Audit truths

An audit report on transactions of a chemicals company doing business in North Carolina shows Department of Transportation employees taking a little graft. That's another blemish on a department that has had its share of problems, many of them related to political influence being brought to bear on road-building or employment in the agency. But State Auditor Les Merritt's department made it clear that other state agencies might also be implicated.

Said Merritt spokesman Dennis Patterson: "We didn't want people to think DOT was the only player in this. There were other agencies involved, both state and local."

Investigators in headquarters states (Georgia and Florida) raided offices of Stone Cold Chemicals Inc. and seized records in 2003. Some involved in the investigation say thousands of public employees in 48 states may have received kickbacks in return for ordering cleaning supplies from Stone Cold at inflated prices. A number of states are conducting their own probes.

North Carolina's audit report shows that DOT employees accepted $469.51 in gifts. Sure, that seems like small potatoes, but if it happened in other agencies, more money will be involved in the end. Besides, regardless of the amount, taking kickbacks or gifts or whatever one chooses to call them represents an abuse of the trust placed in all public employees. It simply can't be tolerated.

That's why Merritt has to press on, whatever the amounts involved, and it's why those who took gifts must be dismissed.