MoDOT's director

One idea touted by Missouri's governor-elect, Matt Blunt, during the hard-fought campaign was to have the head of the Missouri Department of Transportation appointed by the governor, ending decades of selecting the MoDOT head by the governor-appointed Highways and Transportation Commission.

"We're sure it will be a very spirited debate," said a Blunt spokesman.

It should be.

Blunt says having the MoDOT director appointed by the governor would improve oversight of the transportation department.

Oversight became a hot item a few years ago when a statewide plan to improve highways -- hinging on increases in state fuel taxes that motorists are still paying -- sputtered because there wasn't enough funding for all the projects.

At that time, Republicans in the legislature led the charge to take the selection of the MoDOT director away from the highway commission. But Republicans were in the minority then. Later, when Gov. Bob Holden backed the idea, legislative Republicans -- by now in the majority -- were focused on other items that had higher priorities.

When Blunt takes the oath as governor next month, he will have a strong Republican majority in both houses of the legislature to back his plans. So the time seems ripe to fully air the issue of how the head of MoDOT is picked.

The best thing that could happen would be for legislators, former legislators and other state officials -- from both political parties -- who have been involved in transportation issues to make recommendations and justify why having the governor appoint the MoDOT director is better than having the highway commission make the selection.

There are arguments both ways:

* The highway commission, once fiercely independent, has become more and more politicized in recent years.

* Just as important as politics (the commission is evenly split between Republicans and Democrats) is geography. There is a perception that the commission has recently favored urban highway projects (generally the most costly) over the needs of rural areas (where most of the highways are).

* If problems arise with the current director, the commission is a buffer between the MoDOT head and the governor, who is responsible to voters. If the governor appointed the director, he would be more directly accountable to voters.

Given all these issues, the idea of having the governor appoint the MoDOT director is one that deserves careful consideration and debate. Highways and bridges should be neither Republican nor Democrat, but what's best for the state's transportation needs.