RMV no-shows speak volumes

Maybe they were out getting more bins. Perhaps that is why a group of mid-level RMV managers failed to show up for a Joint Transportation Committee hearing Monday on Beacon Hill.

As the Herald’s Mary Markos reported, House Transportation Committee Chairman William Straus, along with Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Joseph Boncore ended the hearing when only Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack, acting Registrar Jamey Tesler and a representative from the auditing firm Grant Thornton appeared — and not the RMV managers the legislators wanted to grill about the agency’s deadly failure to keep up with license suspensions.

Where were they? Did someone tell them to stay away?

Regardless, it was a disgraceful spectacle and it is compounded by the reality that malfeasance at the RMV may have been responsible for the fact that trucker Volodymyr Zhukovskyy was on the road when he allegedly killed seven bikers in a crash in New Hampshire. He had multiple violations in multiple states.

What does it say to the families of the victims that managers of the RMV could not be bothered to explain to elected representatives how such an oversight, which kept Zhukovskyy on the road, could have occurred?

House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo issued a scathing statement.

“I am extremely disappointed by the lack of cooperation this morning by MassDOT,” DeLeo said. “I call upon the administration and MassDOT to participate in the committee’s factfinding process without exception or qualification. The Legislature will not be thwarted in the discharge of its oversight responsibilities. The citizens of the Commonwealth deserve nothing less.”

The absence of the RMV managers wasn’t the only sign that the wagons were circling. Lawmakers were told late Friday that three people would be testifying — Pollack, Tesler and a Grant Thornton representative — and that those three would not discuss any RMV policies or procedures before late June, citing the ongoing investigation into the agency.

Would not discuss any RMV policies during investigation? None?

Ridiculous.

It all happened while Gov. Baker was away in Aspen, Colo., attending the Republican Governors Association’s summer meeting. His office provided a statement that Pollack will share the findings from the administration’s RMV review and “looks forward to working with the Committee to improve oversight at the RMV.”

Pollack told reporters, “We will continue to work with the committee to find a path forward that satisfies their needs but maintains the integrity of the Grant Thornton forensic audit.”

It is unbelievable and unacceptable that the RMV has gone into a communication lockdown, pending the findings of their audit. The people of Massachusetts through their representatives deserve to have their questions answered. It cannot stand that a series of colossal errors at the hands of managers at the RMV has earned them a protected status.

The RMV managers who ducked the hearings on Monday should receive subpoenas and must be compelled to be forthright during testimony — the words “Grant Thornton” should not be uttered even once.

Secretary Pollack has once again shown why she should no longer be employed by the state and Gov. Baker should oversee the review process himself.

We must clean house at the RMV.