Turnpike report due out by fall
HARRISBURG — A report on the procedures and business practices of the Pennsylvania Turnpike is expected to be released this fall.
The report, which was requested by the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, will be issued by a three-member panel that includes Cranberry Township resident Maureen Lally-Green, the associate general secretary for the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh.
Lally-Green was a state Superior Court judge and is an adjunct professor at Duquesne University School of Law.
The three-member panel was formed more than a year ago after several former high ranking Turnpike officials were charged in a grand jury indictment issued by the state attorney general.
The charges against the officials related to a system allegedly involving bribes and political contributions costing taxpayers millions of dollars, according to the grand jury report.
“Over the past twelve months the Committee has met with senior turnpike staff and employees from different departments at the Commission,” William Capone, a spokesman for the Turnpike, said in an e-mail. “The Committee has been briefed on various aspects of Turnpike operations and have reviewed Turnpike policies, practices, procedures, guidelines, etc.”
Capone said the panel is nearing the end of its review.
“The committee is currently working on its draft report and hopes to have it completed by early September,” he said.
Lally-Green reiterated the timetable for completion.
“Our goal is to be able to complete it within the next month or two,” she said.
She declined to comment on details of the report until after it is complete.
The advisory committee has looked into the methods and practices of how the Turnpike does business, noting what works and what does not.
Among the eight people indicted by the grand jury last year were former state Sen. Robert Mellow; Joseph Brimmeier, the former Turnpike CEO; Mitchell Rubin, the former chairman of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission; and George Hatalowich, the former chief operating officer of the Turnpike commission.
Among the charges against the four are bid-rigging and bribery.
Others indicted by the grand jury were two contractors and two Turnpike employees.
Vendors were reportedly told that campaign contributions were directly linked to their ability to work on the highway.
The other two panel members are John L. Gedid of Mechanicsburg, a retired law professor and director of the Law and Government Institute at Widener University School of Law’s Harrisburg campus, and M.G. Patel of Harrisburg, a former construction company executive and retired chief engineer at the state Department of Transportation.
