If substantive and lasting reform comes to the state Department of Transportation, DOT Commission Chairman Tee Hooper of Greenville should get much of the credit. Appointed in 2003 by Gov. Mark Sanford to head the seven-member DOT Commission, Hooper has been persistent and persuasive in his call for reform at this agency that is largely unaccountable.

It's because Hooper raised serious questions about the management and spending habits of DOT that the Legislative Audit Council undertook a yearlong audit that could be released as early as next week. The audit will cover, according to the LAC's Web site, "issues of administrative management, including efficiency, compliance, internal controls, use of funds, and performance measures."

Top DOT officials have seen the audit, but so far no details have been leaked. A sure sign that it contains interesting material is this: DOT Executive Director Elizabeth S. Mabry wrote a sharply worded op-ed that appeared in this and other newspapers. She attacked Hooper for his public criticism of her and the management of the state agency. Her column included an ad hominem attack against Hooper for his prior service on the board of directors of HomeGold. This mean-spirited aside was more than just irrelevant to what is going on at DOT; it could be seen by more timid critics as a sign they should go easy on the state agency, which spends more than $1 billion a year and has about 5,000 employees.

Then last week, Mabry and DOT officials promoted their good works at a press conference. Mabry said the upcoming report will not drive her from the agency.

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DOT is an agency badly in need of more oversight. In almost every other state, the governor appoints the executive director or the governing board. In this state, the governor appoints the chairman, but the six commissioners are legislative appointees from the six congressional districts. Powerful state legislators influence the agency through their hand-picked commissioners.

Giving the governor more authority over DOT is critical to its rehabilitation -- but that's an opinion. What the state will see in the next week or so are facts about the agency's performance that were uncovered during a yearlong audit. Then a real conversation can start about what needs to take place at DOT.

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