Because the Auditor’s office is focused so heavily on the partnership with local government units, we start by eliminating waste and fraud at the local level. And that starts with giving the local governments, especially the smaller ones, the tools they need to succeed and serve their neighbors. 

Hundreds of municipalities in our state have less than 1,000 people.  I believe that the vast majority of the people that work for these municipalities are honest people, but they don’t always have the resources they need to do the work they need to do.  

The Auditor’s office is no different, understaffed at 90 people, down from a high water mark of 165 when the Pawlenty administration gutted it.  We need the resources and people in the Auditor’s office to work with our local partners and restore robust oversight.  I will work with the legislature to find the budget to add 60 more employees to the Auditor’s office.  And if we can’t get it done there, we’ll go directly to our partners in local governments and build a coalition that legislators can’t refuse.

The State Auditor and our thousands of local government units are partners.  The auditor’s office is there to provide services, advice, and assistance to our municipal partners.  Simply put, the office is there to serve.  But just as the auditor’s office needs adequate resources to do their job, local governments need not just our support, but more resources as well.

Many of our smallest local government units don’t have large tax bases to pay for everything they need.  That’s why I’m proposing a $30,000 grant to these municipalities to help them pay for the very audits that are legally required of them.  As the mayor of a city of 1,500 people, I know how challenging it is to stretch the resources of a small municipality.  An ongoing grant of this size would allow cities to use their resources in other ways as they see fit - as a tax break, to purchase desperately needed equipment, repair infrastructure, or any combination of these things.

It does sound like that, but the auditor’s day-to-day job actually has very little to do with accounting. In fact, there hasn’t been an accountant in the role in more than 50 years. The auditor’s office oversees the financial activities of thousands of local government units, totaling over $60 billion in assets.

At its core, this is a management position. There are over 90 staff members in the office (not enough!) who provide audits of local governmental units’ financial statements and issue statewide reports required by law. As a veteran, small business owner, and a mayor, I have decades of management experience - from small teams to large teams where I had both direct line management responsibility and later managed managers in larger areas. I was first promoted to management in my late 20s.  After serving in Kosovo, I went to officer candidate school and oversaw hundreds of soldiers.  Right now between my small business and the city where I’m Mayor, I oversee 103 people.  I know how to keep a staff invested in our shared goals, and I know how to take care of my people.

Familiarity with accounting principals is of course important to the role because the Auditor provides approval over audit reports - though they rarely themselves create reports, perform audits, or write opinions. Instead, the Auditor is a translator of sorts to share the findings and meaning of the work of the financial professionals in the Office with leaders and decision makers at every level of government to make good governance decisions. I have done the accounting as the CFO of a start up venture and for my small business for years.  I have an MBA in Finance from the Carlson School of Management as well as experience and training in accounting from my years in Finance for the Minnesota Army National Guard. 

I am confident that my decades of experience with military, small business, and city accounting; years of financial management in the private sector; and the requisite continuing education for the role will ensure that I am successful in the role of State Auditor.

Between the State Auditor and Office of the Legislative Auditor, we should have insight into the financial operations of almost every institution at every level of government.  But both offices are desperately  understaffed.  I view the State Auditor and the Legislative Auditor’s office as partners in protecting the integrity of Minnesotans’ tax dollars.  The offices need the resources to do that.  

If the legislature creates the new Office of the Inspector General, we will work to ensure that all three offices have clear mandates and the resources to achieve those mandates.  Fighting fraud is important, but we can’t let that work drain the resources the State Auditor needs to serve and assist local governments.

Minnesota has a long, proud tradition of protecting our natural resources from the Boundary Waters, to Lake Superior, to our vast public forest lands.  I will never waiver from that tradition on the Minnesota Executive Council.  I will follow our regulations and follow the science in evaluating mineral leases and timber rights.  But I want to make one thing very clear: copper sulfide mining has no place in this state.  I have seen no proof that we can protect our wetlands, rivers, and groundwater from the effects of this type of mining.

Now, as the federal government tries to roll back protections on one of Minnesota’s greatest natural assets in the Boundary Waters, we have to stand firm as Minnesotans and say, “you will not destroy the crown jewel of our environment for profit.”  I will not let politicians in Washington hand over one of the country’s greatest wilderness areas to a foreign mining company.  And I will not let a foreign company destroy a robust outdoor recreation economy.  I will do everything I can to protect the entire Boundary Waters watershed.

While only a small part of the job, decisions made at the State Board of Investment about where to invest state funds are extremely consequential.  The marketplace is a big place.  If there are assets that don’t align with our values, it’s possible to avoid them and still get the returns we need.  

Right now, I believe the State of Israel is committing genocide.  I do not believe that we should be investing in assets from the state of Israel at this time and I do not believe that Minnesotans want their tax dollars to support the government that is committing such atrocities.  I have experience doing exactly this.  When I worked in the private sector, we decided that we were going to divest of weapons of war and did so successfully.  If we could divest of an industry at one of the world’s largest companies, we can certainly do it in Minnesota.