What will happen to members of Gov. Mike Easley's Cabinet?

As the two-term governor prepares to leave office in January, at least six of his top appointees have already said they will do the same, while others may be hoping to stay under Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue.

Here's the current rundown on their plans (question marks indicate decisions are not official):

Britt Cobb, Administration: Stepping down
Jim Fain, Commerce: Stepping down
Theodis Beck, Correction: Retiring
Bryan Beatty, Crime Control: Moving to Correction?
Libba Evans, Cultural Resources: On leave already
Bill Ross, Environment and Natural Resources: Hoping to stay?
Dempsey Benton, Health and Human Services: Stepping down
George Sweat, Juvenile Justice: Retiring
Reginald Hinton, Revenue: Retiring
Lyndo Tippett, Transportation: Hoping to stay?

We've put the question to each of the secretaries and will update this post as we get more definitive answers on the remaining holdouts.

As always, e-mail any tips, gossip and unsubstantiated rumors to dome@newsobserver.com.

Reginald Hinton will not return in the next administration.

The secretary of Revenue told staff in an e-mail today that he will retire at the end of the year.

"After much deliberation, I have decided to retire from the Department, effective January 1, 2009, and have informed Governor-Elect Perdue's transition representative of my decision," he writes in the e-mail. "Because of my deep affection for all employees in this agency, I wanted you to hear of my decision directly from me."

After an earlier inquiry, Hinton was unclear on whether he was seeking a position in the Cabinet of Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue. 

Among members of Gov. Mike Easley's Cabinet, that leaves only Crime Control Secretary Bryan Beatty, Environment Secretary Bill Ross and Transportation Secretary Lyndo Tippett as those have not said yet that they are leaving.

Full text of the e-mail after the jump.

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Lyndo Tippett also gave an ambiguous response.

As part of Dome's survey of Gov. Mike Easley's sitting Cabinet members, the secretary of Transportation did not rule out working for Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue.

"I have enjoyed my years of service in Gov. Easley's administration and am currently assisting with the transition to Gov.-elect Perdue's administration," he said in a statement. "I consider it an honor and privilege to serve the public."

It's fairly unlikely that Tippett will stay around, but his non-answer is intriguing nonetheless. 

The search for a transportation secretary continues.

N.C. Board of Transportation member Lanny Wilson, a fundraiser for Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue, has been promoted by Senate leader Marc Basnight and derided by commentators such as Chris Fitzsimon.

David Joyner, head of the N.C. Turnpike Authority, has emerged as an alternative to Wilson in recent days, although he was also a Perdue fundraiser.

Some public transit advocates, environmentalists and female political leaders are promoting another alternative: Nina Szlosberg.

Szlosberg, of Raleigh, is also a member of the transportation board and the Triangle Transit Authority. She's long been a backer of mass transit projects, once distributing copies of "The Little Engine That Could" to cheer up her fellow TTA trustees.

She's a popular choice among environmentalists, having chaired the Conservation Council of North Carolina's political action committee in the past.

She also has a clean reputation — a potentially crucial factor for a troubled agency. According to a Feb. 17 story in the N&O, she has not pushed for local projects in Raleigh in the last four years — a stark contrast to outgoing Secretary Lyndo Tippett.

Former assistant U.S. transportation secretary Gene Conti is also reportedly under consideration.

Louis W. Sewell Jr. a Board of Transportation member and fundraiser for Democratic candidates — including Gov. Mike Easley and gubernatorial nominee Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue — has resigned from the transportation board.

Sewell has come under scrutiny since The News & Observer reported Sunday that Sewell steered about $375,000 in state road money to two projects in Jacksonville near property owned by Sewell or his son, Dan Kane and Ben Niolet report.

The projects went to roads that needed work, but were also adjacent to valuable land.

In a news release, Transportation Secretary Lyndo Tippett said: "Mr. Sewell has submitted his resignation today. I believe this action is in the best interest of the Board of Transportation, the department, the citizens and Mr. Sewell."

Tippett said last week that he was not aware of the extent of Sewell's real estate interests near the road work. Hours after a reporter explained Sewell's holdings last week, Tippett said he was forwarding the case to the N.C. State Ethics Commission.

In a news release announcing the resignation, Tippett included descriptions of the road work in question. The descriptions included the department's justification for the road work.

More after the jump.

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Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue said today she supports a State Ethics Commission investigation into an N.C. Board of Transportation member's steering of roughly $375,000 of public money to projects adjacent to properties that he or his son co-owned at the time.

But she was unclear about whether she intends to attend a fundraiser that the board member, Louis Sewell, is hosting for her Thursday night.

"I need to think about that," Perdue told The Charlotte Observer's Jim Morrill.

According to a copy of the invitation, the event is being held at Sewell's home in Jacksonville at 5:30 p.m. Perdue, a New Bern Democrat, has confirmed that Sewell is a fundraiser for her gubernatorial campaign.

On Sunday, The News & Observer reported the connections between Sewell and his son's real estate interests and Sewell's efforts to secure public money for transportation projects. Sewell has said he only sought the funding to take care of the public's interest.

Perdue did not answer whether she would reappoint Sewell to the board if she is elected governor.

"Lord have mercy," she said. "I'm trying to win the governor's race."

Update: W. Douglas Parsons, an attorney in Clinton, said this afternoon that the fundraiser has been canceled.

"I think it is in the best interest of my family and everybody involved to cancel the event," Sewell said in a statement forwarded by Sewell. 

More after the jump.

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Under a policy set by Gov. Mike Easley, state workers can trash their own e-mail.

The policy allows users to determine themselves if an e-mail has "no administrative value." Easley's legal counsel, Andrew Vanore Jr., said this week that an e-mail's value may expire immediately if the message's sender or recipient determines it is no longer needed.

Amanda Martin, an attorney for the N.C. Press Association, challenged that claim.

"I do not believe that this policy gives public employees unfettered discretion to destroy documents at their personal whim," she said. 

State Transportation Secretary Lyndo Tippett sent an e-mail to about 9,500 DOT employees this week restating the policy and telling them they can delete e-mail when they want.

A review of e-mail retained by DOT spokesman Ernie Seneca showed that he has been routinely deleting messages that would be of public interest, including weekly status reports from top officials and schedules of whom he has spoken with on recent issues. (N&O)

An audit of state transportation department projects found widespread delays that cost taxpayers $150 million in inflation-related construction costs.

State Auditor Les Merritt released the results of a review of the 390 projects the department completed between April 2004 and March 2007. The auditors found that DOT doesn't have an effective way to keep projects on time. It doesn't even track whether projects are late.

"DOT is a multi-billion dollar state agency that appears to operate on hunches and intuition rather than hard data analysis," Merritt said in a news release. "As a result, taxpayers paid $152.4 million in unnecessary construction costs.

Transportation Secretary Lyndo Tippett wrote in his response that many delays are caused by factors out of the department's control. Tippett said the department has made strides in measuring and analyzing its performance.

Bob Orr said that state transportation secretary Lyndo Tippett should be fired.

The Republican gubernatorial candidate said the fact that the department had to hire a consultant to assess its problems was a "damning statement about the failure of the leadership."

The candidate referred to an article in Sunday's News & Observer that reported continued accusations of conflicts of interests in the N.C. Department of Transportation.

The claim came in response to a question at a press conference this morning in which Orr presented his transportation proposal.

But Orr said change will most likely have to wait for a new administration.