State auditor: Proposed legislation would open the door to corruption
A proposed new law that would allow county officials to select who audits them and what type of audit is conducted is drawing strong criticism from state Auditor and Inspector Gary Jones.
“We had the biggest scandal in the history of the U.S., which was the county commissioners scandal, and now you’ve got a representative that doesn’t think we should be auditing the counties,” Jones said.
Jones was referring to the Oklahoma public corruption scandal that erupted in the early 1980s when some 240 county commissioners and suppliers were convicted or pleaded guilty to kickback-related charges.
“We just don’t think it’s good policy right now in Oklahoma to lighten up on the audit requirements,” Jones said.
Drawing Jones’ ire was the language in a committee substitute to House Bill 1247 that was inserted in a bill by state Rep. Dustin Roberts, R-Durant.
Roberts did not immediately return telephone calls to his office and cellphone seeking comment.
The amended bill passed out of the House Rules Committee this week on a 7-0 vote, but has not been taken up on the House floor.
Currently, the state auditor’s office is required to audit the books, records and accounts of all county officers who collect or disburse money every two years. The state auditor is given discretion on whether to do a financial audit or performance audit.
The proposed law would let county officials choose whether the state auditor or an independent certified public accounting firm does their audits and would let county officials choose what type of audit is to be done. The state auditor still would be required to do an audit at least once every six years.
The system proposed in the bill is similar to the system now in place for Oklahoma cities and school districts, which hire independent auditors to examine their books. Citizens can petition to have the state auditor come in when they suspect wrongdoing.
“Look at how cities and schools have gotten clean opinions on financial statement audits and we’ve uncovered embezzlements,” Jones said.
Jones said there has been a push to lessen auditing scrutiny of county governments.
“We’ve got one bill that says we’re supposed to gather all the raw data from the counties and furnish it to OMES (the Office of Management and Enterprise Services) so they can put out raw data and then we’ve got another one that says they don’t have to use us to audit,” he said.
Jones said he believes House Bill 1247 opens the door for increased corruption.