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COLUMBIA -- State Department of Transportation Executive Director Elizabeth Mabry on Thursday accused the chairman of the DOT board of attempting to wreck the agency for political purposes.

Chairman Tee Hooper last week told Mabry at a contentious board meeting that he would ask her to resign if he had the authority, repeating publicly what he wrote to her privately in a February 2005 letter.

Mabry also fired a shot at Hooper for his service on the board of directors of HomeGold, parent company of Carolina Investors.

She said in an opinion article submitted to state newspapers that Hooper "is well suited to wreck the career efforts of hard-working people" because he served on the board of HomeGold, parent company of Carolina Investors.

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Carolina Investors was the Pickens-based company that closed its doors in 2003, costing about 12,000 investors a total of about $278 million.

Hooper said he didn't know Mabry sent an article to newspapers until shown a copy by a reporter.

"I think it's a last-ditch effort by Betty to shift the focus away from the operational performance," he said. Hooper said when taxpayers see a Legislative Audit Council audit of the agency in several weeks, "they can draw their own conclusions as to whether my reasons for asking Betty to resign are valid or not."

Joel Sawyer, a spokesman for Sanford, said it was "disingenuous" of Mabry to blame Hooper for the agency's problems. He said the governor has been open from the beginning about wanting to make DOT more accountable by becoming a part of the governor's cabinet.

"If Mrs. Mabry is concerned about the reputation of DOT, she doesn't need to look any further than the things that have happened under her leadership," he said. "It's very disingenuous to lay these problems at the feet of someone who cannot vote."

The giant agency, which has about 5,000 workers and a $1 billion budget, is bracing for the results of a yearlong management audit by the Legislative Audit Council expected to be released next month.

Lawmakers requested the audit following criticism by Hooper of the agency's management, including the purchase of four Chevrolet Tahoe SUVs for top executives and a beach conference attended by hundreds of DOT employees, at a time when the agency couldn't afford to pave secondary roads.

"When Gov. (Mark) Sanford appointed Tee Hooper chairman in 2003, Mr. Hooper apparently came with a mission," Mabry wrote. "It is now clear that the mission was to put the agency under the control of the governor. Mr. Hooper's strategy: Destroy the reputation of SCDOT."

Mabry, who has led the agency since 1997, charged that Hooper is to blame for the agency's financial problems, alleging that "because of Mr. Hooper's disruptive actions, a great economic engine is about to be starved."

DOT officials, including Mabry, have previously said the agency is in a "transportation funding crisis," brought about by high oil prices, construction material shortages, flat gas tax revenues and a reduction in expected federal monies. DOT also carries debt from its recently concluded seven-year accelerated construction program.

The agency is funded mostly from federal revenues and the state's gas tax, which hasn't been increased since 1987.

"Mr. Hooper's effort to wreck SCDOT and stop this economic growth engine is politically driven," Mabry alleged. "There is no honor in that."

She said the agency under her tenure has acted responsibly "and in the best interest of taxpayers."

Sawyer said the governor doesn't know what is in the LAC audit report, "but we do know about a number of instances at DOT where they have made questionable expenditures."

Mabry said she is speaking out to defend the agency's employees "who have achieved tremendous success with great efficiency." She said they have suffered "because of Mr. Hooper's negativity."

"There will always be differences of opinion whether an expenditure is a prudent investment or a waste of funds," Mabry wrote.

"Constructive debate will be beneficial. However, it is poor leadership and morally wrong to publicly demean, embarrass and belittle people because you disagree with them or to further a political agenda. Public employees are not pawns for people in power to use for political gain."

Hooper said his criticism was on "behalf of the employees and for the sake of the taxpayers."

He said he has talked to hundreds of DOT workers who have complained about the agency's direction, favoritism and mismanagement. An internal survey of employees two years ago, he said, showed 66 percent agreed with the statement that favoritism determines who gets ahead at the agency.

Mabry cited what she said are some of DOT's accomplishments, "without Mr. Hooper's help."

They include construction of the Ravenel Bridge in Charleston on budget and a year ahead of schedule; an accelerated construction program that she said saved taxpayers between $3 billion and $10 billion; the installation of highway cable barriers; and a recent study by the Reason Foundation that found the DOT the second most cost-effective such agency in the nation.

Also, she said the agency changed the "culture of the organization to ensure integrated management and a partnering approach to local issues"; re-engineered roads for bicyclists and pedestrians; and has received "numerous international, national and state awards for quality construction, financial management, safety, environmental mitigation, and innovation."

The op-ed piece says that recently, "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."

Hooper disputed the cost-effective rating at last week's meeting, saying it was mostly a matter of the state having the fourth-largest state-maintained road system in the country while getting the least per vehicle mile from state and federal funds.

The commissioners have indicated that at least half the board doesn't support Hooper's call for Mabry to leave.

The seven-member board, over Hooper's objection, last week passed a resolution asking lawmakers for more money.

Hooper said then that the agency needed to fix its problems, including its leadership, before asking for more money.

Legislative leaders have said recently they support giving more money to the agency, but only if it is coupled with reforms.