A cruise which drew headlines as the "Booze Cruise" when reports of drinking and a bare-breasted woman surfaced has cost the head of the Massachussetts Port Authority (Massport) his job. \nPETER BLUTE works the phones on his final day of work, as captured by the Boston Globe.
Peter Blute has resigned following the trip on the Booze Cruise paid for by his own agency, the Associated Press says. Photographs of the four-hour cruise were published in yesterday's Boston Herald - including one of the woman who exposed her breasts, although the paper blacked out the breasts for print.
But an anonymous source told the AP that Blute was not on deck when the woman bared her breasts.
"Recent errors in judgment by myself have called into question my ability to remain as executive director of this authority," said Blute, a former Congressman, in his resignation letter to Massachussetts Gov. Paul Cellucci. Cellucci concurred.
The Boston Globe, however, reports that Cellucci was furious when word of the Booze Cruise got to him and that he demanded Blute's resignation, although the paper says Blute denies he was fired.
Massport spokesman Jeremy Crockford said the agency reserved the boat and paid $834 for the charter, with the understanding that Maureen Stemberg - the former wife of Staples office supply chain founder Thomas Stemberg and who took the cruise to help plan a cancer benefit - would reimburse the agency. Meantime, the AP says, Blute wrote a personal check to repay Massport.
The Globe says Ms. Stemberg herself a cancer patient, at first balked on going on the cruise until she was approached by a woman who said she, too, does cancer charity work. That was the woman who later flashed her breasts.
Blute gives up a $120,000-a-year salary by resigning as the head of the agency which oversees Logan International Airport and the Port of Boston, with annual revenues of about $330 million. The booze cruise embarrasses the agency at a time when it faces severe community opposition over plans to expand a Logan Airport runway.
Blute was appointed to run Massport by then-Gov. William Weld after Blute lost his congressional seat in 1996.
The Booze Cruise incident was also embarrassing for lobbyist and former state Republican chairman Sandy Tennant. He showed up for the cruise bringing three young women in his white Mercedes - which he said he wasn't driving, in light of his license being revoked 120 days following a 20 May drunk driving arrest.
That happened, the AP says, shortly after Tennant challenged GOP presidential front-runner George W. Bush at a fund-raiser about the Texas governor's own past drinking problems.
But Tennant, who once served as Cellucci's campaign finance chairman, has also used his contacts with Cellucci to finance his lobbying business. Cellucci and Lt. Governor Jane Swift - a former Massport official under Blute until becoming Cellucci's running mate - say now they will sever all ties to Tennant.
And, although Cellucci is said to have liked Blute personally, there was reportedly some friction between them over Blute's loyalty. Blute is said to have been friendly with state Treasurer Joseph Malone - Cellucci's rival in last year's Republican gubernatorial primary.
Massport chief legal counsel Scott Kafker has been appointed interim Massport head.
