Disgraced former Transportation Secretary Monica Tibbits-Nutt officially off state payroll

Former state Transportation Secretary Monica Tibbits-Nutt is officially off the Massachusetts employee payroll after resigning in disgrace back in October and being allowed to keep her over $200,000 salary while she was demoted at MassDOT for the remainder of 2025.

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Records available on the state Comptroller’s website show Tibbits-Nutt has received her final paycheck — a $7,942.17 payment towards her $206,496 annual salary. The six-figure pay was the annual rate Tibbits-Nutt received during her final year as transportation secretary.

Gov. Maura Healey allowed her to keep that pay rate after Tibbits-Nutt resigned in October over controversy surrounding the collapse of a service plaza deal that would have bilked taxpayers nearly $900 million.

MassDOT, under Tibbits-Nutt’s leadership, awarded a 35-year contract to Applegreen — a politically connected bidder — despite independent analysis showing a competitor’s proposal would have delivered more revenue to the state. Applegreen suddenly withdrew when the conflict of interest issues came to public light, causing the entire bidding process to collapse.

The service-plaza debacle wasn’t the only instance when Tibbits-Nutt brought negative attention to the Healey administration. In April 2024, she spoke to a special interest group and vowed to raise taxes and fees, disparaged truck and SUV drivers, and even stated that she would use her authority to use state policy as a “weapon,” among other shocking statements that Healey would later publicly criticize.

“I will not spend one day trying to keep my job. I just won’t,” Tibbits-Nutt said during her 2024 tirade. “Because otherwise it makes it very very hard to actually do the job correctly. You’re going to make tons of enemies. You’re going to have to say things people don’t want to hear because it’s going to make them feel really bad or it’s going to put them in a position in which they have no choice but to now do something with what you just said.”

“I’ll 100% use it as a weapon (policy)… Once I say it, it’s now a policy. I have now weighed in,” she said.

Tibbits-Nutt also publicly proposed an idea to install tolls on the New Hampshire-Massachusetts border — something Healey again had to walk back, explaining to the press that she had made it clear to the transportation secretary that tolls were not something the administration was interested in.

It makes for the second time a former member of the Healey administration received pay from the corner office after leaving their former government position in disgrace, or even handcuffs.

On Monday, the Herald reported that embattled former Healey aide LaMar Cook had been paid an over $31,000 contract buyout by the governor’s office after he was fired for his arrest on cocaine trafficking and gun charges.

The Executive Office of Administration and Finance told the Herald the payout was the result of an “error” in the department and that the administration is working to get the money back, adding that they are preparing to take legal action.

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