I just bumped into Joseph Marie, who about a year ago was hired by Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell to take over the Department of Transportation.
I asked Marie for his thoughts on a proposal by legislative Republicans to merge the Department of Motor Vehicles into the DOT. The proposal was one of a over one dozen agency mergers/cuts the GOP minority put on the table a few weeks ago as part of their effort to cut the state’s potential, $8.7 billion budget deficit.
“I’ve got enough on my plate already,” Marie said with a smile. “That’s my initial thought.”
Marie came to Connecticut from Arizona following Rell’s nationwide search for someone to reform a department she has called “broken.”
“To be frank, I’m not sure I see a tremendous amount of synergy” between DOT and DMV, Marie said.
He said his agency is focused on operations and maintenance while the DMV deals mainly with licensing issues.
