The former Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the Maine Turnpike Authority reportedly “threaten[ed], intimidate[d], and humiliate[d] employees” while simultaneously insulating himself from accountability.
This conduct was revealed by a 17-page report, obtained by the Portland Press Herald and published Thursday morning, detailing the results of an investigation into the former CFO conducted by arbitrator and mediator John C. Alfano.
The Press Herald reached out to Executive Director of the Turnpike Authority Peter Mills — brother of Gov. Janet Mills (D) — who confirmed the authenticity of the report, explaining that the investigation was launched at some point after the former CFO, identified as Doug Davidson, left the agency this past summer.
Davidson is now the “Finance Director” of Shalom House, one of Portland’s largest taxpayer-funded non-profits.
This report was originally presented on May 1 of this year during an executive session of the Board of Directors with about twenty-five employees in attendance.
Peter Mills, according to the Portland newspaper, sent an email instructing a reporter to “consider carefully” whether to publish the sensational report detailing more than a decade of misconduct by a longtime employee of a quasi-governmental organization.
It is suggested in the report that the Board was unaware of the former CFO’s conduct, but “many employees believe that the Board knew or should have known but did not care.”
Similarly, the report also states that the Mills was not aware of this behavior, but because “the Former CFO methodically took over most of the Turnpike’s daily operations,” many employees also expressed the belief that he too either knew or should have known about what was happening.
Despite this dysfunction, the report concludes that “the Turnpike functioned well which is testimony to the employees’ commitment and dedication to their jobs.”
According to the report, the concerns surrounding the Davidson originated more than eleven years ago when the Authority’s long-time Executive Director resigned and “took most of the institutional knowledge with him.”
That former director, Paul Violette, resigned amid a corruption scandal and Government Oversight Committee investigation.
Shortly thereafter, the Assistant Executive Director also left the Maine Turnpike Authority, leaving Davidson as the one with “the most knowledge of the full operation.”
The report notes, however, the “others may have had such information primarily related to their own assignments.”
“The bulk of the institutional knowledge for the full operation however was taken by the former Executive Director, and later by the employee who functioned as the assistant,” the report explains.
This, consequently, created “a vacuum that the Former CFO stepped up to fill.”
“He gained support and trust by supplying the Board and the organization with answers that the new members and Mills needed to understand the depth and breadth of Turnpike’s total operation,” the report continues. “The Former CFO had broad knowledge of how the parts of the Turnpike functioned because he approved and paid the bills for all the departments. He always had the answers for the Board and Mills, especially in the early days which should have been healthy and productive for the Turnpike.”
“However,” the report states, “he had his own agenda that with his behavior caused the events that initiated this Evaluation.”
The report goes on to detail how Davidson was found to have used his position inappropriately, including to “threaten, intimidate, and humiliate employees” by insinuating that he would fire them and convincing them that there was no one to whom they could complain.
Davidson, the report says, even told employees that he had access to the MTA whistleblower private data — meaning that if they complained, he would know.
“The Former CFO, sensing the vacuum, worked diligently to fill it primarily to consolidate his power and control,” the report argues. “He already had considerable knowledge of general operational and general employee personal information. He worked diligently to collect more of that information to threaten, intimidate, and humiliate employees primarily to control and force them to do his bidding. No one was immune.”
“He gathered information by any means necessary to use for his advantage. Employees were threatened with firing, subtly and not so subtly, to produce information and do what he told them,” the report continued. “He protected himself by convincing employees that they had nowhere to go to complain. He used his close relationship with the Board to convince employees that he would know their complaints, who complained, and who received their complaints.”
“He also convinced them that the ‘whistle-blower’ line was not secure and that he would know who complained because of his position as Board Treasurer and his having the Board’s trust,” said the report. “He told employees that because he had the Board in his ‘pocket, who would they believe, you or me?’ Over time, victimized employees believed they had to suffer his abuse because there was no safe place to complain.”
“He derived power over individuals because he had access to information which he used for his personal benefit,” concluded the report. “The extent that he would use any information against individuals sometimes was vicious.”
The report also describes the Davidson as having “consolidated operation information” by “discouraging” interdepartmental discussion.
“He made it known that he did not want them to meet unless he attended. When he did attend, he would focus the meeting on himself and make inappropriate comments, including criticizing employees personally or professionally, discussing their personal information and private family information, all of which caused employees not to share information with each other and not complain about his behavior,” the report said.
“There is no way to determine that had that information been shared properly may have increased efficiency, improved service to the public, and how much of a financial loss it may have been to the Turnpike,” the report suggests. “He derived power from operational information and employees’ personal information, much of it for his benefit.”
It is also said in the report that “new and different ideas were discouraged unless they were his.”
The report went on to recommend a series of changes that the Turnpike Authority ought to consider in light of this behavior to help ensure that similar situations do not arise in the future.
To accomplish this, the report suggested, among other things, reviewing the ability to have employees be simultaneously appointed to the Board, implementing a procedure for replacing key employees, and creating another top-level management position.
It was also recommended in the report that the Authority take steps to secure employees’ confidential information and encourage more effective interdepartmental communication.
Although the report did not identify the Former CFO by name, the Portland Press Herald deduced based on the timeline that Davidson was the subject of the investigation in question and reached out to him for comment.
“The accusation here is that I was mean to people, I guess,” Davidson said to a Press Herald reporter. “I had 500 employees and many directors. Not all of them are going to like you.”
Davidson indicated that he got along well with Mills, but referred to him as a “politician” who was not involved with the agency’s day-to-day operations.
“Peter is not a detail person,” Davidson said. “He didn’t want to deal with issues, so he sent me to deal with them.”
According to Davidson, he had never heard any complaints about his conduct, but he did recall a dispute between an employee and a union shortly before he stepped down from his position.
Because he was criticized for siding with the union, the Press Herald explained that he indicated it “felt like a good time for him to find another career.”
The Press Herald further reported that Davidson said he knew nothing about this report and was completely unaware that the agency had been investigating his conduct.
After being provided a copy of the report, Davidson said that he was surprised both by its contents and the fact that he was not contacted by the agency or given the opportunity to participate in the investigation.
Mills told a reporter from the Press Herald that “the report speaks for itself” and explained that there “has been no mystery internally about this document.”
The Press Herald went on to ask Mills how he remained unaware of Davidson’s conduct, to which he replied that there were “many facets to this.”
“He’s a very smart man,” Mills said.
Mills reportedly reached out to the Press Herald after this interview, urging them “to consider carefully whether publication is appropriate.”
“As you can tell, this is a personnel matter that was never intended for public consumption,” he wrote. “If there is risk of causing damage to someone’s reputation, it seems reasonable to think twice before deciding whether and what to publish or release.”
The Press Herald did not explain in their report Thursday how the paper came to be in possession of this report.
