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Mar

7

From the Glass Houses Department: Auditor’s office also was “unauditable”


For all the press Ohio Auditor Mary Taylor received for “blasting” Ohio Governor Ted Strickland and the administration’s tardiness in getting numbers to her for the 2008 audit, that GOP never-did-go-much-for-self-reflection thing is at play again. From the Columbus Dispatch:

State Auditor Mary Taylor called a news conference this week to criticize Gov. Ted Strickland for not providing information needed to complete the state’s 2008 audit on time, but it turns out that the audit of Taylor’s own office was late, too.

By law, the audit of the state auditor’s office, done by an independent firm selected by a committee, was to be completed by Oct. 15. But the audit report for Taylor’s office wasn’t finished until Dec. 8, nearly two months late.

…

Replied Amanda Wurst [in response to accusations about Strickland's office], Strickland’s spokeswoman: “The governor is not interested in placing blame or making accusations or exaggerations. The fact is, the auditor’s audit was late for the same reason the financial reports (for the state audit) were delayed: complications in the implementation of OAKS.”

[Edited in: Therefore, for those weeks the info was late, the auditor's office was, as Taylor labeled the Strickland administration, "unauditable" because of the auditor's office not having the data.]

When the news first came out and Taylor was quoted in practically every single Ohio MSM outlet, I immediately thought, so…how has it been in the past? What’s been the usual? Let’s compare and contrast (i.e., do more than just report, “Train hit car. Two dead.”) rather than just make a stand-alone assertion that leaves everyone with the impression, if they just accept as true what’s published, that, “Oh! Taylor! Auditor! Must be the way she says it is!”

Because, hey, what a surprise – it’s not the way she says it is, is it?

First, as I noted yesterday, there’s plenty of information about how former Governor Bob Taft approved the new data system, OAKS, but 2008 was the first year of its use.

Now, the Dispatch points out that Taylor’s office isn’t on time either.

Did it ever occur to people that maybe Ohio would be doing a little better if the people we elected stuck to doing their jobs rather than pointing fingers at everyone else?

By the way, Taylor admits that she’s known that Strickland’s info would be coming in late, but, as the Dispatch describes it, she’s used it for political leverage anyway (another big surprise):

It was the latest exchange in the dust-up between Taylor, the lone nonjudicial statewide elected Republican who is considering a run for the U.S. Senate next year, and the Democratic Strickland administration.

After Strickland’s State of the State address in January, she accused the governor of “accounting gimmicks.” At her news conference Monday, Taylor raised questions about the state’s financial condition because the audit of the state’s 2008 books isn’t done and likely won’t be until this fall because of delays in getting financial statements from the administration.

The administration countered that there’s no reason to doubt state finances and said it had been communicating with Taylor’s office about possible audit delays caused by OAKS since at least June 2007.

Taylor, speaking yesterday during the taping of the Ohio News Network’s Capitol Squareprogram that airs Sunday, said she went public in part to prod the administration to move faster.

“We knew there would be delays,” Taylor said. “We also felt that we were continuing to be put off and that the priority wasn’t being placed on completing the financial statements so that we could get this audit done.”

Eye-roll and sigh.  Regardless, one of the most underestimated public servants I can think of, Strickland, responded just as you might expect – and well done:

“(Taylor) is an elected official in her own right and has every right to express her opinion as she has,” the governor said. “I simply don’t concur fully with that opinion.”

Good for him. And us.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:33 am March 7th, 2009 in Government, Mary Taylor, Ohio, Ted Strickland 

Comments

One Response to “From the Glass Houses Department: Auditor’s office also was “unauditable””

  1. 1 Kyle Sisk on March 7th, 2009 9:42 am

    Jill,

    Hope you have had a great week!

    Sorry it took me so long to respond to your comment (my week has been from Hades).

    I just responded.

    Be well.

    Kyle

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