For Transportation Department, It's Same Song

By Scott Mooneyham
The Daily Record

RALEIGH - In 1980, more than 20 highway contractors in North Carolina were implicated in a bid-rigging scandal that sent several to prison.

The contractors had essentially divided up the state, deciding who would get road-building jobs. The scheme drove up construction prices, costing taxpayers millions.

A few years later, the head of the Department of Transportation's ferry division was fired when an audit found rampant political patronage.

In the 1990s, it was the Board of Transportation's turn. Several members were implicated in schemes in which they profited from their positions.

Scandals involving former board members Carroll Edwards, Odell Williamson and Charles Grady were among the corruption highlights. Others making the wall of shame included Division of Motor Vehicles Commissioner Alexander Killens and former DOT Secretary Garland Garrett.

Nearly 30 years after the bid-rigging scandal, not much has changed when it comes to the Department of Transportation and road building.

The culture of political patronage, influence peddling and kickbacks appears largely the same in that austere-looking building just to the east of the Capitol.