"Last year, Amorello and one of his brothers cofounded Mayo Renewable Energy, a company that focuses on solar energy, and for the past year Amorello has served as a consultant"
For free?
"For Amorello, a long slide; Friends say job loss hit him hard" by Shelley Murphy and Sean P. Murphy and Marissa Lang, Globe Staff | Globe Correspondent | August 10, 2010
HAVERHILL — Since Matthew Amorello stepped down under pressure as Massachusetts Turnpike Authority chairman four years ago, his life has spiraled downward. His marriage ended. He lost his Wenham home to foreclosure. And he has been unable to find a job, according to friends.
WTF, readers?
Yesterday, the man who once oversaw the Big Dig, the largest public works project in American history, saw his personal problems made glaringly public.
A judge issued a warrant for his arrest when he failed to show up in court to face a drunken driving charge. Police alleged that 52-year-old Amorello was so intoxicated when he smashed into two parked cars in Haverhill early Saturday morning that they had to pepper-spray him to get him out of his car. He then passed out while being booked at the station, police say.
How does it feel to be treated like the rest of us rabble, a**hole?
In booking photos, released yesterday, Amorello appears to be unconscious as his head is held in position by gloved hands....
“Nothing good has happened to him in the past four years, professionally and personally,’’ said John M. Moscardelli, a former member of the Turnpike Authority board of directors and a friend of Amorello. “How much could a guy take?’’
Oh, look, ANOTHER Drunk-Driving Hero!
How PATHETIC!!
A LOT of people have BEEN THROUGH MUCH WORSE and not HOPPED BEHIND the wheel of car after getting PLASTERED!!!
**************
Amorello stepped down from his $223,000 a year post in August 2006, a month after a section of the tunnel ceiling collapsed, killing a passenger in a car.
So where did all the taxpayer money go?
“Matt got in way over his head and then got caught in the shifting winds,’’ said Edward Ginsburg, a former probate court judge recruited by Amorello to investigate contractors for possible refunds for shoddy work, but later pushed out by Amorello. “And then his whole life seemed to unravel.’’
Amorello was arrested shortly after 2 a.m. Saturday in the parking lot of a former Dairy Queen on River Street in Haverhill. He was charged with drunken driving and leaving the scene after causing property damage. He is accused of smashing into two parked cars, which sustained major damage, on the same street.
A witness told police he “observed flames shooting from the suspect’s motor vehicle as he was driving without a front left wheel,’’ according to a police report.
The first officer on the scene found Amorello sitting behind the wheel of his damaged car.
“He seemed to be out of it,’’ police wrote. Amorello refused to get out of the car and continued to grip the steering wheel even after police sprayed him twice with pepper spray, according to the report. It took three officers to pull him from the car and drag him to a cruiser. He refused to take a breath analysis test, police said.
Guilty.
A relative posted Amorello’s $40 bail later Saturday.
That's it?
Haverhill District Judge Stephen Abany issued the warrant for Amorello’s arrest when he did not appear at his scheduled arraignment.
“The booking pictures of Matt Amorello are the ultimate humiliation of a proud and sensitive man,’’ said Ginsburg. “He always took pride in his appearance.
“The whole episode is very sad,’’ Ginsburg said. “Whatever you may have thought of him as a professional, he was not mean-spirited. Quite to the contrary, he perhaps wanted too much to please.’’
Gimme a frikkin' break!
Amorello had no prior moving violations, according to the Registry of Motor Vehicles. However, he had been notified last month that his Massachusetts license would be suspended Aug. 21 unless he paid a fine for being cited in Hamilton for driving without an inspection sticker, according to the Registry.
And he WORKED for the HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT, huh?
Before he resigned from the Turnpike Authority, Amorello and his lawyers negotiated a severance package that allowed him to continue to collect his salary for six months after his departure. He also received about $54,000 in unused vacation pay, the Globe reported in 2006.
And you wonder why your services are being slashed, Bay-Staters?
Amorello becomes eligible for a state pension, estimated to be more than $40,000 annually, plus health care coverage, when he turns age 55, based on eight years of service as a state senator and seven years as a transportation official.
Related: The Massachusetts Model: Municipal Health Mess
Nice taxpayer-funded health plan, huh?
Too bad you can't get that, taxpayers.
Also see: Towns to Pay Health Tax For Public Servants
You might need that insurance after the kick to the lower region there.
But meanwhile, friends and former associates said he has had trouble finding work.
Now it is TROUBLE FINDING WORK, not UNABLE to FIND a JOB!
Why the PULLING on your HEART-STRINGS for a public-endangering drunk driver, Globe?
Jordan Levy, a former Turnpike Authority board member, said Amorello unfairly became the scapegoat for every sin of the Big Dig.
“The roof that collapsed was already up when Matt arrived at the Big Dig,’’ he said. “The wall that breached was already poured. The leaks were already there.’’
Previous Big Dig managers are hardly mentioned in public at all, Levy added.
“He took a big hit when the ceiling collapsed, and the guy has been down for a long time since then,’’ he said. “To lose your wife, lose your family, lose your home, lose your opportunity to hold a job. That’s as bad as it gets.’’
So?
Many people have LOST a LOT MORE and DON'T HOP BEHIND the wheel of a CAR BLASTED out of their SKULL!!!
And HE TOOK a BIG HIT when that WOMAN was KILLED?
Related: The Price of a Massachusetts Life
Not worth very much, is it?
In 2008, Amorello’s wife of 12 years divorced him. The couple have a young son. That same year, he appeared before the State Ethics Commission to answer charges that he violated conflict-of-interest laws by changing sick leave policy that would affect him. He was later fined $2,000.
Until his divorce, Amorello and his family lived in a two-story wood-frame house on Larch Row in Wenham, surrounded by farms and acres of land where horses graze. In January, the bank forceclosed on the house purchased by the Amorellos for $595,000 in 2001, according to real estate records.
And we should feel sorry for him because.... ?
How is HE any different from the MILLIONS of OTHER Americans, huh?
Last year, Amorello and one of his brothers cofounded Mayo Renewable Energy, a company that focuses on solar energy, and for the past year Amorello has served as a consultant.
So he WASN'T REALLY UNEMPLOYED, huh?
But Moscardelli said Amorello told him that he had had countless lunches and breakfasts with business people about prospective jobs, but was always told: “Matt, you’re too radioactive . . . We can’t hire you.’’
I know the feeling.
Of course, neither you nor I would have received such a glowing defense in the Globe.
Nor would we have had the judge treat us like this:
"Arrest warrant for Amorello is dropped; Court told that he is still in hospital" by Sean P. Murphy, Globe Staff | August 11, 2010
The arrest warrant for Matthew Amorello, the former Massachusetts Turnpike Authority chairman who is facing drunken-driving charges, was dropped yesterday after his lawyer told a judge Amorello remains hospitalized.
Amorello was arrested by Haverhill police over the weekend and failed to show up in Haverhill District Court on Monday to be arraigned on the charges, leading a judge to order that a default arrest warrant be issued for him.
Yesterday, however, defense lawyer William Hogan III told a judge that his client did not show up because he was at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester. Hogan said in court that Amorello remains at the Worcester medical facility, but did not discuss what kind of treatment he was receiving.
Amorello is now due in court Aug. 24, according to a spokesman for Essex District Attorney Jonathan W. Blodgett....
A former state senator and state Highway Department commissioner, Amorello has experienced a downward spiral in his life.... His marriage ended. He lost his Wenham home to foreclosure. And he had trouble finding a new job, friends said.
That is a lot different than unable to find a job.
Amorello failed to file a state income tax return for calendar years 2008 and 2009, according to state Department of Revenue records. A return is required of anyone who earns at least $8,000 in a year.
Un-flipping-real!
And now the POLICE are on the DEFENSIVE?
This guy must have FRIENDS in HIGH PLACES!!!
"Police defend Amorello booking" by Shelley Murphy and Sean P. Murphy, Globe Staff | August 12, 2010
The Haverhill police chief defended yesterday his department’s handling of the former head of the Big Dig, saying that Matthew Amorello was awake but extremely uncooperative when police tried to photograph him while booking him on drunken driving charges last weekend, requiring officers to hold his head up while his picture was snapped.
“This was a guy who did not want his picture taken, would not lift his head up, and had his eyes closed because he was being uncooperative,’’ Chief Alan R. DeNaro said, “not because he was in a coma, not because he was unconscious.’’
The booking photos, which were filed in Haverhill District Court with the police report on his arrest, drew widespread criticism for how they portrayed Amorello.
You be the judge:
They don't like it being posted?
That's why it's up.
In them, Amorello has his eyes closed, fueling speculation that he was unconscious. Many voiced criticism on talk radio and online, condemning the Globe and other media outlets for publishing the photos.
Since when has the Globe cared what we say?
The police report alleged that the 52-year-old Amorello was so intoxicated when he hit two parked cars in Haverhill early Saturday morning that they had to use pepper spray to get him out of his car.
His attorney, William T. Hogan III, declined to comment on DeNaro’s depiction of Amorello’s behavior. But he did issue a statement saying, “Matt and his family appreciate all the numerous expressions of support that we have received. We are grateful to each of you. Matt is feeling better, he continues to make progress and is thankful for everyone’s concern.’’
The statement said Amorello and his family could not comment further....
Amorello is due in Haverhill District Court on Aug. 24, to face charges of drunken driving and leaving the scene of an accident after causing property damage. He did not appear in court as scheduled Aug. 9 because he was hospitalized at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester for an undisclosed reason, his lawyer told the court earlier this week.
Then why didn't his lawyer notify the court, and who is phonying up the paperwork for him?
Stuff like this explains why there was a full stack of Globes at the CVS this evening.
Am I the only one in town buying a Boston Globe?
