News and Press Releases for May 2007

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5/08/2007

Governor to Filibustering Senators: Read DOT Audit Report

Governor Calls for Filibustering Senators to Pick Up a Copy of Report, Then to Sit Down

Columbia, S.C. - Gov. Mark Sanford today called Senators who are impeding Department of Transportation reform - Jake Knotts, John Land, and other Democrats - to pick up and read a copy of the November audit report on the millions wasted at that agency, and then to sit down and end their filibuster.

A November audit found a number of problems at the state DOT, including overpaying by tens of millions of dollars for contracts, purposefully manipulating account balances, and violating state law on hiring practices for temporary employees. All told, the report found more than $60 million wasted by the agency that could have been used for infrastructure needs in South Carolina.

"It's a disservice to every taxpayer in South Carolina for the Senate to refuse to take a vote on DOT reform," Gov. Sanford said. "It's particularly disturbing, knowing what's in the audit report and the pervasiveness of mismanagement at that agency, that anyone would try to keep reform from advancing - which makes one wonder whether or not these anti-reform Senators have even bothered to read the report. If they haven't, I'd challenge them to do so, to put good-old-boy politics aside, and to sit down from this filibuster so that the Senate can move forward on this important issue."

In 47 other states, the Department of Transportation is accountable directly to the Executive Branch - with South Carolina, Georgia and Mississippi being the exceptions. In 41 of these states, the governor appoints a transportation director, and in the remaining six states the governor appoints the entire commission.