Go figure.
This is just another vivid example of why our state is shrinking. People vote with their feet. People are leaving Pennsylvania.
Corruption! Tradition! Smoke! Not only is there a legacy of a 'smokey city' but in these instances it is also a 'smokey state.' Things are not transparent. Things are not open.
As a state senator, I would change the law so as to guarantee that the auditor general and any voter in the state has the right to audit any source of funds from politicians and governmental assets.
Court defeats audit - PittsburghLIVE.com Court defeats audit
By Brad Bumsted, STATE CAPITOL REPORTER
HARRISBURG -- Pennsylvania's fiscal watchdog, the state auditor general, has no authority to audit the Legislature's $135 million slush fund or its other expenses, Commonwealth Court ruled Monday.
Short of a reversal on appeal, the ruling means that more than $400 million in annual legislative spending won't be audited independently, said citizens' activist Gene Stilp, of Dauphin County, who filed a lawsuit last year claiming the Legislature's internal audit is a 'sham.'
The court dismissed Stilp's lawsuit in a 5-1 ruling.
Stilp, now an independent candidate for lieutenant governor, filed his lawsuit based on stories the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review published last year that reported legislators tapped the so-called 'surplus' money to collect unvouchered expenses authorized by a July pay raise. They repealed the 16 to 54 percent raises in November after outraged constituents complained."
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By Brad Bumsted
STATE CAPITOL REPORTER
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
HARRISBURG -- Pennsylvania's fiscal watchdog, the state auditor general, has no authority to audit the Legislature's $135 million slush fund or its other expenses, Commonwealth Court ruled Monday.
Short of a reversal on appeal, the ruling means that more than $400 million in annual legislative spending won't be audited independently, said citizens' activist Gene Stilp, of Dauphin County, who filed a lawsuit last year claiming the Legislature's internal audit is a "sham."
The court dismissed Stilp's lawsuit in a 5-1 ruling.
Stilp, now an independent candidate for lieutenant governor, filed his lawsuit based on stories the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review published last year that reported legislators tapped the so-called "surplus" money to collect unvouchered expenses authorized by a July pay raise. They repealed the 16 to 54 percent raises in November after outraged constituents complained.
The Trib also reported Auditor General Jack Wagner said he couldn't audit the fund, and that the Legislature's own audit exempts some spending. The House and Senate accounts existed as of June 20, 2004, according to the latest available audit, released last June.
Stephen Miskin, spokesman for House Republicans, said the purpose of the special legislative fund has been "exaggerated by the media."
The surplus began as a way to give the Legislature discretionary money in case a governor vetoed the General Assembly's budget.
Each year, the Legislative Audit Advisory Commission hires an outside auditing firm to examine the Legislature's spending. But Stilp charged that audit is "self-serving," because four of the eight panelists are lawmakers and the others are legislative appointees.
The internal audit states that auditors cannot determine whether lawmakers' bills for postage, travel, meals, entertainment, office furniture and equipment are legitimate expenses. Nor can it determine whether prices for goods and services were the lowest available, or if legislative contractors do the work they were hired to do, according to last year's audit.
Miskin defended the internal audit as sufficient, saying "it is there for public review."
Neither the state constitution nor state law provide for the auditor general to audit the House and Senate, the court ruled. The court cited a 1966 attorney general's opinion stating that having an auditor general audit the General Assembly would trample the Legislature's independence under the separation of powers doctrine.
It's an issue that needs to be addressed, Stilp said, at a constitutional convention he and reformers are seeking. But House Majority Leader Sam Smith, R-Punxsutawney, told the Pennsylvania Press Club yesterday he doesn't support a convention because of the "polarized" political climate on reform issues.
"I can see it down the road, in a couple years," Smith said.
Stilp said he might appeal the Commonwealth Court decision to the state Supreme Court.
His lawsuit was filed against Wagner, legislative leaders, a member of the audit advisory commission and Treasurer Robert P. Casey Jr.
"Our position has always been that we will exercise the authority provided to this department by law -- no more and no less," said Rob Teplitz, chief counsel for the auditor general's office.
"Unless the law itself changes, that is how we must proceed," he said.
Two judges did not participate in the decision: Mary Hannah Leavitt and Renee Cohn Jubelirer, who is married to Senate President Pro Tempore Robert Jubelirer, R-Altoona, one of the defendants. Judge Robert Simpson wrote the dissenting opinion.
Brad Bumsted can be reached at bbumsted@tribweb.com or (717) 787-1405.
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