Issue link: https://nebusinessmedia.uberflip.com/i/469117
www.wbjournal.com • Worcester Business Journal 41 25 YEARS: CRASHERS & BURNERS Recognizing our most precious resource: the people in our community Thanks to you, things are getting done. Thanks to you, the world's a better place. Thanks to you, the lives of real people are being changed for the better. Bank of America is honored to be connected to Worcester Business Journal for helping to make a lasting difference in our community. Thank you for being an inspiration to us all. Visit us at bankofamerica.com/local Life's better when we're connected® ©2014 Bank of America Corporation | ARH46WCM "Nichols provides the flexibility I need to meet my education goals." Amanda White MBA/MSOL dual degree candidate Session II evening classes begin October 27th Online, on campus, or on site (at employer) course delivery options Register online today at info.nichols.edu/fall14-wbj Graduate & Professional Studies 800-243-3844 MBA | MSOL | BSBA Learn. Lead. Succeed. While juggling her responsibilities as a nurse manager and mom, Amanda appreciates the flexibility of the Nichols College HyFlex program. She knows that if she's unable to leave work, she can still join the HyFlex class remotely and interact with her professor and classmates during the class. Plus, the dual MBA/MSOL (Master o f Science in Organizational Leadership) 7-week accelerated classes let her achieve her goals more quickly and become a leader in her company. 1985NC14_WBJ_10-13_qtr-pg_2.qxp_Layout 1 9/16/14 5:00 PM Page 1 T he past decade was not good to Matt Amorello. The onetime Grafton Republican state senator was forced to resign as chair of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, which was in charge of the controver- sial "Big Dig" project. Amorello – who ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1998 - quit as chair in 2006 after the collapse of a portion of the roof of a turnpike connector tun- nel that same year, which killed the driver of a car in the tunnel. The col- lapse and fatality caused then-gover- nor Mitt Romney to call for Amorello's resignation. Romney pinned much of the blame for the collapse on the turnpike author- ity. He vowed to take legal action to oust Amorello after numerous tunnel defects were discovered, including hun- dreds of leaks and signs that structural bolts were loosening. Amorello also drew fire for failing to hold contractors accountable for mis- takes on the Big Dig project as well as for accepting a Man of the Year award from a group of contractors. In 2008, he appeared before the state Ethics Commission to answer charges that he violated conflict-of-interest laws by changing a sick-leave policy that would affect him. He was later fined $2,000. In 2010, a state judge issued a war- rant for Amorello's arrest after he failed to show up in court to face a drunken- driving charge, The Boston Globe reported. According to the police report, the Globe report said, he was so intoxicated when he smashed into two parked cars in Haverhill that police had to pepper-spray him to get him out of his car, and he then passed out while being booked at the police station. As if that wasn't enough, the Globe reported, Amorello's wife divorced him, and he lost his house in Wenham. At the time, at least one prominent newspaper columnist — the Lowell Sun's Peter Lucas — took pity on Amorello. "He couldn't get a job. Reporters from the Herald stalked him and drove him to paranoia. They rel- ished his misery. It was sick," Lucas wrote. "When he did get a lead on a job, they followed him, rewrote old stories and called his prospective employers, scaring them away. And Amorello all the while was a private citizen who never committed a crime. He ended up the other night down and out, allegedly drunk, crashing the Ford Explorer he was living in. It was his first offense. So what? Kick him again? When is enough enough?" Matt Amorello, Massachusetts Turnpike Authority >> Continued on Page 43