February 29, 2008 Knox P-card Audit Is Public

When reporters start investigating and when auditors come in and look for fraud, waste, and abuse in government at the local level, it's not a pretty sight. The News-Sentinel has the Knox County government story.

The initial draft of the special audit of Knox County purchasing card (P-card) use is available online.

Follow-up stories are already coming out as a Mayor's aide says receipts may have been turned in and then lost OR maybe newspaper reporters lost them!

If Knox County Commission had been acting as a check and balance on the Knox County Mayor's Office, a lot of the fraud and waste of taxpayer dollars would not have occurred.

If the citizens of Knox County had realized that regular annual audits are little more than a cursory review of the figures that are provided and that there is only an examination of a few sample charges, then they would have demanded real accountability long ago from both the Mayor's Office and the Commission.

Regular audits do NOT look for fraud, waste, and abuse.

Our State Comptroller, who directs all county audits, has stated this.

"Trust, but verify" is the key to true government accountability.

Newspapers--when they choose to investigate and report--are vital in ensuring government accountability.

Local officials and citizens---not a state auditor who just peeks at a few transactions--are important in seeing that fraud, waste, and abuse does not continue and escalate to the level seen in Knox County.

Knox County's cleansing started with a newspaper that began to report and investigate what was going on in government offices and that challenged a power structure that openly violated the open meetings law.

Knox County's cleansing has been pushed along by talk-radio that allows the public to listen and actively participate in discussions about government actions as well as other local concerns.

Knox County's cleansing has been spurred by several citizens--former accountant Lewis Cosby is among the most prominent--who were so incensed by the waste of THEIR tax dollars that they took action. Lewis Cosby went to the Mayor's office, reviewed and copied documents, and started a detailed examination of invoices, payments, slush funds, and the like.

As Mr. Cosby began to detail the outrageous lack of fiscal control in the Mayor's office, Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale called Mr. Cosby a showboat at a public meeting! Name-calling instead of addressing the issue--a typical response from a politician.

Mr. Cosby was not a showboat. Mr. Cosby was a citizen who was indignant about waste of taxpayer dollars--his own and those of others.

Now, it looks like Mr. Cosby was right all along about fraud, waste, and abuse in Knox County government.

The question is, 'what happens next?'

A lot of commenters at the end of the News-Sentinel article are asking for restitution, firings, criminal charges, and/or ouster suits for elected officials.

Tthe officials and employees will submit their responses to the audit, and only then will it be crunch time.

Who enforces the law against the lawmakers? Who watches and prosecutes government corruption?

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.