Our views: Turnpike tolls deserve review; The Legislature must assert control over the parkways board

GOOD governance requires accountability. A democracy works bestwhen elected officials can call agency heads on the carpet whenthings go awry.

That is how the public influences its government. Public pressureon a politician becomes political pressure on the agency. Either theagency reacts properly or someone is shown the door.

Witness the departure of Michael Brown as head of the FederalEmergency Management Agency after the slow response to HurricaneKatrina.

Unfortunately, West Virginia state government does not work thatway. It sets up autonomous agencies to keep politics out of theorganization.

Considering the way some of these agencies spend public money,perhaps it is time to reinsert politics into government operations.The Parkways Authority would be a good place to start.

It once was known simply as the Turnpike board. Gov. GastonCaperton convinced the Legislature to extend the board's mission toinclude economic development and tourism. That mission creep onsteroids allowed access to non-toll money that the Turnpike hadaccumulated.

That paved the way for building the $35 million Tamarack, whichnearly 10 years later still looks like a boondoggle that will neverpay back the $35 million.

The public discovered just how autonomous the authority is when itraised tolls by more than 60 percent on Jan. 1. The $6 charge todrive the full length of the Turnpike - $21 for big rig trucks - willbe used to make improvements, including an interchange at ShadySpring.

That got the public's attention. That got legislators complaining.And that got House Speaker Bob Kiss to promise to demand anexplanation from the authority.

"Unless they can justify there is a substantial benefit toSouthern West Virginia, they need to make the decision that thosetolls are coming off in the near future, or they're going to wind upbeing forced in that direction, anyway," Kiss told the editorialboard of the Register-Herald newspaper in Beckley.

Not only is Kiss the top man in the House of Delegates, he is thefellow who chaired the subcommittee back in 1989 that wrote the billthat created the Parkways Authority.

Authority members would be well advised to revisit their economicdevelopment adventures.

Democracy is knocking at the door and it brought along its buddy,Accountability.