It's not about tolls, [Jordan Levy] and [Christy Mihos] say. At the same meeting where they voted to postpone the toll hikes, Levy and Mihos also moved to bring some accountability to the Big Dig. The pair, a majority on the three-member Pike board, called for the naming of an "owner's engineer" for the $14.5 billion project and requiring a "peer review" of cost overruns.

Why? Probably because Bechtel doesn't want anyone messing with its cash cow. And Bechtel is renowned for its political clout and its campaign contributions. Because Levy has been on Bechtel's case, [Jane Swift] and others have been trying to pry him off the Pike board for years. They tried to get Mihos to join their effort, Mihos says, offering to make him her running mate for lieutenant governor just weeks before Swift started calling him names and trying to fire him.

In any event, Mihos and Levy have quite a story to tell. Negotiations with Bechtel that nearly brought $50 million in Big Dig overruns back to state coffers - until they were undermined by a call from Swift's office. Negotiations on a compromise with a top Swift aide - Patrick Guerriero, now running for lieutenant governor - undermined at the last minute by the surprise demand for the resignations of Mihos and Levy.