State auditor seeks local allies in holding government accountable

By Travis Fischer, tkfischer@charlescitypress.com

State Auditor Rob Sand visited Charles City on Wednesday, Sept. 18, for an informal conversation with the community about what’s happening at his office.

“It’s an official office event so we’re going to stick to what’s going on in Des Moines,” said Sand, putting a preemptive stop to questions about elections and campaigns.

With residents gathered around the gazebo at Andres Memorial Park, Sand began by giving credit to area participants of his “PIE” program. The Public Innovations and Efficiencies program invites public entities to keep a checklist of cost saving measures that have worked for other groups and contribute ideas of their own, culminating in an annual “Pie Contest” where they can be recognized for implementing these cost saving ideas.

“We’re the auditor’s office. You don’t expect an award from the auditor,” said Sand. “It’s fun to have this program because we have the opportunity with it to be a little bit more positive.”

Floyd County, Floyd County Conservation, the city of Floyd, Nora Springs, Rudd, Charles City School District, and Rudd-Rockford-Marble Rock are all participants in the program.

Sand also said he has been working to address the shortage of auditors and accountants by removing four-year degree requirements and preferences from job postings. Instead, his office is making efforts to be more accessible to people with two-year degrees, relevant work experience, or military service.

“We have a lot of work in the state that needs to get done for the tax payers,” said Sand. “You don’t want to have a paper ceiling. … All that does is keep people from applying.”

However, a shortage of workers is not the biggest obstacle to Sand’s work.

Without getting overtly political, Sand, the only Democrat in Iowa to currently hold a state office, chaffed against a law passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature and governor that has hindered his ability to audit state agencies. The law creates several categories of documents that the auditor cannot access, which includes any document that has personal information that somebody may wish to remain private.

“Personal information can be as simple as a name. It’s pretty broad” said Sand. “And who do you suppose wants privacy than the people who are responsible for fraud and abuse?”

Previously the auditor could appeal to the courts to determine if his office could have access to documents, but that decision is now made by a three-member panel made up of one member from the auditor’s office, one member of the department in question, and a third directly appointed by the governor.

“You don’t need a two-year degree in accounting to figure out how that’s going to end,” said Sand.

Sand said the change has already resulted in a detrimental effect to his office, citing an example with the state Board of Parole. After a whistleblower reported an issue with how the board was operating, the parole board responded by saying the problem has been corrected, but has not provided documentation demonstrating it.

“We don’t know if the Board of Parole is following its own rules because it’s not giving us the documentation,” said Sand. “We have no capacity to assure the state of Iowa that the Board of Parole is following its own rules for how it conducts its business.”

Also frustrating for Sand has been state stonewalling on documents related to the contract with Odyssey for administration of the state’s education voucher program.

“In between their bid and the original contract being signed, they got the state to tack on $100,000 extra every year. But then, just a couple months after the contract was signed, they got the state to amend the contract to double the cost to taxpayers with no additional obligation on Odyssey’s part,” said Sand.

“We got stonewalled for six months asking for this documentation. They did not run it through the proper channels, they just went straight to the director of the department, who signed off on it and provided no justification for it whatsoever.”

Warning against the dangers of total political control from any political party, Sand expressed his frustration that the dominance of Republicans in Des Moines has emboldened them to undermine systems of accountability.

“One of the major purposes of the auditor’s office is deterring people from misspending money,” said Sand. “I thought we were all against waste, fraud and abuse.”

Sand recognized state Rep. Charley Thomson (R-Charles City) for voting against the bill that reduced the auditor’s office’s ability to request documents. Thomson, who was at the gathering, offered Sand his support in working on a bill that would repeal that law.

“I’d be interested in running it,” said Thomson. “Sadly, this is not an isolated event. The same thing happened with the Office of the Consumer Advocate.”