Belated State Audit Useful...
If Awakening From A Coma
It’s hard to get excited about news that arrives a year late about events that took place two and three years ago. Citizens who started a petition drive in 2002, finally have a State Audit of the City of St. Charles for the year 2003. It’s belated arrival is about as useful as learning Boston won the World Series last year.
That could be one reason State Auditor Claire McCaskill ended up speaking to a nearly empty room to present the audit findings. Another reason for poor attendance could be that her staff had booked the meeting on the same night as a Cardinal’s playoff game. That’s what we get having the State Capitol in the middle of the State...too many Kansas City Royals fans.
The State Auditor did her best to spice up the show. Borrowing a page from Dr. Phil, she even tried her hand at “marriage” counseling between the Council and Mayor, urging everyone to try to get along.
State Audits rarely turn out to be what the petitioners expect. Unlike television’s CSI, which can convict someone on the evidence of a hair follicle ten years after the crime, State Audits rarely end up putting someone in jail. Those who signed petitions demanding a State Audit, and expecting it to uncover some nefarious criminal activity, were probably disappointed. More disappointing must be the lack of any mention (pro or con) of issues the petitioners committee tried to raise with the Auditor’s Office in the first place.
Here was one of the more (yawn) dramatic findings. The City sold the old Police Station without advertising it widely enough and probably for less than we could have gotten. An obvious straw party then flipped the building to others who probably made a tidy profit.
The City Administrator at the time, who recommended the sale, is gone. Half the current members of the Council weren’t on at that time. Most of those who voted for the sale are gone. In fact, the transaction was a factor in the defeat of former Councilman Richard Baum, when it was raised by Councilman Jerry Reese in his campaign back in April of 2003. Two of the five returning Councilmembers, including myself and John Gieseke voted against the sale at the time. As a result of that sale, I sponsored and the Council passed an ordinance over a year ago to keep straw parties from doing what happened on the old Police building.
All of this is very old news to everyone but the employees of the State Auditor’s Office. I hate having to be so hypercritical of the Auditor. Claire McCaskill is a very smart woman who is running for the United States Senate. But she was ill served by her staff in the conduct of this audit and needs to make some major operational changes.
If State Laws or local ordinances are broken or money is missing then say so. If no laws are broken and no money is missing then have the decency to say that. The personal opinions of the State Auditor’s Office are just that...personal opinions. The Auditor’s Office also needs to conduct and present its reviews in a timely manner. When it goes beyond six months the Auditor should roll up her sleeves and work side by side with her staff to see what the hold up is.
One of the criticisms by the State Auditor was that beer was served as a beverage to a rather large delegation of Germans from our Sister City of Ludwigsburg back in 2003. For the record, I don’t drink beer, but I have it on good authority that many Germans do.
In the movie Casablanca there’s a scene where the French head of the local Viche Police is ordered to shut down Rick’s nightclub and casino. When challenged as to why he is ordering the place closed, pocketing his own winnings, he says something to the effect of, “I’m shocked, shocked to learn that gambling is going on here.”
It was hard for the State Auditor to keep a straight face while saying how “shocked” she was to learn that beer was served to a German delegation at a dinner reception. Given the power Anheuser Busch has in the Missouri General Assembly, I was actually surprised there wasn’t a law mandating beer be served. Of course, no State Law was broken, but you can’t audit a $98 million dollar budget and tell people you didn’t find anything.
It is the same reason the State Auditor feels compelled to routinely tell communities they can’t have holiday parties at Christmas for public employees or buy flowers for the funeral of a public employee killed in the line of duty. All such non crimes will result in a stern finger wagging from Missouri’s public watchdog...ready to spring into action and respond in a matter of years.
