How Romney Responds In Crisis
Posted at 11:50 a.m. on May 22, 2012
The Associated Press takes a look at one of the few times when Mitt Romney faced a policy crisis as governor of Massachusetts: the collapse of one of Boston’s Big Dig highway tunnels in 2006.
“His administration bungled one response to the collapse by hiring Big Dig project manager Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff to inspect the ceiling repairs. Bechtel oversaw construction of the tunnel, so giving it the job of judging its own work created a conflict of interest; Romney later admitted it was a mistake.”
“Romney wasn’t shy about stepping before the TV cameras to reassure a jittery public. He prowled the cavernous Big Dig tunnels flanked by engineers and investigators. At times he sounded more like an engineer than a politician as he explained details of the collapse in televised news conferences… Days after the collapse, Romney persuaded the Democratic-controlled Legislature to approve emergency legislation giving him the power to oversee inspections and final authority on reopening the tunnels. He also ordered a ‘stem to stern’ review of the project.”
