Governor looking to lessen authority of state commission

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Gov. Bob Holden wants to expand Missouri's highway commission while weakening its authority, and he urged lawmakers Wednesday to make the state's top transportation official answer directly to the governor.

"The public must know who to hold accountable," Holden told a joint Legislative session during his annual State of the State speech, keeping up his criticism about the credibility of the Department of Transportation.

Critics said the proposal could politicize decisions about road and bridge building.

"This is a bad, bad, bad, bad idea," said Sen. John Russell, R-Lebanon, one of the Legislature's most senior members. "Too much political dabbling in MoDOT will just cause them to be less effective."

But the new Senate Transportation Committee chairman, Republican Jon Dolan of Lake St. Louis, said he was open to the idea and agreed with Holden that greater accountability is needed at the Department of Transportation.

Dolan also said he was "very pleased" with his initial meeting with Holden, a Democrat, about various transportation proposals.

Political insulation

The six-member State Highways and Transportation Commission currently hires the department director and other top agency staffers. Commissioners are supposed to be insulated from political pressure once named by the governor. The commission has been constitutionally independent since voters approved that status in 1928, a department spokesman said.

But Holden told lawmakers "the public has expressed a lack of confidence in the current structure" -- most recently with overwhelming voter rejection last August of a transportation tax increase.

The incumbent transportation director, Henry Hunbgerbeeler, is a member of Holden's Cabinet even though he is hired by and answers to the commission. The governor appoints the commissioners, who are then confirmed by the state Senate for specified terms. Generations of politicians have grumbled about commission decisions but haven't seriously pursued weakening it.

Holden said some other state commissions -- such as the Conservation Commission and the State Board of Education -- are legally independent but, like the transportation commission, hire department directors that are part of his Cabinet.

That scenario should change with the transportation director, Holden told The Associated Press in an interview, "because the political temperature of the whole transportation issue is so high and it's about accountability in MoDOT."

Holden called for having a commissioner from each of the state's nine congressional districts. There is no geographical requirement for the appointments now; one commissioner is from Kansas City, two are from the St. Louis metropolitan area, one is from Springfield, one is from southeast Missouri's Bootheel and another is from north-central Missouri.

Although there would be more commissioners named under his scenario, Holden acknowledged that they would have less authority.

"It would be an extremely important advisory role," Holden said. "What I want is to breathe some fresh air into the whole process."

Holden has named three of the six commissioners. One of his appointees, Jim Anderson of Springfield, said the current system "provides much more insulation from political pressure. But I am always open to new ideas for tweaking what we do."