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Road department in-fighting should stop until facts are in

Leaders, legislators need to see audit before calling for changes

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It's getting personal at the state Department of Transportation.

Transportation Commission Chairman Tee Hooper once again said if it were up to him, executive director Elizabeth Mabry would be gone.

Mabry countered at last week's commission meeting that any problems with leadership should be shared by the chairman.

The exchange came during a discussion of a resolution to ask the legislature for more money for the department. The commission passed the resolution declaring a "transportation funding crisis."

But no one should be calling for resignations nor asking for more money until an audit of the Transportation Department is finished, released and evaluated.

Hooper, Gov. Mark Sanford's one appointee to the seven-member commission, particularly needs to cut back on the rhetoric. We get it. He doesn't like the way Mabry is running the department. His criticism prompted the audit.

Hooper and others have been critical of department policies, including awarding contracts and purchasing four-wheel drive vehicles. He also thinks the department's director should answer directly to the governor.

But last week after several hours in two closed-door sessions, the commission took no vote on Mabry. Four commissioners present defended the department, some praising Mabry, The State newspaper reported.

The audit, which has been delayed so that it could be rewritten, is to look at the agency's expenses for the past three fiscal years, the amounts spent on primary roads and the agency's methods for measuring the results of its expenditures.

Department officials have seen a draft of the audit by the state Legislative Audit Council and met behind closed doors for two days in September. A special Senate committee is to review the audit when it's completed.

It is important that we have a full picture of the agency's operations before considering any major changes, whether it is in the agency's leadership or in how the agency is funded.

This is no small matter. The department operates the fourth-largest road system in the country and is in charge of a $1 billion annual budget that comes from federal money and state gas taxes.

We are getting ready to vote Nov. 7 on a ballot question to add an additional 1 percent sales tax in Beaufort County to raise $152 million for road projects -- money county leaders say we can't look to the state for.

We're also voting for a governor.

Mabry and Hooper and the rest of the commission can wait to push their respective agendas.