PORTLAND – Paul Violette’s future as executive director of the Maine Turnpike Authority was in doubt Friday night.
About 6:30 p.m., the turnpike authority’s board of directors completed a two-hour closed-door meeting to discuss personnel matters.
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Earlier in the day, the Maine Republican Party issued a news release saying that Violette will step down next week.
And WMTW-TV, citing a legislative source, reported that the longtime director had resigned and cleaned out his desk Thursday.
Leaving the authority’s headquarters in Portland after their executive session, three board members declined to comment on the employment status of Violette. They said the board will reconvene at 8 a.m. Monday to continue its discussions.
Violette did not return calls for comment.
Violette “has not tendered his resignation,” said Scott Tompkins, public relations manager for the turnpike authority.
He said a public meeting will follow Monday’s meeting of the board of directors.
Violette, who has led the quasi-state agency for 23 years, has come under fire from Republicans for the authority’s spending practices in recent years.
Friday was the deadline for the turnpike authority to produce documents explaining who received gift cards and gift certificates to expensive hotels from the authority.
Turnpike officials have said the practice ended in 2007.
Republican Sen. Roger Katz of Augusta, co-chairman of the Legislature’s Government Oversight Committee, has criticized the authority for $157,000 in gift certificate expenses that were disclosed last month in a report by the Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability. The report covered five years, from 2005 to 2009.
Katz said Friday evening that the authority had not turned over the requested documents during the day. He said subpoena power can be used if a request for information is not honored.
In a news release issued Friday by the Maine Republican Party, Chairman Charlie Webster said, “Maine Republicans have been trying to get to the bottom of this kind of nonsense for years. Now that we’re in control of state government, we’re finally seeing some results.”
The gift cards, bought with toll money collected by the authority, were spent on “luxury hotel chains such as Marriott, and other ones that make the Marriott look like Motel 6,” Katz said in February.
The list included the Chateau Frontenac in Quebec City and The Leading Hotels of the World. Katz also cited gift certificates from Relais & Chateaux, a company with “an exclusive collection of 475 of the finest hotels and gourmet restaurants in 55 countries,” according to its website.
In a memo to government accountability investigators, Violette wrote that the authority’s records were insufficient to determine the amount of the donations and who received them.
He did say that he recalled giving gift certificates to groups including the Maine Better Transportation Association, Maine Preservation, The Friends of Scarborough Marsh, the Family Crisis Shelter and Ducks Unlimited.
The turnpike authority operates and maintains the 106-mile toll road that generates about $100 million in annual revenue.
Staff Writer Jonathan Hemmerdinger can be reached at 791-6316 or at: jhemmerdinger@pressherald.com
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