A lot is being said in the Houston mayor's race about the city's public transportation agency, Metro, and its accountability and transparency.

That caught our attention -- we've written a good bit lately about Metro, including the millions of dollars in no-bid contracts that it has doled out, how its board members have voted in chorus for the past three years, and how it didn't occur to Metro to, you know, publicize the times and dates on which its board committees meet.

That kind of track record for Metro has apparently caught the mayor candidates' attention.

City Councilman Peter Brown told the Chronicle editorial board earlier this week that he'd can Metro's CEO and the chairman of its board:

"I've never seen an agency that's spent so much money losing the trust of the public," Brown said.

Later in the week, Brown's competitor Annise Parker also smacked Metro in a talk with the Ed Board:

Parker, like Brown, criticized Metro for a lack of transparency and accessibility to the public it serves. And she said she was skeptical that the agency has commitments for funds to build out its light rail system as planned, although she made it clear she wants the rail lines developed.

In a potential "you can't fire me, I quit"-type-situation, Parker also told the Chron crowd that Metro board chairman David Wolff told her he didn't want to be reappointed, but that she wouldn't reappoint him anyhow. Meanwhile, "I don't know that I'm interested in keeping" Metro CEO Frank J. Wilson, Mike Snyder quoted Parker as saying.

The candidates kept it up last night on the live televised debate that KTRK-Channel 13 hosted among Brown, Parker and the two other front-runners.

Roy Morales, who has been a critic of the existing light rail plans, called for the most dramatic change of the four, saying he wants to see the Metro board elected, not appointed.

Parker said she would appoint the Metro board, not elect them, but said she "will appoint Metro board members who will believe in openness and transparency in government, and I believe that has been a failing of the current board."

Gene Locke, a lawyer who used to be special counsel for Metro, called for the creation of a city Department of Mobility to relieve traffic- and transportation-related issues. He said transportation is a "regional problem," and said the city needed an integrated approach "that accommodates all of the needs of this vast system."

Brown said he wants "better results" from Metro, and said that's what he'll get if he's elected mayor.

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