Excellent article on the corruption of Gov. Pol. CDOT disaster.

“Crony Bidding And Gross Incompetence Reign Part I Of A II Part Series by Charles C. Bonniwell At a time when Coloradans are desperately pleading for improved and new roadways the agency in charge of the same, the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT), is mired in the greatest crisis of its long-storied existence according to insiders.

CDOT Executive Director: Shoshana Lew, a history major in college, became the head of CDOT at age 35 with no engineering or construction management experience due to political connections in Washington, D.C. Formed in 1917 to administer state government transportation responsibilities it long had the reputation for the most competent and least politically comprised department in Colorado government. Unfortunately, according to people who currently work with CDOT, that is no longer the case. Perfect Storm The convergence of two events has turned CDOT upside down. The first was the Orwellian named “Keep Jobs in Colorado Act of 2013.” Previously under CRS Sec. 24-92-109 all public projects in excess of $50,000 had to be “awarded by competitive bid.” The drawbacks to this method include occasional “bid rigging” by competing contractors. In addition, so-called “change orders” can drive up costs of a competitively bid project. But overall this method, which was used for decades by CDOT, was the least subjective and generally viewed fairest method to have projects completed at the lowest cost. Washington Insider In December 2018, Governor Jared Polis appointed 35-year-old Shoshana Lew as his new Executive Director, a history major at Harvard University with an M.A. in American History from Northwestern. She replaced Governor Hickenlooper’s appointment of 56-year-old Michael Lewis, an engineer with extensive public construction management experience. Lew’s appointment was a shock to CDOT employees. Lew’s primary qualification, according to insiders, was her close relationship to Michelle Obama who called the newly elected governor for a favor — find a job for Shoshana Lew. Lew is the daughter of President Obama’s Chief of Staff and later Secretary of the Treasury, Jack Lew. Ms. Lew is considered by some as an example of how the rich and well connected can use their positions to secure favored treatment in and outside of government. While originally intending to get a doctorate in history and become a history professor, she instead joined the Washington based liberal Brookings Institute as a policy analyst. Almost magically, although in her 20s with no experience, she entered the Obama administration and soon became a senior adviser at the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and policy adviser at the White House Domestic Policy Council. With no financial background whatsoever, she next was appointed Chief Financial Officer of U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) as well as garnering other impressive titles.

Pomp And Circumstance: Shoshana Lew, age 29, arrives at the White House for a state function with her father Jack Lew, U.S. Treasury Secretary. She quickly rose up the bureaucratic ladder with the Obama administration. Image Credit: REUTERS/Yuri Gripas – stock.adobe.com As the Obama administration began winding down, she parlayed her position as CFO of USDOT to become the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) in the spring of 2017. After a controversial reign as COO for RIDOT of just over one year she was appointed Executive Director of CDOT in December 2018 by Governor Polis — a job, according to CDOT employees, she was wholly ill prepared for. CDOT employs over 3,300 people and has an annual budget in excess of $4.5 billion. Are Our Darn Roads Even On Her List? On October 7, 2019, Lew gave an interview with Colorado Public Radio to discuss her job as Executive Director. A horrified listener, Jane Glenn of Sterling, wrote to the South Platte Sentinel: Basically, she’s bike lanes, big buses, walking paths, light rail, and electric cars. Are our darn roads even on her list? The answer is, of course, no. She is a history major with no background in engineering or construction management. But, of course, there are plenty of people in and outside of CDOT who have years of experience in both of those fields and with the hen house opened up with a largely clueless Executive Director and the CMGC bidding process easy to abuse, they rushed to take advantage. Revolving Door CDOT has had a massive exit of its top personnel, all of whom have left once they became eligible for early retirement with PERA benefits. They joined consulting firms who now have overtaken the jobs, including design, testing and inspection, that CDOT once performed internally. If you have a firm for any such functions and are not heavily filled with former CDOT employees, you are highly unlikely to be contracted with CDOT.

I-25 Congestion: In interviews Lew has evidenced little interest in improving existing roads or the building of new roads in Colorado, notwithstanding Colorado failing to keep up with the massive influx of new residents over the last decade.”