The Hiller Instinct: MBTA

But, this time, it's not passengers who are injured, it's politicians.

The "T" has crashed into Beacon Hill, where the bruised and bloodied bodies are piling up.

Do you know who this man is?  You should! Because, right now, Dan Grabauskas may be the most powerful person in state government and he's not even part of it anymore!

In the week since Governor Patrick forced him out of his job as the MBTA's general manager. Grabauskas hasn't just gotten mad, he's getting even.

He's embarrassed the governor, injured the integrity of his boss, State Transportation Secretary James Aloisi, and paralyzed planning for another "T" fare hike.

Now--by leaking information--Grabauskas is keeping the T in the news, and keeping the Patrick administration on the defensive.

Grabauskas is raising questions no one can answer.

Like, how could he get $327,000 to leave his job from an agency that's billions of dollars in debt?

A payoff Patrick says he opposes...

And how could the "T" even think about public hearings for another fare hike, when the legislature just hiked the sales tax to help the T pay its bills?

Now that the governor has just cancelled those hearings, doesn't it prove-- that for Aliosi--the "T" doesn't always stand for truth.

"And i know that when we talk to them face to face that they'll understand the situation that we're in," Aliosi said in June while planning to raise fares.

Here's what T riders and taxpayers understand:  the T is a time bomb and it's exploding in the governor's office.

Deval Patrick still has time to de-fuse it, but if waits too long, then like many riders on the T, he's going to be late.

I'm Andy Hiller, that's my instinct.

(Copyright (c) 2009 Sunbeam Television Corp. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)