Romney's B/PB conflict

Published Jul 19 2006, 05:29 PM by Adam Reilly

[Guest blogging: David S. Bernstein]

Mitt Romney has officially taken the reins of the investigation into the Big Dig tunnel collapse, which means he’s in charge of finally squeezing information and culpability out of the two companies that jointly ran the project as general contractors: Bechtel Group and Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade and Douglas.

But Romney’s willingness to do so could be compromised, or at least appear that way. Just 10 weeks before the roof came crashing down in the I-90 connector, Romney accepted generous contributions from both Bechtel and Parsons Brinckerhoff, made to the Republican Governors Association (RGA), of which he is the chairman.

Parsons Brinckerhoff and Bechtel National, the government services subsidiary of Bechtel Corp., gave identical sums, $10,000 each, on the same date, April 27, according to RGA reports filed last weekend with the Internal Revenue Service. Companies or individuals can give unlimited contributions to the RGA fund, which is a so-called “527” political organization.

Romney attended RGA fundraising events in Washington, DC, on April 25, and in New York City on April 26. RGA records show no contributions on those days, but a dozen on the 27th.

Romney’s office referred questions about the contributions to Phil Musser, RGA’s executive director, who said that he did not believe that Romney met with representatives from either company during those late-April fundraising trips. “There is an annual gala the RGA hosts in February -- they probably made the pledges in conjunction with that,” Musser said.

Both companies have been supporters of the RGA -- and the Democratic Governors Association (DGA) -- for several years, Musser noted. Records show that Parsons Brinckerhoff gave $10,000 to DGA earlier in April, and Bechtel gave $10,000 in June.