Gov. Healey says ‘no’ plan to fire transportation secretary after border toll scandal

Gov. Maura Healey doubled down on her support for Transportation Secretary Monica Tibbits-Nutt, telling the Herald Tuesday that she has no plan to fire Tibbits-Nutt following an uproar over border toll comments the secretary made earlier this month.

A day after offering a strong rebuke of Tibbits-Nutt’s briefly-floated idea to place tolls at the Massachusetts border to boost long-term transportation funding, Healey said “no” when asked if she was considering removing the secretary from her post as at least one conservative group has called on her to do.

“I have confidence in her leadership. I’ve addressed with her the comments that she made and I’ve also been clear about my position on this,” Healey said as she walked out of an interview with WBUR’s Radio Boston.

At an advocacy event nearly two weeks ago, Tibbits-Nutt said a task force created to brainstorm recommendations for a sustainable transportation finance plan could discuss tolling drivers at the state border, statements Healey later said did “not represent the views of this administration.”

In a self-described “unfiltered” address, Tibbits-Nutt also criticized owners of pick-up trucks, declared she would “not make it that long” in state government, and said she would “100% use” public conversations and statements about policy as “a weapon.”

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Healey said that was a “very poor choice of words.”

“It’s not how we do things. It’s not how we operate and we’ve moved on from that,” Healey said during the WBUR appearance. “What is important for folks to know is at the end of the day, as governor, for better or worse, I’m going to make the policy in consultation with my team and make the recommendations and recommendations to the Legislature.”

But conservatives, who have little sway over policy matters and decisions on Beacon Hill, have excoriated Tibbits-Nutt over her remarks, which were delivered in a recorded speech at a WalkMassachusetts event.

Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance spokesman Paul Craney said Monday that Healey should “sack” Tibbits-Nutt over the “weapon” remark.

“People that view taxation and our government as a weapon to be used against individuals they don’t like are a critical danger to our democracy and people rightly lose confidence in any public official who thinks that way. Gov. Maura Healey needs to step up and remove Secretary Tibbits-Nutt from her position before she does real damage to the state,” Craney said in a statement.

In a statement Monday, Healey said she had “confidence in (Tibbits-Nutt’s) leadership moving forward.”

Tibbits-Nutt took over as transportation secretary in November after former Secretary Gina Fiandaca abruptly resigned from the post earlier in the fall with little explanation.

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