Jul 26, 2006 6:09 pm US/Eastern
SJC Rules Romney Can Hold Hearing On Amorello
BOSTON (CBS4) ―
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Matt Amorello is trying to block the governor from removing him as head of the Big Dig.
CBS4
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court rules Gov. Mitt Romney can hold a hearing Thursday on the status of Turnpike Authority Chairman Matt Amorello's job.
Justice Francis X. Spina ruled in a lawsuit filed Monday by Amorello, who is fighting to preserve his $223,000-a-year job.
Spina said even though Amorello could lose his post and his salary, he could be compensated for those loses if an appeals court later ruled that his removal was improper.
Romney intensified his efforts to remove Amorello after the fatal tunnel ceiling collapse July 10. He has long been critical of Amorello, a fellow Republican and has repeatedly called on Amorello to resign accusing him of secretiveness and citing mismanagement of the $14.6 billion highway project.
Bruce Falby, an attorney for Amorello, had asked Spina to stop the governor from holding Thursday's hearing.
Falby argued Romney doesn't have the authority to demote him from his job at the independent agency and has not shown any need for urgency in holding a hearing to remove him.
"The emergency facing the commonwealth and the governor is the tunnels," Falby said.
In a seperate case, lawyers for three members of the Turnpike board argued that Amorello's refusal to call a meeting of the board since the deadly tunnel accident is undermining public confidence in the agency.
The plaintiffs also said the failure to hold a meeting could ultimately damage the authority's finances.
But a lawyer for Amorello told Justice Spina that the request for a meeting of the board was "politically charged" and that board members are being kept fully up-to-date on all developments.
No immediate ruling was made in that case.
(© 2006 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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