When Gov. Jay Inslee announced his supplemental budget proposal last week, the media coverage focused on the big stuff: new spending for teacher pay and mental health, and the four taxes Inslee wants to hike.
Attracting less attention was Inslee’s proposal to, once again, sweep most of the funds dedicated to performance audits. Voters put the performance audits in place through Initiative 900, which included dedicated money to fund the audits.
Now Inslee wants to spend the performance audit funds on other things. Deputy State Auditor Jan Jutte, who ran the State Auditor’s Office during indicted Auditor Troy Kelley’s leave of absence, said:
The budget proposed today imperils the performance audit program the people of this state put in place. It sweeps $10 million from the dedicated fund created by Initiative 900, in addition to sending $12.6 million to other programs. If enacted, this proposal would spend nearly two-thirds of the Performance Audit of Governments Account on efforts other than the State Auditor’s Office performance audit work. I am deeply concerned about this proposal.
The statement was released under Jutte’s name because she has much more credibility with lawmakers (and voters, reporters, editorial boards, and probably Troy Kelley’s dog) than Kelley does.
It’s no surprise Inslee wants to see that money spent on just about anything other than performance audits. He doesn’t want independent audits he can’t control – who knows what chicanery, mismanagement, and ineptitude they might find. Can’t have that in an election year!
