An internal report about the inner workings at the Maine Turnpike Authority describes efforts by a former employee to threaten and intimidate workers who felt powerless to complain.

The document, first obtained by the Portland Press Herald and posted to the newspaper’s website, details what it describes as a “dysfunctional relationship” created by former Chief Financial Officer Doug Davidson.

The report was authorized by Maine Turnpike Authority Executive Director Peter Mills, brother of Gov. Janet Mills.

Peter Mills told Spectrum News Thursday that Davidson retired in July and that he could not comment on whether he was aware of problems with Davidson’s on-the-job performance.

“The report is what it is, it speaks for itself,” Mills said. “The report is refreshing. It has a list of things to work on.”

The 17-page evaluation authored by John C. Alfano, arbitrator and mediator, is based on employee interviews and pegs the beginning of the problems to the resignation 11 years ago of long-time executive director Paul Violette.

In 2012, Violette was sentenced to seven years in prison for the theft of turnpike authority funds, according to the Maine Attorney General’s Office. He pled guilty to theft involving the use of unauthorized gift cards and credit cards he bought with turnpike authority funds for personal travel, meals and other expenses.

His departure and the exit of another top turnpike official “caused a vacuum that the former CFO stepped up to fill,” the report states.

“He already had considerable knowledge of general operational and general employee personal information,” the report states. “He worked diligently to collect more of that information to threaten, intimidate, and humiliate employees primarily to control and force them to do his bidding.”

Reached by phone Thursday, Davidson did not want to talk about the report.

“I was surprised by the whole thing and I’m just going to leave it at that,” he said.

Mills said it’s important to understand that the report is based on interviews with only a small subset of people who work in the turnpike office. The authority employs more than 340, including maintenance workers, toll collectors, finance employees, information technology experts and human resources specialists.

He said the authority has already implemented some of the recommendations in the report, including publishing the policy manual online for workers and the public to see and requiring human resources to report directly to Mills.

The board has also authorized him to hire an assistant executive director to beef up top management.

In a statement, Gov. Janet Mills’ spokesman Ben Goodman said the governor was not aware of the evaluation nor has she read the report.

Goodman said that although the governor appoints the board of directors for the turnpike authority — all of whom require Senate confirmation — it is not a state agency.

“Recognizing that the Executive Director of the Turnpike Authority is the Governor’s sibling, the Governor believes it is appropriate to not comment on the report in order to preserve the independent judgment of the Board and whatever action it may deem necessary to uphold the interests of the Turnpike Authority,” he said.

The report accuses Davidson of telling employees that he “had the board in his pocket,” leaving workers to feel “they had to suffer his abuse because there was not safe place to complain.”

Peter Mills said the board will hold a special meeting in a couple of weeks to hear directly from the workers and that he’s setting up subcommittees to help with weak spots identified in the report.

“It’s a great series of guideposts,” Mills said. “We deserve to be looked at once in a while.”