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 What is DOT Trying to Hide?
by Tom Campbell
October 4, 2007
Roughly .2 billion dollars flows through the North Carolina Department of Transportation each year - a lot of money. The public has a right to know how well it is spent.
DOT has a poor track record of communicating and accounting to us. Bid rigging, cost overruns, poor project oversight, scandals, and wasteful spending, coupled with political interference and conflicts of interest over many years have resulted in lousy morale and distrust of leadership from DOT employees, as well as a serious breakdown of public confidence in the leadership and the ability of the department to do the job correctly.
The lack of candor and accountability from current DOT Secretary Lyndo Tippett and his senior staff has done little to shore up that confidence, so it was welcome news that an outside consultant had been retained, at a cost of .6 million, to conduct a thorough review of the department. The company, McKinsey & Company, surveyed some 9,000 DOT employees and interviewed approximately twenty legislators, DOT Board members, and business and transportation leaders throughout the state, with a goal of making recommendations as to how DOT could be organized and operated more effectively. Results from this study could go far in improving the efficiency of such a large organization, while also instilling public confidence.
But in typical fashion, DOT tried to stonewall details of the contract and results of the study. When a Raleigh newspaper asked for information they were given a contract with large sections blacked out, reminiscent of the 1970’s era Watergate scandal documents. DOT officials said the blacked out sections resulted from insistence from the consultant, even though public records laws prohibit such actions.
Even more arrogantly, DOT officials stated no formal written report was requested or delivered, that this was an “internal” study and gave no indication that the public would ever learn the details of the findings from the study. This is unacceptable, even for DOT. Thank goodness Governor Easley agreed and ordered Secretary Tippett to release full details of the contract and the findings.
What was DOT trying to hide? Is this report a scathing indictment of current leadership and effectiveness of our DOT? Are there notations of great corruption, waste, conflicts of interest, or ineptness? Or does senior leadership really believe they can get by with such a high-handed response to a reasonable request to learn whether the consultant earned the .6 million they were paid and whether taxpayers got sufficient value for the investment?
Those who work for government sometimes become arrogant, unresponsive, and unwilling to acknowledge they are servants, not masters to the public. When this occurs repeatedly these public servants, no matter how capable they may be, are no longer effective and need replacing. When you work for the public, you have a responsibility to be candid and accountable, and you don’t have to pay .6 million to get this finding.
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