February 20, 2008 Knox Audits Prove It: Regular Audits Do NOT Look for Fraud, Waste, and Abuse

I have not blogged in-depth about Knox County conflicts of interest, open meeting violations, p-card abuse (purchasing cards), and audits.

The outrageous and illegal actions of Knox officials and employees have been headline news in the Knox News-Sentinel, on Knox talk radio, and on internet sites for over a year and will likely continue at a hot clip for at least another year.


The audits of vehicle usage, P-cards (county credit cards), the hospitality slush fund, community grants and grant awards, and several others are set to be released at long last.

One pre-audit casualty is Cynthia Finch, the Mayor's long-time aide. What the regular audits missed (fraud, waste, and abuse), special audits found (fraud, waste, and abuse found).

Now it's a waiting game to find out who and how much and whether the abusers just resign with a hefty severance package or whether they are truly held accountable for their actions.

Knoxville is fortunate to have a paper that has decided to do true investigative reporting (here and here) instead of government press release reporting. Morristown and Hamblen County are not so fortunate. Part I Part II Part III Part IV

Knoxville is fortunate to have a paper that stood up for open meetings and joined in a suit that exposed backroom deals and deliberations made outside of the public eye. Morristown and Hamblen County are not so fortunate.

Knoxville is fortunate that their major talk radio stations are not owned/partly owned by the same individuals who own the only newspaper. Morristown and Hamblen County are not so fortunate.


If you wonder what would happen if anyone investigated what happens in Morristown and Hamblen County, just take a look at the Knox County audits, the coverups, the lawsuits that it has taken to start the clean-up process, and the multiple resignations of which Cynthia Finch is only the latest.

Many Knoxvillians who were apathetic or who assumed everything was OK are now aware of the widespread conflicts, corruption, fraud, waste, and abuse that are at the core of their government. With INFORMATION provided by the News-Sentinel and talk radio, Knoxvillians came out on February 5th and started the clean-up process.