In My
opinion
By Caroline
Porter
Special Audits Reveal Administrative Failings
Let me make my record clear.
I am one citizen and county board member who has no doubt that States Attorney
John Pepmeyer was set up for a fall in March of 2007, with false accusations of
sexual harassment and simultaneous abandonment of most of his staff. Taking
into account the people involved, the personnel issue being covered up by the
former sheriff and former stateÕs attorney, the way the sexual harassment
charge was told to the Peoria Journal
Star before properly reported, made it look staged – as it was.
But
I voted against the special audits of the SheriffÕs department and StateÕs
Attorney office requested by Mr.Pepmeyer. First, this board and our county
treasurer just canÕt get it through their heads that the countywide elected
officials are responsible directly to the people, not the county board. State
statute says clearly that the board works with the various offices at budget
time, is responsible for these offices staying within their total budgets and
reviews all their bills, but does not have internal control of the finances or
operation of the office. In fact, county boards are explicitly warned against
punishing or intimidating county officials via the budget.
As
it turns out, the audits were more than twice as expensive as expected and took
a year. IÕm all for finding a new accounting firm. The special audits didnÕt
find any signs of criminal wrong doing, just really lousy bookkeeping. Let
their results be a warning to other elected countywide officers – donÕt
get sloppy with the books. Under the current sheriff, that department has
already made many of the changes suggested in the report. Most of the problems
in both offices came from the former elected sheriff and stateÕs attorney
having little or no administrative experience and hiring help from the ranks of
political party supporters.
The
board has discussed having an audit of one elected officialÕs office each year,
along with the usual county government audit. I question our authority to do
that. I do suggest, however, that each elected county official pay to have his
or her department audited at least every four years so the public can have
confidence their tax money is being well spent.
I
started writing this column in spring of 1999 and my columns have become less
and less frequent. This will be my last. Again, many thanks to Norm Winick for
giving me the opportunity to write ÒIn My OpinionÓ these nine years.
Caroline Porter is a
freelance writer from Galesburg who can be reached at
caroline.porter@comcast.net. Check the Zephyr website for other columns.
6/12/08