{"id":9427,"date":"2009-11-15T23:41:25","date_gmt":"2009-11-16T06:41:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=9427"},"modified":"2009-11-17T07:48:38","modified_gmt":"2009-11-17T14:48:38","slug":"let%e2%80%99s-give-the-state-auditor-some-teeth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/11\/let%e2%80%99s-give-the-state-auditor-some-teeth\/","title":{"rendered":"Let\u2019s give the state auditor some teeth"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo

Photo by Kenny Miller\/flickr.com<\/p><\/div>\n

Government agencies shouldn\u2019t be allowed to get away with ignoring a state law requiring them to submit annual audits, but nearly three dozen are doing just that. How do we know those agencies aren\u2019t rife with corruption? We don\u2019t.<\/h4>\n

So in September, State Auditor Hector Balderas publicly shamed<\/a> 87 government agencies in New Mexico by releasing to the media a list of agencies that hadn\u2019t submitted annual and compliance audits to the state as required by law.<\/p>\n

It was the first time the auditor publicly released such a list, and dozens of agencies responded by immediately turning in late audits or at least calling Balderas\u2019 office to make arrangements to get their audits done.<\/p>\n

But 34 agencies didn\u2019t even bother to respond, though they\u2019re required by law to submit annual audits. (Check out the list of the 34 agencies<\/a>, courtesy of The Santa Fe New Mexican\u2019s Kate Nash.) Balderas has basically no recourse to get those agencies to comply with a state law that is designed to help ensure those agencies aren\u2019t rife with fraud, waste and abuse.<\/p>\n

\"Heath

Heath Haussamen<\/p><\/div>\n

In any state that would be a crying shame. In the Land of Corruption, it\u2019s ludicrous.<\/p>\n

And in some ways not surprising. Government in New Mexico has long been rife with fraud, waste and abuse. Why would we expect that laws created by politicians who are part of that system would do anything to prevent that from happening?<\/p>\n

OK, I\u2019m off on a bit of a rant, but the bottom line is this: Balderas is charged with ensuring that every government agency in New Mexico isn\u2019t wasting or misspending taxpayer dollars. But there\u2019s nothing in state law that penalizes government agencies that give Balderas\u2019 office the bird.<\/p>\n

In short, the law has no teeth. That means Balderas doesn\u2019t have any either.<\/p>\n

AG can\u2019t do much either<\/h3>\n

So Balderas has forwarded the names of the bird-waving government agencies to the attorney general, but what is Gary King supposed to do? There\u2019s no specific allegation of wrongdoing. Plus, the AG doesn\u2019t have the resources to go after so many government agencies.<\/p>\n

My initial reaction to reading The New Mexican\u2019s recent article<\/a> about those 34 agencies was to wonder why Balderas couldn\u2019t just initiate a special audit of each. After all, he can bill agencies for the cost of conducting special audits of those agencies. So couldn\u2019t he hire, on contract, a team of CPAs from around the state and make a very public spectacle of those nearly three dozen agencies, while also ensuring they aren\u2019t wasting or misspending public money \u2013 and billing them for the cost of doing it?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not what special audits are for, the auditor\u2019s office told me. Such audits aren\u2019t general, annual checks on the spending of government agencies, but are designed to be very targeted audits in response to specific allegations.<\/p>\n

So they\u2019re not a tool that can be used in this instance.<\/p>\n

Will lawmakers, governor take up the issue in January?<\/h3>\n

The point? The law needs changed. Government agencies that don\u2019t submit annual audits must be penalized. Balderas has proposed that the Legislature and governor approve a law stripping government agencies of funding if they\u2019re behind on their annual audits.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a start. I might argue that a new law should go even further. This is serious stuff. If government agencies aren\u2019t submitting annual audits, there is no way \u2013 absolutely no way \u2013 to ensure that those agencies aren\u2019t plagued by corruption.<\/p>\n

That means those agencies that haven\u2019t responded to Balderas\u2019 office (click here<\/a> to view the list again) are all suspect. Shame on them all.<\/p>\n

Maybe those agencies should be fined in addition to having their state funding withheld. Maybe the members of their governing bodies should be subject to criminal charges. That\u2019s for the Legislature and governor to debate and decide.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s hope, with the myriad of corruption scandals plaguing this state (including the $3.3 million embezzlement<\/a> from the Jemez Mountain School District uncovered by Balderas\u2019 office), that the governor and lawmakers choose to have such a debate in the 30-day session that convenes in January.<\/p>\n

Haussamen bio<\/a> \u2502 Commentary archives<\/a> \u2502 Feed<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Government agencies shouldn\u2019t be allowed to get away with ignoring a state law requiring them to submit annual audits, but nearly three dozen are doing just that. How do we know those agencies aren\u2019t rife with corruption? We don\u2019t.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192,10],"tags":[142,114,107],"class_list":["post-9427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary","category-haussamen-columns","tag-crime","tag-public-corruption","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9427\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}