The Columbian nails it: Why won't democrats trust their democrat state auditor?

This is certainly one of the mysteries of our new millenium.

There are 3 certainties in my life: Death, taxes and my vote for Brian Sonntag (I used to have Brad Owen on that list until he abused his authority to make up a job for Brian Hatfield)

I vote for him, not because he's a democrat or a Republican. To my mind, he's neither one. To me, he's an Auditor, period and that's all I need to know.

Well, apparently, that's all legislative democrats need to know as well and as a result, they ignore Brian at every opportunity.

Legislative Republicans have, thusfar, missed a HUGE opportunity to beat tax and spend democrats over the head with Brian's findings that democrat controlled state agencies have allowed $3 BILLION to, simply, vaporize.

$3 BILLION with a "B." More money then the entirety of the state's budget deficit.

Even when those responsible ARE identified... such as the recent case of overspending by millions of dollars in the Children's Administration of the Department of Social and Health Services, nothing happens. No one is fired. No one is held accountable.

So, why would the democrats want anything Brian finds to make any difference? The answer:

They don't.

So, they not only ignore him, they exclude him. And they're heading for a fall, a fall so obvious that even THEY can see it. Yet, they can't help themselves.

Tim Eyman, whom they hate, will be going about to set them straight. They'll look like blithering idiots... and they'll have no one to blame but themselves.



In Our View - Trust The Auditor

Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Columbian editorial writers

Boo. Hiss. The Legislature is missing an opportunity to pass a piece of meaningful performance-audit legislation. It has approved a watered-down bill instead, all but ensuring a citizens' initiative will tackle the job later this year.

Performance audits are checks on government programs that find if they are getting desired results, are redundant or efficient. Right now, the state auditor's office audits agencies to make sure money is going where it is supposed to be going, but these financial checkups do not assess a program's worth or impact.

Democratic State Auditor Brian Sonntag has done an exemplary job auditing the finances of state agencies, pointing out a plethora of accounting errors and concerns in recent years. Many lawmakers and citizens were hoping his office would be empowered to do even more. The auditor's office and House Speaker Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, rightly drafted a bill that would have done the trick, but it never made it to the House floor.

Instead of giving the auditor's office more latitude, a majority of lawmakers opted to create an unelected citizens committee that will be entrusted with authorizing performance audits. That means the auditor would need to get permission from this committee before pursuing a performance audit. Permission could be denied.

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