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Nov

16

Mary gets what Mary wants, sort of: Strickland signs internal audit bill


From the Toledo Blade:

Despite concerns over cost, Gov. Ted Strickland yesterday signed a new law giving a stronger voice to internal state auditors whose warnings of wrongdoing are ignored by superiors.

[snip]

State agencies employ roughly 100 internal auditors. Although they would remain in their current locations, the new law would have them answer to Mr. Strickland’s Office of Budget and Management. The law also makes internal audit reports public records and open to scrutiny.

And it would create an independent committee of financial experts to review and publicly comment on audits submitted by internal auditors.

[snip]

At one point, Mr. Strickland had threatened to veto the bill, which was proposed by Ms. Taylor, the sole Republican statewide executive officeholder, and introduced by a pair of GOP lawmakers.

Yesterday, they sat together at his desk as he signed it into law.

The governor said he feared the original version would have usurped some of his authority and given it to another entity. He continues to have questions about the potential price-tag.

The Columbus Dispatch identifies what changed from the original bill to the final that persuaded Strickland to sign it:

Strickland initially had threatened to veto the bill on grounds it would be too costly and would usurp executive authority.

Although he said he still has concerns about potential costs, he agreed to support the bill when it was changed to give the committee the power merely to review and comment on audit plans rather than approve them.

“This is one more example of a bipartisan effort resulting in something good for our state,” he said.

State Auditor Mary Taylor has been pushing for the internal audit provisions since last spring (see #5).

However, before you give her unconditional kudos (never a smart move with anyone in politics although sometimes it’s hard to resist), please remember that just a little less than a year ago, when she was still a state rep, she was awarded the title, along with numerous other legislators, of “Legislators who sold you out.”

Funny how things change, or not.  Only time will tell.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 2:57 pm November 16th, 2007 in Government, Ohio, Politics 

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