Feb 06, 2007
The cash connection 
DOT board `like an ATM machine' for N.C. politicians 

Editorial - Charlotte Observer

Charlotte Observer 
EDITORIAL 
 
 
Here's what we've learned about the link between money, politics, policy and the state Board of Transportation: It is stronger and more durable than some paving projects the N.C. Department of Transportation has supervised recently. 
 
Last week, news reports detailed how the asphalt paving has begun breaking up on a fairly new four-lane highway between Wilson and Goldsboro, originally a section of U.S. 117 that was redesignated I-795. That designation allowed longer trucks on the route, which proved to be too much for the 5.2 inch layer of asphalt, Bruce Siceloff of The News & Observer reported. The cost to repair with a thicker layer: $7 million. 
 
That's in addition to the $22.4 million repair last year for a bad paving job on another interstate highway, I-40 in Durham, where concrete paving was incorrectly applied and began to crumble. 
 
These botched paving jobs, however isolated they might be, and eye-opening campaign finance reports on file with the State Board of Elections, suggest the real expertise at the transportation department lies not in the area of road construction but in political contributions. 
 
As Democracy North Carolina watchdog Bob Hall reported this week, campaign reports show that the N.C. Board of Transportation, which oversees the department, "acts like an ATM machine for the governor and other state politicians." 
 
Mr. Hall said 20 members of the board and their families donated more than $1 million over seven years to N.C. candidates and political parties. That's an average of $50,000 per family during the period. The major beneficiary: Gov. Mike Easley, whose political campaign committee received over $300,000 for his 2000 election and 2004 re-election. 
 
Now, here's the easy question. Who appoints members of the board of transportation? That's right: the governor. Isn't that tidy? Of course, the governor doesn't get all the contributions from members and their families. They have raised money for others, including Lt. Gov. Bev Perdue and State Treasurer Richard Moore, who are vying for the Democratic nomination for governor. 
 
"The Board of Transportation is the closest thing to feudalism we have in N.C.: Big pots of money are essentially sent to the king (governor or governor-to-be) and the appointee-lords get enormous authority over their respective territories," Mr. Hall says. 
 
A decade ago an attempt was made to limit the authority of board members and sever -- or at least reduce -- the links between political contributions, board appointments and paving policy. It didn't work. Instead, there's still an appearance of a pay-to-play system at work in Raleigh. 
 
Our state can't afford to let that corrosive system continue. When the General Assembly reconvenes in May, transportation policy reform -- and a ban on contributions from board members and their families -- must be on the agenda. State government would be better if appointment to the transportation board was based on experience and expertise, not fund-raising ability. So, we'd bet, would state highways.