July 30, 2006 The Mayor Remains Silent

I made a public statement at the June 22 county commission meeting concerning the County Mayor's handling of county finances. Evidently a lot of people saw the tape of the June 22 county commission meeting or read about it in the paper or on this blog (June 25- 4 posts).

People have been coming up to me, calling, e-mailing, and asking me what in the world has been going on at the Courthouse with the county's finances.

Some were surprised by the Mayor's refusal to respond to the allegations and his use instead of disparaging personal remarks at the conclusion of my statement.

I wasn't shocked. I have become used to the Mayor's "shoot the messenger" garbage, and I know why he does it. He can't deny the facts.

What everybody wants to know first is whether County Mayor David Purkey has ever publicly reponded to the actual charges.

The answer is "no." Not at the meeting and not in the six weeks since. I have seen no press statement, no public response, nothing from the Mayor denying any of the charges.

I have talked to a few commissioners. Not one of them has told me that the Mayor has denied the charges to them. Just as soon as they get through telling me that the Mayor hasn't denied anything, they always add, "But we've been audited."

I know where that sound bite comes from--the County Mayor's Office. It is supposed to provide cover for the Mayor.

Commissioners don't ask and won't talk about whether the allegations are true. They have been given their talking points and have been told to keep repeating "we've been audited."

While it's pathetic to hear "we've been audited" instead of hearing a reply as to whether the allegations are true or not, I just laugh and mention one word "Enron."

Enron's auditors said everything was fine---right up until hundreds of employees and investors lost all their retirement money and life savings in the fraud that led to the collapse of this company that had been "audited."

Commissioners who say "we've been audited" like to think (or have been told by the Mayor) that an audit means that everything is OK.

No, an audit doesn't mean that everything is OK. Enron, Tyco, Worldcom, and on and on!

Here is the truth about the county's audit.

The auditors look at what the county presents, they spot check a few items, and they format the county's general ledger into a working trial balance.

The auditors are not responsible for preventing or detecting fraud, waste, or abuse.

One auditor told me that if auditors looked at everything, they would be the county's bookkeepers and they would have to be here every day looking at every transaction and we would have to pay them full-time year round.

Auditors do not look for fraud, waste, and abuse, and the State Comptroller has confirmed this in a statement quoted in my Nov. 2 post, "After all, auditors cannot prevent fraud. It is the duty of the people in positions of trust and responsibility, who are given... power by their positions, to protect their organization and the assets provided by the taxpayers from fraud, waste, and abuse."

"We've been audited." Nice sound bite, but the auditors provide no protection against fraud, waste, and abuse.

"We've been audited." Nice sound bite, but that doesn't answer whether the June 22 charges are true or false: charges that include falsifying documents, showing favoritism to one non-profit in allowing it to use county insurance (and county rates), manipulating audit numbers, and spending and shifting money around without commission's approval.

The public and commissioners who run around repeating "we've been audited" need to accept that the county audit is very limited in scope and that auditors don't look for fraud, waste, or abuse.

Instead of giving commissioners some meaningless sound bite to repeat to avoid the actual charges, why doesn't the County Mayor step forward and personally address each charge with an admission or a denial?

Is there a problem in standing up and saying "yes, it's true" or "no, it's not"?