WHEN THE CHAIRMAN of the Transportation Department’s governing
board accused director Elizabeth Mabry of favoritism and
mismanagement that he called serious enough to warrant her
resignation, the other six board members responded in a curious way:
They voted to “publicly acknowledge their support” for her work, and
then they turned around and voted to spend an unspecified amount of
tax money on “an independent evaluation” of the agency’s
operations.
Board members, who are appointed by legislators, later told The
Greenville News that they want the evaluation to focus on the
allegations raised by chairman Tee Hooper, who was appointed by the
governor. We agree that Mr. Hooper’s allegations, ranging from
fiscal and personnel mismanagement to ethical and possibly legal
improprieties, deserve a serious review.
But since the vote for an audit came on the heels of the vote of
confidence, we question whether the commission is looking for a
serious review or whether it wants to spend tax money to purchase a
whitewash.
The board is doing little to alleviate that concern. The News
reported that two board members have been assigned to recommend
companies they think might be interested in doing the work. That
report came the day after the newspaper revealed that the agency
hired the nephew of one of those board members, former Rep. Marion
Carnell, after Mr. Carnell asked officials to consider him for the
job. A close friend also has gotten a job at the agency since Mr.
Carnell joined the board, and the daughter of another board member,
Bobby Jones, has been hired since he was appointed.
Those hirings are the first of Mr. Hooper’s long list of
allegations to be independently verified by a newspaper. The fact
that the other board members see nothing wrong with having friends
and family members on the payroll of what may be the state’s most
autonomous agency raises questions about whether they are even
capable of recognizing the type of problems Mr. Hooper alleges. It
could turn out that Ms. Mabry is right when she says that Mr.
Hooper’s concerns about the agency’s financial decisions stem from a
lack of understanding, but it doesn’t take a lot of knowledge to
understand the potential for abuse when you see it.
And Mr. Hooper’s letter is replete with allegations of abuse. He
charges that the agency manipulated the budget for a renovation
project to bypass state procurement laws, that the agency has
purchased fully loaded Chevrolet Tahoes that Ms. Mabry and other
favored employees use for personal travel and that agency interns
chauffeur Ms. Mabry and perform personal errands for her.
Ms. Mabry has flatly denied some of the allegations, and we
certainly hope they’re all off-base. But they deserve investigation.
They involve an agency where until a few years ago favoritism
reigned supreme, and the normal ethical rules didn’t apply to agency
officials and board members.
No, we don’t see any reason to spend tax money on an audit that
is controlled by a board that is, in effect, being accused of
tolerating mismanagement and favoritism. If board members truly
believe that Mr. Hooper’s allegations are baseless, they should
cancel plans for a review. If, on the other hand, they believe the
charges need looking into — and we believe do — then they should
convince their many friends in the Legislature to authorize a truly
independent review, conducted by the Legislative Audit Council.
