While most of official Richmond is either focused on ABC privatization, the congressional races or the Redskins, there could soon be a big, new issue that will make those others look positively pedestrian.
In a little-noticed story on WTOP, Transportation Secretary Sean Connaughton raised the alarm about a forthcoming audit of VDOT that will show significant problems at the agency:
Secretary Sean T. Connaughton says the results of a months-long audit will soon be announced, showing serious mismanagement within VDOT.
“I will just tell you that in two weeks when we announce (the audit), it will make national news as to what we found,” Connaughton said during a business event in Northern Virginia Wednesday.
“The biggest issue we are looking at is financial management — money that was in the pipeline. We had some indications that we were facing some challenges when we took office, and the auditors confirmed that those concerns were valid.”
We’ll have to wait until the report is released on the 22nd before we’re able to judge whether the Secretary’s histrionics are warranted.
The audit in question is the last of three the McDonnell administration commissioned early in its term to measure VDOT’s effectiveness. At about that time, Dr. Ron Utt, an adjust fellow of the Virginia Institute, laid out what a true performance audit should look like. I asked several questions of people both inside and outside the McDonnell administration whether any of the audits would conform to Dr. Utt’s criteria. The results were mixed at best. Among the crucial questions that needed to be asked, but weren’t on the agenda, include whether these audits would address transportation safety, congestion relief, mobility or cost-effectiveness.
So in several crucial ways, the audits could result in lost opportunities to get a handle on how, why and to what end VDOT spends taxpayer dollars.
But hey – uncovering a scandal? That ought to make up for it.
