A chance to build a real legacy

State Auditor Stacey Pickering this week touted the uncovering of apparent widespread abuse, if not graft and corruption, in two state boards — the Mississippi Auctioneer Commission and the State Board of Cosmetology. At both boards, it sounds as if staff members showed little regard for your hard-earned tax dollars.

For instance, in the three budget years between 2015 and 2017, Pickering’s office found excessive in-state travel reimbursements to the executive director at the Auctioneer Commission. According to Pickering’s office, often, she was reimbursed for travel expenses during times she advertised to be available to meet with clients of her personal business. Also, no personal or medical leave was recorded for her during this time or any other time during the audit periods.

Additionally, several purchases, personal in nature, were made using the procurement card for the Mississippi Auctioneer Commission, Pickering’s office found.

He also said the Auctioneer Board did not meet regularly as required by law, and did little or nothing to manage daily operations at the board.

Meanwhile, in 2016 at the Cosmetology Board, checks and cash payments for cosmetology licenses – some nine months old – totaling in excess of $360,000 were left unsecured in the. Also, several checks were returned due to non-sufficient funds after the delay between receipt and deposit, and cash received by mail was not recorded.

Records of license renewals were severely backlogged and Board members did little to make sure employees were properly doing their jobs or even understood their jobs.

The Board’s procurement card also was used for operating expenses, and a large balance was held, resulting in interest and late fees being charged to taxpayers.

I’m certainly glad Pickering’s office did its job and found the poor management and abuse.

But while we are patting ourselves on the back, it begs the question as to why and how this has been allowed to go on for so long.

Certainly someone took notice somewhere, sometime.

If not, it’s telling that the top levels of administration is state government are either so understaffed or so blind not to see problems as egregious as these.

We don’t allow local governments to fly along with little oversight. They are audited annually. The state combs over grants and state-funded projects ad nauseam, often burying local governments in paperwork and delays. Even local libraries are audited regularly.

I guess state government thinks its too big or too good to play by the same rules.

In his media release, Pickering proudly stated he supports the creation of an “Office of Shared Services” to remove the daily accounts receivable and payable functions from smaller Boards and Commissions in the State of Mississippi. House Bill 1058, authored by state Rep. John Read, would do that.

To me, that sounds like one more bureaucracy, one more place where we won’t hold people accountable. But I guess that’s the cynic in me.

Pickering used his press release as a chance to heap a little favor on Gov. Phil Bryant.

“I appreciate the efforts of Governor Bryant to continue to lead the charge to reduce government waste,” he said.

As a taxpayer, I have another suggestion.

Rather than creating another agency that won’t be monitored, in his final months in office, Gov. Phil Bryant would do well to make sure every board and commission is reviewed for financial and management soundness. Furthermore, he should lead by example and start making board appointments based on interest and skill rather than political plums.

And he should put in place systems that will insure taxpayers are getting the services for which they are paying rather than just political patronage and wasteful spending.

The fiasco at the Department of Corrections under his watch should have been a wake-up call. Cleaning up state government would be a far greater legacy for Bryant than his cowboy boots and conservative policies.

The same goes for , Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, other state officials and legislators.

By the way, the auditor’s findings of these two boards now are being investigated for potential criminal charges.

Better late than never.

Steve Rogers is the news reporter for the Daily Times Leader. The opinions expressed in this column are his and do not necessarily reflect the views of the newspaper or its staff.