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Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Betts’ resignation hurts Nash
Tom Betts’ forced resignation from the N.C. Board of Transportation is a blow to economic development in this region and only served to highlight the hypocrisy of our political system.
Back in November, Betts sent an email to Rick Benton, the economic development official for Roanoke Rapids, asking for help in raising $20,000 for gubernatorial candidate Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue. Some people enjoy playing golf; Betts enjoys raising money. He mostly does it for charitable causes but he also uses his considerable fundraising ability to support political candidates. That is not illegal.
Betts was a major fundraiser for Gov. Mike Easley’s campaign. Combining that with his economic development experience, volunteer service on multiple boards and his private business acumen, he was appointed to the Board of Transportation. That’s the way governors have done it since roads were first paved, almost.
Years ago, appointment to the board was a political payoff to the winning candidate’s cronies. Questionable highway projects were sometimes the result. A board seat is still a political reward, but there is a much brighter degree of light shining on every project than in the past and most board members are capable people who take their job seriously.
In his role as a DOT board member, Betts had a lot of power to recommend projects. He ran his six-county division like a company; he was the chairman of the board and the division engineer was the CEO. When a project was proposed, the division engineer approved it first then it was sent to Raleigh for staff review, the secretary’s approval and a final board vote. Anywhere along the line a project can be halted if it’s not deemed to be in the interest of the state or its taxpayers.
Several years ago during his board tenure, Betts helped get roads built to the shopping area around the now controversial Carolina Crossroads theatre in Roanoke Rapids. He felt it was an economic development opportunity for a poor area that had rarely received DOT funds. Last year Randy Parton’s operation of the theatre came under question and the city essentially fired him from a lucrative job running it.
State Treasurer Richard Moore helped Roanoke Rapids finance the $21 million Carolina Crossroads project with a local government commission loan. When the project ran into trouble, Lt. Gov. Perdue, Moore’s Democratic primary opponent, saw an opportunity to criticize him for not being diligent on the loan. Meanwhile, Moore had been singling out the DOT board as an example of improper partisan fundraising by state appointees. In somewhat of a response, last May the board adopted a six-page ethics policy for both board members and staff members. The policy is featured prominently on the home page of the DOT’s web site.
Then Betts came along trying to raise money for Perdue from some of the same Roanoke Rapids folks who benefited from state highway projects. People who were at a fundraising meeting with Betts before he sent the email, swear he made it clear he was acting as a private citizen and there was no connection between this request and any future DOT projects for the area.
There may have been no “quid pro quo” in Betts’ request, but just the whiff of it was enough. When the Moore campaign apparently saw the email, it was a juicy opportunity to yell “I told you so” at the DOT board while also embarrassing Perdue since one of her chief fundraisers was involved.
So Betts, as the first example of the new ethics policy, had to resign to take the pressure off both the board and Perdue. Whether this will change future appointments to the board remains to be seen. I doubt the next governor will appoint a board composed of minor campaign contributors who will work the 25-30 hours a week necessary to do a good job for a small per diem, which Betts says he never accepted.
If the legislature really wants to reform the DOT board, restrict the appointment to two years. If board members don’t perform for their districts, don’t reappoint them. In the meantime, Nash County has lost a person who had the time and interest to do the job right.
