AUDITORS AREN’T ACCOUNTANTS
The Denver auditor is elected by voters to be their advocate for better city government, to be their catalyst for improved public policy. Our current auditor, Dennis Gallagher, who has endorsed me, is a model of the role. His vigorous use of the “performance audit,” and vigorous advocacy for the results, has proven its value to the voters through countless improvements to how their city works.
The auditor is not a bureaucrat executing a narrow task, not a glorified accountant. In fact, Denver auditors have almost never been drawn from the accounting professions. Instead, Denver voters have elected dynamic and assertive public servants, people with experience in elected leadership and direct city service, people who know how to work with the public and show a strong record as their advocate.
That’s what I am. I’ve served Denver for eight years on the City Council, and two terms as council president. I have been a champion for more efficient, more effective, more accountable government; for more invest-
“The auditor is not a bureaucrat executing a narrow task, not a glorified accountant.”
ments in parks and affordable housing; for a more sustainable Denver that seeks to lead the nation in green practices, smart growth, and multimodal infrastructure; for a Denver that leverages partnerships — with Denver Public Schools, the Regional Transportation District, our regional neighbors; and for a Denver that fosters innovation and opportunity, but also values our history and unique quality of life.
That is my record. I believe as city auditor, I can be an important catalyst for further progress on all these fronts. That’s why I’m running for auditor, and that’s why I believe I can do a great job for you whom I’ve already worked so hard to serve.
My opponent, by contrast, has never held elected office. He has no record of direct public advocacy. He’s a CPA and asserts that is the primary qualification for city auditor. History certainly contradicts him. Moreover, the auditor’s office itself hires subject-matter experts, not CPAs. The CPA credential is irrelevant to the work of the Denver auditor.
My opponent’s further claim is that without a CPA as city auditor, the auditor’s office is only doing performance audits, not financial audits. This too is untrue. A component of almost every single performance audit is a financial audit — after all, central to the performance of any agency is how it manages money. The auditor’s office, has, does, and, under my leadership, will continue to do this kind of critical financial auditing.
The only financial audit the auditor’s office does not perform is an official, legally “attested” financial report. Such an audit does require CPAs, but is always performed by an independent outside accounting firm.
Disappointingly, my opponent knows perfectly well that the auditor’s office routinely performs financial audits, and that being a CPA is irrelevant to being city auditor. He knows this because he has sat for eight years on the Audit Committee, a body which meets monthly and to which every audit is first publicly reported. Yet in all those meetings across eight years, my opponent has never raised what are now the central claims of his campaign. His campaign claims are false and self-serving.
Moreover, if my opponent’s campaign premise were implemented, it would take the Office of the Auditor backward, to have it function as little more than a glorified accounting office, to narrow its focus to merely “checking the financial homework” of city agencies.
By contrast, I want to move the auditor’s office forward, to build on the progress of my predecessors. An impressive group of subject-matter experts has been recruited to the auditor’s office, and they are providing not just accountability and transparency, but also the blueprints for future progress, for every agency, in every field.
The auditor’s office is now admired nationally as “The Denver Model.” I want to build on that model, to make it an even more effective tool for driving the kinds of improvement, innovation, efficiency and accountability that you expect from your city government.