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Idea of internal auditor should be applauded
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The Anderson County Council’s decision to pursue the hiring of an internal auditor has to rank as one of its smartest decisions in years.
I’m sure it pains everyone to seem to “give in” to County Council member Cindy Wilson’s incessant nagging about the need for a forensic audit.
But stubbornness isn’t a virtue, especially when the County Council buried its head in the sand for years about whether her so-far baseless allegations about government waste and corruption were affecting the public trust.
I’ve long supported a special audit, no matter how costly, because I’ve hoped Ms. Wilson would get the rope she needs to hang herself politically.
My bet is that any audit will reveal a tiny amount of truly “questionable spending.” And certainly not enough to justify spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on an extreme measure deployed when there’s already evidence of criminal conduct.
(If you add in the wasted staff time of dealing with her continuous requests for information over 8 years, the charges for copying the nearly 100,000 pages of documents she’s received during that time, and the $100,000 plus the county has spent to defend her self-dramatizing writ of Mandamus for legal expense files, we’d need to find serious wrongdoing indeed.)
The hiring of an internal auditor isn’t just cheaper, it creates a real possibility that any money spent could serve a purpose higher than mere schadenfreude.
The new position, which should report directly to the County Council, could be the first step toward developing a local version of the state’s successful Legislative Audit Council.
Every serious enterprise should engage in regular performance audits, and government is probably more in need than most because of its famous tendency toward bureaucratic sclerosis.
The internal auditor, as a true citizen advocate, would primarily offer oversight and guidance about improving spending accountability and controls to undergird public trust.
But the auditor also could offer periodic reports on the effectiveness of each government division — according to performance benchmarks and other metrics — as well as recommendations about how government services might be more efficiently handled.
Given last year’s discovery of $2.5 million in overspending at the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office, you’d think there would be someone performing this role already.
There are questions about whether an internal auditor can, indeed, report to the County Council, but I trust our legislative delegation will work diligently to remove any legal obstacles to such a “good government” initiative.
I see just one problem with this great idea: This is Anderson County, the Bermuda triangle of common sense.
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Muckraker, I thought Nick's column was well-balanced, actually, other than a couple of overblown cheapshots at Cindy Wilson. I can't figure out where the Kool-Aid comes in:
He said he supports a special audit, "...no matter how costly" it is, even though he suspects there is only a very small amount of inappropriate spending to be found. (I disagree with him on that one, but at present it's just a difference of opinion, not a disagreement on the facts because they aren't all available to us yet.)
He said he supports hiring an internal auditor, and he clearly believes that auditor should answer to County Council, not to Joey Preston. (I'm agree with that.)
And at the same time, he obviously thinks both a forensic audit and the internal auditor would ulitmately resolve issues of "grandstanding" and "stonewalling" that have plagued Anderson County.
If there is any "lean" at all to his article, it's that he apparently believes that such audits would tend to favor Joey (the "stonewaller") over Cindy (the "grandstander.") I disagree with him, but, again, we have a difference of opinion, not a disagreement over the facts.
The problem as I see it, Muckraker, is not that Nick is too biased to comment on the issue but that YOU are.
Personally, I tend to disagree with Nick. I've seen more than enough questionable activities and spending just from what has been revevealed so far to think there may be a fire behind all that smoke. I think "stonewalling" is a far greater sin in local government than is "grandstanding" - and if it takes "grandstanding" to get the facts out there, then so be it. Hooray for Cindy Wilson, right or wrong!
But unlike you, I'm perfectly willing to let the actual EVIDENCE point the way to the truth - not my opinion of what I think is going on.
Wanting to make that evidence public without pre-judging it does not mean anybody's been bought or compromised.
You can rake all the muck you want to, Raker, but the bottom line is that reporters have to work with FACTS. Their job is to rake the MUCK aside to get to those facts, not to rake the facts out of the way to get to the muck.
I've yanked Kausler's chain a time or two in recent weeks, and Nick and I have disagreed over a number of issues in the past year and a half. But it's almost easy to understand - not justify, mind you, but understand - Kausler's "timeout" column when it's become so obvious that any comment or story the AIM publishes on these issues is going to draw the wrath of one side of the other.
I'm beginning to think that noboby really wants to know what's going on in Anderson County, given the way so many are so willing, time after time, to ignore FACTS that may be inconvenient to their one political postures.
If you really want the facts, don't accuse the AIM of being in somebody's pocket every time they try to give them to you.
I wonder when the powers that be will wake up and realize that all the stimulus packages and interest rate cuts aren’t going to help the man on the street until those 22%-39% interest rates on credit cards, $39-$49 late payment and other onerous, gouging fees are brought under control. All the interest rate reductions are doing is allowing the banks to make more money. They certainly haven’t passed any of those interest cuts on to the consumer. Much of the stimulus package monies will be eaten up by usurious interest rates and profit driven fees that the consumers are already locked into. I found this video to be unsettling but directly on point http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1wxnC.... .
My apologies to you, Muckraker. When you said, " ...how much of Anderson counties taxpayer money has Joey paid to the rag which you work for over the last ten years?" my assumption was that you were referring to Joey PRESTON. I was not aware there's another Joey involved in this saga, but since you say you weren't talking about him, I guess there is.
I've done my research, and I know what they're trying to do. And I'd venture a guess that if they set up an internal auditor's position that answers to the Administrator directly, the taxpayers of Anderson County are wise enough to recognize that as the waste of money it would be.
Carry on, oh all great knowing one who doesn't even remember what he writes from post to post ... But in my humble opinion, you're not raking muck. You're shoveling manure. Two totally different things there, Bubba.
Why is t necessary to find a significant amount of serious wrong doing? Is it acceptable to have any wrong doing by our public officials? Is it acceptable to have a minor amount of cancer in one's body? Does cancer generally confine itself to its orgin, or does it spread? Just curious.
Mr. Tippett, I would reconsider engaging with muckraker. He missed reading Dr. Seuss in school, which means he also missed reading authors like Bertrand Russell, or Alexis De Tocqueville. I don't mean to be rude, but it is intolerable that such an important issue is being debated by the Whitehall elementary debate team.
And, I concur that this article, while slightly injected with personal thoughts that don't belong, is on the whole, well thought.
Who's Nicky Pooh, is this a Diseny program? Is muckraker supposed to be Doppy?
I'll help you out a bit here, Hart.
Nicky Pooh = Nick Charalambous, author of the column we're discussing.
Muckraker = Grumpy, not Dopey, although I suspect they're brothers.
Neither Muckraker nor I has ever been a member of the Whitehall Elementary debate team. THEY have rules, you know. ;)
Yeah, JD, sorry if you thought I was trying to include you in the same category as muckraker, I was only refering to him with regards to the Whitehall comment. I think that you probably have at least a good idea as to what you're talking about. Sorry for the misconception.
Open records…? They actually had to try and pass an ordinance to have transparency, honesty and truth in government? I don’t know if I want to laugh or cry!
Oversight is the check to balance power and corruption in government. Through whatever means Mr. Preston has employed to thwart it, it is clear he does not want oversight. The fact that he can thwart oversight is the clearest indicator that he is TOO powerful. The ONLY reason I can think of, that responsible representatives would align themselves with secrecy in government is, they are afraid revelation will stain them as well. Trumping the rights of citizens to enjoy transparency in government. with the rights of a few county employees (to conduct business by whatever means they see fit as long as it produces results for a few happy campers), is trading the peace of mind of many for the smug enrichment of a few. There is one age old method to rooting out corruption and patronage. I give you this excerpt from All the Presidents Men:
Deep Throat: Follow the money.
Bob Woodward: What do you mean? Where?
Deep Throat: Oh, I can't tell you that.
Bob Woodward: But you could tell me that.
Deep Throat: No, I have to do this my way. You tell me what you know, and I'll confirm. I'll keep you in the right direction if I can, but that's all. Just... follow the money.
Case closed? The very fact that Mr. Preston has been influential enough to stonewall oversight or a forensic audit would seem to swing the door open even further. My question to the other Anderson County employees is, “Deep Throat where art though??” Do you not love this County and it’s residents enough to make yourself heard?
If AIM reporters continue to riddle their “news” with opinion, opinion designed to shade and nuance the news and push the readers in one direction or the other, they need to rename this paper the Anderson Enquirer. Unless Anderson wants a monarchy, it would seem prudent to find other smart, qualified candidates for the administrator’s job.
I posted this elsewhere, but I wanted to put it here in response to you.
If Mr. Preston has done all of these things that I have discovered to be in question, why hasn’t anyone contacted federal authorities? The amount of money changing hands, coupled with the possibility that some of these questionable transactions could involve money crossing state lines, makes this a federal case. If you want to indict a public official, you have to have the justice department on your side. You should call them and ask them why a U.S. attorney hasn’t convened a grand jury. You could also call the FBI and report what you know. There is a Secret Service office (Department of the Treasury) on McDuffie Street. I mean, you need more than the Anderson Independent and a few other detractors to help you. Good luck.
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