I guess some folks just aren’t willing to share pain:
Both the House and Senate budget proposals this week would take a chunk out of the State Auditor’s Office performance audits, which measure the bang-for-the-buck worth of government programs.
“To take more than half of the revenue that voters permanently designated for performance audits and use it to fund other programs undercuts the performance audit authority that citizens directly gave to their independent state auditor,” Brian Sonntag, that auditor, told senators this afternoon. “That change . . .and the precedent it sets is absolutely unacceptable.”
He said the plan to move $15 million in performance audit money from his office to auditing programs in the Legislature and the governor’s office as “nothing short of an assault on what citizens expect the state to do.”
Oh boo-hoo. Where or where will he find the money for yet another Sound Transit audit?
I didn’t hear Brian crying about the Legislature defunding voter approved initiatives to decrease class size and increase teacher pay, or about gutting I-937’s widely popular renewable energy targets. But God forbid he temporarily lose half his performance audit budget, and it’s “absolutely unacceptable.” I guess in Brian’s world, Eyman initiatives should be unassailable, whereas those other initiatives… well.. citizens didn’t really “expect the state to do” what those initiatives told the state to do.
If you don’t like your budget cuts Brian, either suck it up, or join me in fighting for some responsible revenue increases.
Same Old Republican Bullshit
House Republicans unveiled a “budget plan” today that would make the Bush tax cuts permanent, privatize Medicare for workers under 55, freeze domestic spending for 5 years, increase military spending, exempt investment gains from taxation, and create permanent deficits of $500 billion a year.
Damn good thing that Democrats control Congress and this rich-coddling, worker-bashing bullshit has no chance of passage.
This is why you should never, ever vote Republican.
I’ll Bet This Guy Is A Republican Dep’t
A California small-town mayor has come up with a solution to the homeless problem: A free one-way bus ticket out of town.
It appears some people’s idea of the Christian precept that, “I’m my brother’s keeper,” is to send ’em packing when capitalism’s collapse renders ’em destitute.
The State Auditor does have a strange obsession with public transportation, esp rail. Wonder if it has something to do with the isolated, auto-oriented, gated golf club community he resides at?
It could also be related to the small band of Eymanite kooks and anti-rail zealots who spend all their waking hours flooding Sonntag’s office with the latest set of conspiracy theories.
How much did it cost us to have all these audits done on transporation projects? I mean did we actually get a bang for our buck or did it end up costing us more to do the audit then it would have been to not audit that budget for transportation projects?
Publicans are against “Waste, Fraud & Abuse” except when they’re the ones doing the wasting, the defrauding and the abusing.
Democrat Brian Sonntag is on solid ground, for multiple reasons.
For one thing, audits — and especially performance audits — are where you find clues to maximum bang-for-the-buck budgeting, which saves dollars for the programs where cuts really make people cry.
Auditors don’t have a lot of friends. Too bad some of the SAO’s findings made you cry, but shutting down the reality checks won’t make reality any happier.
Has Sonntag used some of those millions to have his own office, performance, and procedures audited? With less whining and more action, Sonntag would either:
1. Be able Justify that his office’s performance really requires that much money (the levels, of which, were never really rational or justified)
or
2. Learn in detail how his office can perform the same functions for less money–the same lesson that nearly every other state agency is going to have to learn with or without an audit
Ron K @6,
Financial audits and performance are two entirely different beasts. Sonntag’s office doesn’t even have the expertise to conduct performance audits… that’s why he contracts them out.
What I’d like to see is an audit of these performance audits that shows how much money taxpayers have saved, rather than simply how much money Sonntag claims these agencies could save if they followed all his recommendations. The problem is, for performance audits to be accurate and effective they require the cooperation of the organization being audited, and by turning this into an adversarial process Sonntag has made such cooperation more difficult.
But that’s all beside the point. It’s a tough budget, and Sonntag’s coffers shouldn’t be immune from cuts.
Gee Goldy..
Performance Audits are supposed to flush out some of the waste.
Are you anti-accountability??
Seems like it.
If you run for the State Legislature, try this campaign slogan..
Vote for Goldy….You can count on Waste and No Accountability!
Too Damn Funny.
Audits saves the taxpayers money, dummy! $10 million waste in the Ferry System- again! A federal $35 million dollar fine to UW Med Center for lousy billing practices. Goldy is all for spending and sooo against accountability.
If you actually read – say – the State Ferries audit, you can tell the Auditor was grasping at straws. His advice for saving money: cut the night runs. I’ll bet Sonntag wouldn’t have come up with that simplistic conclusion if he lived on the Olympic Peninsula!
Hey, while we’re at it, why not shut down the freeways and WSP late night, too. And, of course, the bus system.
If I recall correctly, Sonntag originally opposed I-900 because it was an unfunded mandate. OK, well, now that Sonntag is enjoying his newfound power and attention – and the unfunded mandate has come home to roost – isn’t it a little odd he’s throwing a fit?
Seems reasonable to me.. Cut programs, cut government, therefore less government to audit….Cut the audit budget..
WE ALL HAVE TO MAKE DUE WITH LESS IN A DOWN ECONOMY…
11 Yeah….I’ll bet the BIAW members sitting on all that unsold housing in Kitsap County would be just overjoyed if the state took Sonntag’s advice.