Controller Wagner
For Allegheny County, she’s the better watchdog
When buying a watchdog, most people prefer one with lots of bark and bite. That’s what voters got four years ago when they elected Chelsa Wagner as Allegheny County controller. In fact, she may have more bark than necessary; her way of doing business and her choice of topics for audits has her in the doghouse with county Executive Rich Fitzgerald.
His response was to become the biggest backer of her opponent in the Democratic primary, Mark Patrick Flaherty. Mr. Flaherty, 53, of Mt. Lebanon had been the controller for eight years, before resigning in 2011 to run against Mr. Fitzgerald for county executive. As the saying goes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. With no Republican on the ballot, the victor next month most likely will win election in the fall to a fouryear term as controller.
Mr. Flaherty says he’s running for his old job because he believes Ms. Wagner has politicized the operation and he wants to “restore the professionalism of the office.” His objection, one shared by Mr. Fitzgerald, boils down to this: Ms. Wagner holds press conferences to complain about county practices before she meets with the elected officials and department heads who are the subjects of her audits. This was particularly galling to Mr. Fitzgerald when she called him out for use of a county Jeep for some trips that were for political, not governmental, business, which prompted him to end the matter by writing the county a $42,737 check for all the miles logged in two years.
When audits are conducted, the normal course is that the subject of the review will get a chance to respond before the official report is made public. Why does Ms. Wagner sometimes skip that step or hold press conferences first? She says it’s not just about publicity; she said she’s seen instances in which officials reply that they knew of the problem identified by an audit and profess to be already working to fix it.
She has faced resistance from county departments that report to Mr. Fitzgerald and from county-related authorities including the Sports & Exhibition Authority, which owns PNC Park, Heinz Field and Consol Energy Center. The PostGazette agrees that the controller should be able to audit authorities as well as county departments, just as the city controller can — but the question of whether she can is now in court.
In the meantime, there’s no arguing against Mr. Flaherty’s assertion that Ms. Wagner can be political. The Post-Gazette warned against her promise to extend the reach of the office beyond its statutory responsibilities when she ran for her first term. We don’t like it. Previous controllers, too, have been accused of playing politics when they criticized the work of other public officials. Regrettably, Ms. Wagner’s approach has amplified grudges in ways that have made it easy for officials to resist her attempts to do her job. It’s also unfortunate that she sometimes throws out a grenade and then cannot back up her claims. She did that in a meeting with Post-Gazette editorial writers when alleging improprieties about Mr. Flaherty’s endorsement by the Allegheny County Labor Council.
Mr. Flaherty was professional and competent as controller when he served in the office, so why would we endorse Ms. Wagner over him? Much of the answer lies with Mr. Fitzgerald, who generally has been an effective and progressive county executive. At the same time, he has been heavy-handed and intolerant of opposition. For a time, he required people he appointed to boards to sign an undated letter of resignation so he could easily remove them if he chose, he withdrew his support from county council member Barbara Daly Danko when she opposed a gas lease at the airport and he threw Ms. Wagner out of a party for state and regional leaders he was hosting in New York City.
Frankly, it sounds like Mr. Fitzgerald needs a fiscal watchdog who has a lot of bark and bite. That candidate is Ms. Wagner, not his new friend, Mr. Flaherty. The Post-Gazette endorses Chelsa Wagner.