’t even come close to addressing that department’s dysfunction, which begins with the utter failure of Lieutenant Governor Molnau as commissioner. Her latest dissembling to the Legislature just last week is simply one more on a long list of reasons for her resignation,” said Minnesota DFL Chair Brian Melendez. “Molnau should step down so that our state and transportation infrastructure can recover from years of mismanagement and underfunding by the Pawlenty administration.”

“And the problem isn’t just Carol Molnau — it’s Governor Pawlenty himself, who won’t hold anyone in his administration accountable when they drop the ball. Whether it’s the veterans’ home, cancer on the Iron Range, or a failing transportation infrastructure, Tim Pawlenty has sent a clear signal to all his subordinates that in his administration, failure is an option.”

Crisis of Accountability at MnDOT Continues:

MnDOT Official Put Personal Relationship Ahead of Job During Bridge Collapse; Fired Five Months After Concerns Were Raised. A state investigation found that MnDOT’s top emergency management official “put her personal relationship – allegedly with a federal highway administrator – ahead of her job during the state’s biggest transportation disaster in recent history – the collapse of the 35W bridge…The termination comes five months after a MnDOT employee told a supervisor about some ‘potential workplace misconduct’ involving Pitt.” [Pioneer Press, 11/10/07]

MnDOT Falls Short of Goals for Hiring Women and Minorities; Could Cost State Transportation Dollars. The Minnesota Department of Transportation, by its own measure, has not met federal goals and has not even come close in many years. The result is that more than 370 women- and minority-owned companies certified by MnDOT have missed out on tens of millions of dollars in work they might have won as subcontractors on MnDOT road and bridge projects…There are federal penalties for missing the goals, including the withholding of federal transportation dollars. [Minnesota Public Radio, 11/9/07]

Whistleblower Threatened with Demotion. MnDOT’s former civil rights director, Joanne Wagner, says in 2004 she warned her MnDOT bosses that contractors were not coming close to meeting hiring goals on the I-494 project and recommended not awarding the job to those specific contractors. Wagner said her supervisors threatened her with her job if she didn’t change her recommendation. In October, the state settled a $170,000 whistleblower lawsuit with Wagner, who has resigned her position. [Minnesota Public Radio, 11/9/07]

MnDOT Officials Claimed Department Has Enough Money Until February, But Molnau Announced Intentions to Delay Road Projects Anyway. MnDOT officials testified last week that the department has enough money to pay for its scheduled road construction plan through February, and as a result, legislators delayed action on granting approval on additional funds. However, Molnau later announced that her staff would start planning to delay some road and bridge projects for the projects. [Pioneer Press, 11/9/07]

Firm Hired to Do Second Assessment on Bridge Collapse Working Closely with NTSB. “Billed as an extra set of eyes for the investigation into the collapse, that $2 million contract is coming under criticism. Wiss Janey is providing technical assistance to the National Transportation Safety Board, putting the state, potentially, in a position to influence investigators looking into the cause of the collapse.” [Pioneer Press, 11/9/07]