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RALEIGH (AP) — Gov. Bev Perdue followed through on pledges on her first weekday in office today by signing executive orders she said will reduce the power of political influence on road-building and fundraising for future gubernatorial campaigns.

Her five directives also formed a committee that would recommend ways to improve state government and told her budget office to set up a method to evaluate whether agencies are meeting their goals. She said in last fall's campaign she would make the changes if elected. (Audio and more at Capital Beat.)

"We're shaking up the way North Carolina government does business," Perdue, who was sworn in as the state's female governor Saturday, told reporters in her new office in the old Capitol building. "The real work is making sure that this happens."

Perdue also told state agencies under her direct control to post on the Internet details of state contracts and grants under their jurisdiction.

She also said she would hold at least four live "town hall" meetings with the public that could be televised statewide. She has already posted on her Web site places for the public to ask questions and to offer suggestions to state government.

The key change comes with the Board of Transportation. Perdue ordered the panel to delegate to new Transportation Secretary Gene Conti the authority to approve all highway construction projects and award contracts. State law allows the board to defer these powers.

Some members of the board, who often include a governor's top fundraisers, have been accused in recent years of voting on projects that could personally benefit them or their families.

Board members will still be required by state law to vote on some types of projects, including right-of-way land purchases and nonhighway projects such as mass transit, said Jim Trogdon, the DOT's new chief operating officer.

Unless the laws are changed, Perdue will require board members to promise at monthly meetings they had no personal interest in projects before them for a vote.

Within 60 days, the Department of Transportation will create a new process for deciding where to build roads that's based on data and decisions of highway professionals.

"I believe that this is going to change the DOT paradigm," Perdue said. "And I invite my friends in the General Assembly to be eager and happy about this change."

The "First Day of Change" directives also include a task force that would lead the creation of an endowment that would give money to gubernatorial candidates, starting in 2012, who agreed to fundraising limits and pledge to run positive campaigns. The money would come from private sources.

Perdue, who will be on hand later Monday to see her 10 Cabinet appointees sworn into office, has already made changes in the formal office kept by former Gov. Mike Easley for the past eight years. Furniture has been rearranged, and above the fireplace mantel a painting of Sir Walter Raleigh has replaced one of Easley and his son on a sailboat.