More On The "CESSPOOL": History Lesson In Cleaning Up Transportation.

History lesson in cleaning up Transportation
By Sharon Roggenkamp

You can read more: "Transportation Cabinet seems to attract trouble; history of scandals includes alliances, bribes, illegal hiring"

Kentucky's new road chief, Joe Prather, needs to visit the Department of Libraries and Archives, where, after completing a state form called Research Room Record Request, he can go through a dusty cardboard box that is nearly 50 years old and labeled (B-55-G-2A).

The FBI has no interest in its contents, but Prather should. Inside are the papers of former Highway Commissioner Henry T. Ward, a real character nicknamed "Hammerin' Hank."

Ward, a cocky, stocky ex-crusading newspaperman, is today remembered only by a select group of journalists and retired state employees. But Prather faces the same battle against corruption that Ward fought and won, and parallels between news stories breaking over the summer of 1960 and 2008 are striking.

Then-Gov. Bert Combs recruited Ward to extricate his administration from what Courier-Journal reporters identified as a "malodorous truck deal."

Ward was qualified for the position; he had served in the Kentucky House and Senate and as conservation commissioner from 1948 to 1955. But Combs needed Ward for his hard-edged integrity.

The headlines — "34 Trucks Leased Too Heavy to Operate Legally on Kentucky Highways" — started out bad and got worse. Something about overseeing one of the state's largest line-item budgets causes even the best men to stumble. In 1960, it was Combs' highway commissioner, Earle Clements, a former Kentucky governor and U.S. senator.

Clements was distracted by two issues, one national, one local. His duties included awarding road and bridge contracts and filling job appointments. This power dovetailed nicely with his responsibility for delivering the votes of the Kentucky delegation to the Kennedy-Johnson presidential ticket that November.

In the meantime, Combs' campaign finance chairman urged Clements to approve a contract authorizing the purchase of some dump trucks in Alabama. Clements paid a huge price for granting this request. He did not know the trucks were in horrible shape or that the finance chairman would profit personally from the deal.

Once Courier-Journal reporters saw the trucks, they started digging. But Clements, the master politician and strategist, procrastinated canceling the deal. Combs, hounded by reporters, asked for his resignation, then petitioned Ward to clean up the mess.

Two hours after Ward was sworn in, he called employees together. In his low, gravelly voice, he growled out his first announcement: "From now on, by God, no one here buys a pencil unless I approve the requisition."

Ward demanded less politics and more engineering. Morale improved; bidding procedures cracked wide open; laws were followed. Ward took his oath of office seriously, but Combs spent a great deal of time deflecting the string of violent oaths erupting from corrupt contractors and county officials accustomed to abusing the two-cent rural highway fund.

Ward restored public confidence, Kentucky established a national reputation for a high-quality highway program and Ward's integrity opened doors in Washington for securing speedy distribution of federal highway money.

Now another summer has ended, and the reputation of Gov. Steve Beshear's administration is on the line. But Prather can escape the pressure using Ward's blueprint for reform.

Prather should memorize Ward's advice: "Only rigorous day-by-day tough administration can guard against" the rackets, cute little schemes and hidden bid specifications corrupting the mission of the state's most powerful department.

If Prather can stick to this, Beshear, like Combs, will take some heat from powerful men who do not want to follow the rules. What is the worst that can happen? Prather will restore the Transportation Cabinet to its glory days of 1960-1966. Beshear may have to refer to Prather, from time to time, as "a hard-headed nut," as Combs referred to Ward.