The increasingly public feud between the heads of the state Transportation Department and Transportation Commission showed no signs of easing Friday.

Department Director Elizabeth Mabry went on the offensive Thursday against Commission Chairman Tee Hooper's calls for her resignation. She wrote an opinion piece to newspapers accusing Hooper of trying to wreck the agency. In it, she contends Hooper's criticism of her is part of a political effort to shift the department to Gov. Mark Sanford's Cabinet, which would give Sanford control over the DOT's daily operations.

Hooper said Friday that Mabry's letter was timed to draw attention away from a Legislative Audit Council report on the DOT scheduled for public release in two weeks. Hooper and Mabry have seen the report, he said.

"It's not a political issue to me. It's a management issue," he said.

Last week, Hooper called for Mabry's resignation at a DOT board meeting.

"I don't like doing it in public, but I feel accountable to the taxpayers. I don't know of any other way to say publicly that I think we have problems," he said.

In her article, Mabry noted that Sanford picked Hooper to chair the DOT board in

2003. "Mr. Hooper apparently came with a mission. It is now clear that the mission was to put the agency under the control of the governor," Mabry wrote.

DOT spokesman Pete Poore said Friday that Mabry had no comment about her letter blasting Hooper, but she would have something to say about the situation later.

Sanford spokesman Joel Sawyer said, "The only person she should be blaming is herself. We've never made any secret of the fact that we think the DOT should be a Cabinet agency."

In her article, Mabry noted the accomplishments of the DOT, such as completion of the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge on budget and a year ahead of schedule. The department is rated the second most cost-effective state DOT in the country in an independent national study published by the Reason Foundation, she wrote.

"And last Thursday, even as Mr. Hooper publicly criticized me, SCDOT was awarded the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting, becoming only the fourth state DOT in the nation to receive this high distinction. During my tenure, SCDOT has acted responsibly and in the best interest of the taxpayers. We stand by our solid record of performance," she wrote.

Mabry has led the agency since 1997. DOT has 5,000 workers and a $1 billion budget.

"I think her letter is an effort to try to change the focus away from the contents of the audit," he said.

Reach Prentiss Findlay at pfindlay@postandcourier.com or 937-5711.