Our response to Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette's Endorsement article
To the Editor:
In endorsing Auditor of State Tim Berry for another term, the Journal-Gazette’s editorial board stated the Statewide offices up for election this year are “best run when the elected leaders act not as partisans but as competent, efficient, independent managers.” They concluded, “State auditor Tim Berry has a record of doing just that.”
The facts tell a different story. Auditor Berry has had nearly twelve years as a Statewide financial administrator to make an impact on expanding financial transparency and making the Auditor’s office an independent watchdog for Hoosier taxpayers. Instead, he has delivered an incomplete, Election-eve, transparency website rehashing information taxpayers already had access to while rubber-stamping wasteful spending to include the millions wasted in the FSSA’s dispute with IBM (working in lock-step with other partisan leaders) and personal abuse of taxpayer funded travel. Berry lists his best accomplishment as returning 12% of his operating budget to the State’s general fund - a positive aim, but with only pennies of impact per taxpayer compared to what the office can do if truly engaged in developing innovative business practices.
The Editorial Board is right in calling for a competent, efficient, and independent Auditor - exactly what my experience as a military officer, small business owner, and non-profit manager will bring to the table. I will transform the office by immediately moving to implement a more robust accounts payable and contract audit process, advocating for reductions and reform in the state’s financial management agencies, increasing the use of electronic records, improving accessibility of public financial data, and working with other state officials to find innovative ways to keep more Indiana dollars in Indiana.
I encourage voters to visit my website at www.lockeforauditor.com to learn more about me and my ideas for the office. Let’s shake things up with a political outsider and demand the Auditor’s office be a truly independent voice for Hoosier taxpayers.
Sincerely,
Sam Locke
Democratic Candidate for State Auditor
In endorsing Auditor of State Tim Berry for another term, the Journal-Gazette’s editorial board stated the Statewide offices up for election this year are “best run when the elected leaders act not as partisans but as competent, efficient, independent managers.” They concluded, “State auditor Tim Berry has a record of doing just that.”
The facts tell a different story. Auditor Berry has had nearly twelve years as a Statewide financial administrator to make an impact on expanding financial transparency and making the Auditor’s office an independent watchdog for Hoosier taxpayers. Instead, he has delivered an incomplete, Election-eve, transparency website rehashing information taxpayers already had access to while rubber-stamping wasteful spending to include the millions wasted in the FSSA’s dispute with IBM (working in lock-step with other partisan leaders) and personal abuse of taxpayer funded travel. Berry lists his best accomplishment as returning 12% of his operating budget to the State’s general fund - a positive aim, but with only pennies of impact per taxpayer compared to what the office can do if truly engaged in developing innovative business practices.
The Editorial Board is right in calling for a competent, efficient, and independent Auditor - exactly what my experience as a military officer, small business owner, and non-profit manager will bring to the table. I will transform the office by immediately moving to implement a more robust accounts payable and contract audit process, advocating for reductions and reform in the state’s financial management agencies, increasing the use of electronic records, improving accessibility of public financial data, and working with other state officials to find innovative ways to keep more Indiana dollars in Indiana.
I encourage voters to visit my website at www.lockeforauditor.com to learn more about me and my ideas for the office. Let’s shake things up with a political outsider and demand the Auditor’s office be a truly independent voice for Hoosier taxpayers.
Sincerely,
Sam Locke
Democratic Candidate for State Auditor
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