Carcieri shakes up staff; Big Dig director hired

In a shakeup of his inner circle, Gov. Donald L. Carcieri plans to move his current director of administration into a job as deputy chief of staff, and shift his transportation director into the top job at the R.I. Department of Administration.
Carcieri on Feb. 15 said he would nominate Jerome F. Williams, who has served as director of the R.I. Department of Transportation since January 2007, as the next director of administration.
Carcieri’s choice to replace Williams as transportation director is Michael Lewis, who as project director at the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority led the Big Dig from April 2000 until last December.
Beverly Najarian, who has served as director of administration since 2004, is to replace John R. Pagliarini as Carcieri’s deputy chief of staff. Pagliarini will no longer work for the Carcieri administration, said Jeff Neal, the governor’s spokesman.
And Pagliarini may not be the only senior administration official ousted in the governor’s administrative shuffle.
Carcieri also said he has appointed John Robitaille, president of Middletown-based Perspective Communications Group, as his senior advisor for communications. There’s no word yet on what that might mean for the governor’s current communications director, Steve Kass.
“I’m very pleased to announce that Bev Najarian and John Robitaille have agreed to join my senior staff,” Carcieri said. “Bev has been one of my key aides since 2003. As director of the Department of Administration, she has successfully spearheaded a number of my government reform initiatives and saved millions of dollars for Rhode Island taxpayers.
“John Robitaille brings over 25 years of public relations, strategic, marketing and internal communications experience to his new role,” Carcieri continued. “I’m very pleased that he was willing to give up his lucrative private business to join my team.”
The governor did not explain why he made the moves. Neal told PBN last week he could not elaborate.
Robitaille’s appointment signaled the beginning of a restructuring of Carcieri’s media-relations office, according to a press release from the governor’s office. It has not been determined what, if any, role Kass – who is currently on sick leave – will play on the governor’s communications team, Neal said.
In selecting Lewis as the next DOT director, Carcieri tapped the person who played a role in managing the Big Dig from the early 1990s, and was the project’s top administrator during the uproar over the death of a motorist in the Interstate 90 tunnel and controversy over hundreds of tunnel leaks.
As DOT director, Lewis will oversee Rhode Island’s $610 million Interstate 195 relocation project.
“Gov. Carcieri believes that Jerry Williams was the best candidate to take over at Department of Administration, given his background at that department during two different stints,” Neal said. “In order to make that happen, it was obviously necessary for the governor to hire someone to replace Mr. Williams as DOT director. We were fortunate enough to get the recommendation from federal highway regarding Mr. Lewis. As part of the process we reached out to federal highway and asked for recommendations, and his name came back with significant praise.”
Both his and Williams’ nominations are subject to the approval by the state Senate. Greg Pare, a Senate spokesman, said Senate President Joseph Montalbano had not yet received the nominations from the governor and had no comment on them at this time.
But other state Democratic leaders took the opportunity to blast the Republican Carcieri’s administration.
“With the governor’s approval ratings at an all-time low, this looks more like re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic than a legitimate staff shakeup,” Democratic Party Chairman William J. Lynch said in a press release.
Larry Berman, a spokesman for House Speaker William J. Murphy, said House Finance Chairman Steven Costantino had worked closely with Pagliarini on budget discussions, meeting weekly with him and Brian Stern, Carcieri’s chief of staff.
“Costantino made it a point to let it be known that he had a good relationship with J.R. Pagliarini and he hopes that continues with – I guess we’re assuming it would be Beverly Najarian,” Berman said. &#8226