An active State Auditor is what I will be
January 12, 2010 Remarks to the Press, St. Paul, MN
Video by and with permission of Craig Stellmacher
Prepared Text
Thank you all for attending today. I’ll cut right to the chase. Today I am terminating my campaign to be the Republican nominee for Governor of Minnesota. I will enter the race for State Auditor, the position I held from 2003 to 2007.
I do not make this decision lightly, but after much reflection, it is a decision I make without hesitation. The decision to run for public office is never strictly a personal one. A lot of people put their faith in me and my campaign. They put their trust and their money behind me, and I cannot lightly dismiss their loyalty in making my decision to run for State Auditor.
My decision to run for State Auditor is right for me, but ultimately it is also a good decision for my supporters, the Republican Party and most importantly for the people of Minnesota.
These are serious financial times for Minnesota. The outcome of the next election – at all levels of the ticket — will determine whether Minnesota remains a high-tax state or Minnesota restores the fundamental principles of constitutionally limited government. While I believe the conventional wisdom that only a fiscally conservative Republican governor can preserve some economic sanity in Minnesota, I also believe putting all the Republican Party’s eggs, and Minnesota’s future prosperity, into the one basket of the governor’s race isn’t a particularly sound strategy.
We are less than a month away from state caucuses, and even with seven of the original nine candidates still in the race for the Republican nomination, rumors are swirling that the field is not yet set. Since Gov. Pawlenty announced he was not seeking a third term, the focus of the Republican Party has been almost exclusively on the governor’s race. Nonetheless, a number of key players in the party have remained on the sidelines “waiting for Godot” to show up. I have to say that has been frustrating.
Those two situations — the frustration and uncertainty surrounding the governor’s race and the singular focus of the Republican Party on the governor’s race — have been gnawing at me for the past two months.
The more I thought about the situation, the clearer it became that at this time of financial and political uncertainty, more so than ever, there is an opportunity to convert the State Auditor’s office from the passive organization it has become in the last three years to an active and dynamic agent of reform within state government.
Stop and think about it. The State Auditor is a constitutional officer independent of the Legislature and the Governor, irrespective of who controls those branches of government. The State Auditor cannot veto bills, but she can sponsor legislation, and she can use her office as a bully pulpit to influence public opinion. A well-respected State Auditor is looked to for opinions on legislation that affects local units of government. Everything from local government aid formulas, county and school district mandates, even the effectiveness of JOBZ and TIF districts, but the State Auditor doesn’t have to wait to be asked her opinion.
An active State Auditor who zealously guards her independence will be out in front of the curve, collecting and analyzing data and framing the issues in terms of what’s best for Minnesota; she is the Taxpayer’s Watchdog, and she allows neither the Legislature nor the Governor to play politics with Minnesotans’ money or their futures.
Certainly the scope of influence of the State Auditor is less than the Governor, but the agenda my gubernatorial campaign focused on – financial reform, reforming the relationship of state and local government, limiting the scope of government – these are all issues where an active State Auditor can wield a lot of influence. From day one of this campaign, my objective has been to focus the scope of the debate. I have run a campaign of substance and principle based-reform, and garnered a lot of notable press coverage. Amusingly, I’ve confounded some of the liberal bloggers who don’t know how to deal with a pro-liberty conservative who argues from economic principle, not from ideology. I will carry those ideas into the Auditor’s race.
The primary function of the State Auditor is to ensure local units of government are spending taxpayer dollars correctly and wisely – but that limited vision of the office is not enough. I do not share the opinion of the current occupant of the office that the State Auditor is “the Rodney Dangerfield of constitutional offices — one not always getting respect.” That is true only if the State Auditor acts like Rodney Dangerfield.
I understand the current resident of the Auditor’s office is touting bigger computer screens, telecommuting, better forms, technology updates and helping local government with energy costs as some accomplishments of her tenure.
What you see on the table is just a sample of the investigations my staff conducted and press coverage generated on my watch. During my term I sponsored major pension reform including the Minneapolis teacher’s merger, a cap on benefits for state funds, rewrite of the entire fire relief code. I passed legislation allowing the State Auditor more leeway to privatize audits. I moved several offices and downsized. We made huge news several times busting “bad guys” for swindling local governments. We did three best practices reviews (not one), started first ever school spending reports, did several special studies (including a groundbreaking study on LGA and a study of school superintendent pay). We busted the Minneapolis Police and Fire fund for misappropriation of public money to the tune of tens of millions – a lawsuit the City of Minneapolis is still dealing with.
No one was comparing the State Auditor’s office to Rodney Dangerfield when I was there. I’ll bring that level of respect back to the Auditor’s office and that level of commitment to protecting tax dollars back to the people of Minnesota.
Let me add a final idea before I take your questions: Reports gathering dust on a shelf or today’s headlines on the bottom of a bird cage are not adequate measures by which to judge a State Auditor. This pile of paper is not an end in itself; it is the means to changing attitudes and making real reforms. An active State Auditor does more than uncover problems; she points the way to structural reforms that prevent problems in the future – another activity absent from the State Auditor’s office today.
The State Auditor is responsible for ferreting out waste, fraud and abuse in local units of government — cities, counties, school districts, including the Met Council. Uncovering examples of waste, fraud and abuse makes for good headlines. It certainly saves the state some money and marginally improves government operations, but in the long term that narrow operational focus really does very little to get at the fundamental structural problems of big government.
I see the job of State Auditor as more than just making the status quo work a little better. We must reform the relationship between state and local governments, and the State Auditor should play a significant role in that process. The current discord between local officials complaining about lack of state aid funding to local governments and state officials finger-pointing at local officials for spending too much is the direct result of having a passive State Auditor and the failure to clearly define the legitimate and distinct obligations of state and local governments to Minnesota citizens.
The state should provide local units of government more freedom to do what they deem best for their residents. That’s why in my term as State Auditor I secured legislation giving the State Auditor authority to give waivers on state mandates to local government. On the flip side, state government has a duty to make sure local governments provide adequate essential services through their own taxing base or with state aid, but if a local unit of government decides to provide a high level of non-essential services, local government should pay for it locally – after taking care of “essential services.”
During my tenure as State Auditor, I made the phrase “essential services” part of local government vocabulary. Granted, the words stuck in the throats of some local officials who wanted their every spending desire deemed “essential,” but nonetheless my office made gigantic strides in redefining the way local governments looked at their responsibilities to taxpayers.
As the former mayor of Eagan who had many a battle with Ted Mondale over who ran the city of Eagan – the people of Eagan or Mondale’s Met Council – I can tell you that increasing the independence of counties, school districts and cities to determine their own development and destinies — putting the responsibility for local development on local shoulders — is the best way to encourage the fiscal responsibility state officials complain is lacking at the local level.
An active State Auditor is what I was, and an active State Auditor is what I will be. I have a proven track record, attested to by the fact that in my reelection bid I was endorsed over the current auditor by virtually every newspaper in the state. Even those papers that regularly editorialized that my “essential services” policy was too stringent agreed that on my watch the State Auditor’s office was in effective and competent hands.
In today’s financial climate, every penny really does count, but I will be a State Auditor that does more than look for loose change under the couch. I will be an active State Auditor that uses the office to push for the necessary reforms Minnesota must make to be a competitive and prosperous state. Minnesotans expect no less from any elected official. And I expect no less from myself.
Thank you.
I’ll take your questions on the auditor’s race.
Thank you all for attending today. I’ll cut right to the chase. Today I am terminating my campaign to be the Republican nominee for Governor of Minnesota. I will enter the race for State Auditor, the position I held from 2003 to 2007.
I do not make this decision lightly, but after much reflection, it is a decision I make without hesitation. The decision to run for public office is never strictly a personal one. A lot of people put their faith in me and my campaign. They put their trust and their money behind me, and I cannot lightly dismiss their loyalty in making my decision to run for State Auditor.
My decision to run for State Auditor is right for me, but ultimately it is also a good decision for my supporters, the Republican Party and most importantly for the people of Minnesota.
These are serious financial times for Minnesota. The outcome of the next election – at all levels of the ticket — will determine whether Minnesota remains a high-tax state or Minnesota restores the fundamental principles of constitutionally limited government. While I believe the conventional wisdom that only a fiscally conservative Republican governor can preserve some economic sanity in Minnesota, I also believe putting all the Republican Party’s eggs, and Minnesota’s future prosperity, into the one basket of the governor’s race isn’t a particularly sound strategy.
We are less than a month away from state caucuses, and even with seven of the original nine candidates still in the race for the Republican nomination, rumors are swirling that the field is not yet set. Since Gov. Pawlenty announced he was not seeking a third term, the focus of the Republican Party has been almost exclusively on the governor’s race. Nonetheless, a number of key players in the party have remained on the sidelines “waiting for Godot” to show up. I have to say that has been frustrating.
Those two situations — the frustration and uncertainty surrounding the governor’s race and the singular focus of the Republican Party on the governor’s race — have been gnawing at me for the past two months.
The more I thought about the situation, the clearer it became that at this time of financial and political uncertainty, more so than ever, there is an opportunity to convert the State Auditor’s office from the passive organization it has become in the last three years to an active and dynamic agent of reform within state government.
Stop and think about it. The State Auditor is a constitutional officer independent of the Legislature and the Governor, irrespective of who controls those branches of government. The State Auditor cannot veto bills, but she can sponsor legislation, and she can use her office as a bully pulpit to influence public opinion. A well-respected State Auditor is looked to for opinions on legislation that affects local units of government. Everything from local government aid formulas, county and school district mandates, even the effectiveness of JOBZ and TIF districts, but the State Auditor doesn’t have to wait to be asked her opinion.
An active State Auditor who zealously guards her independence will be out in front of the curve, collecting and analyzing data and framing the issues in terms of what’s best for Minnesota; she is the Taxpayer’s Watchdog, and she allows neither the Legislature nor the Governor to play politics with Minnesotans’ money or their futures.
Certainly the scope of influence of the State Auditor is less than the Governor, but the agenda my gubernatorial campaign focused on – financial reform, reforming the relationship of state and local government, limiting the scope of government – these are all issues where an active State Auditor can wield a lot of influence. From day one of this campaign, my objective has been to focus the scope of the debate. I have run a campaign of substance and principle based-reform, and garnered a lot of notable press coverage. Amusingly, I’ve confounded some of the liberal bloggers who don’t know how to deal with a pro-liberty conservative who argues from economic principle, not from ideology. I will carry those ideas into the Auditor’s race.
The primary function of the State Auditor is to ensure local units of government are spending taxpayer dollars correctly and wisely – but that limited vision of the office is not enough. I do not share the opinion of the current occupant of the office that the State Auditor is “the Rodney Dangerfield of constitutional offices — one not always getting respect.” That is true only if the State Auditor acts like Rodney Dangerfield.
I understand the current resident of the Auditor’s office is touting bigger computer screens, telecommuting, better forms, technology updates and helping local government with energy costs as some accomplishments of her tenure.
What you see on the table is just a sample of the investigations my staff conducted and press coverage generated on my watch. During my term I sponsored major pension reform including the Minneapolis teacher’s merger, a cap on benefits for state funds, rewrite of the entire fire relief code. I passed legislation allowing the State Auditor more leeway to privatize audits. I moved several offices and downsized. We made huge news several times busting “bad guys” for swindling local governments. We did three best practices reviews (not one), started first ever school spending reports, did several special studies (including a groundbreaking study on LGA and a study of school superintendent pay). We busted the Minneapolis Police and Fire fund for misappropriation of public money to the tune of tens of millions – a lawsuit the City of Minneapolis is still dealing with.
No one was comparing the State Auditor’s office to Rodney Dangerfield when I was there. I’ll bring that level of respect back to the Auditor’s office and that level of commitment to protecting tax dollars back to the people of Minnesota.
Let me add a final idea before I take your questions: Reports gathering dust on a shelf or today’s headlines on the bottom of a bird cage are not adequate measures by which to judge a State Auditor. This pile of paper is not an end in itself; it is the means to changing attitudes and making real reforms. An active State Auditor does more than uncover problems; she points the way to structural reforms that prevent problems in the future – another activity absent from the State Auditor’s office today.
The State Auditor is responsible for ferreting out waste, fraud and abuse in local units of government — cities, counties, school districts, including the Met Council. Uncovering examples of waste, fraud and abuse makes for good headlines. It certainly saves the state some money and marginally improves government operations, but in the long term that narrow operational focus really does very little to get at the fundamental structural problems of big government.
I see the job of State Auditor as more than just making the status quo work a little better. We must reform the relationship between state and local governments, and the State Auditor should play a significant role in that process. The current discord between local officials complaining about lack of state aid funding to local governments and state officials finger-pointing at local officials for spending too much is the direct result of having a passive State Auditor and the failure to clearly define the legitimate and distinct obligations of state and local governments to Minnesota citizens.
The state should provide local units of government more freedom to do what they deem best for their residents. That’s why in my term as State Auditor I secured legislation giving the State Auditor authority to give waivers on state mandates to local government. On the flip side, state government has a duty to make sure local governments provide adequate essential services through their own taxing base or with state aid, but if a local unit of government decides to provide a high level of non-essential services, local government should pay for it locally – after taking care of “essential services.”
During my tenure as State Auditor, I made the phrase “essential services” part of local government vocabulary. Granted, the words stuck in the throats of some local officials who wanted their every spending desire deemed “essential,” but nonetheless my office made gigantic strides in redefining the way local governments looked at their responsibilities to taxpayers.
As the former mayor of Eagan who had many a battle with Ted Mondale over who ran the city of Eagan – the people of Eagan or Mondale’s Met Council – I can tell you that increasing the independence of counties, school districts and cities to determine their own development and destinies — putting the responsibility for local development on local shoulders — is the best way to encourage the fiscal responsibility state officials complain is lacking at the local level.
An active State Auditor is what I was, and an active State Auditor is what I will be. I have a proven track record, attested to by the fact that in my reelection bid I was endorsed over the current auditor by virtually every newspaper in the state. Even those papers that regularly editorialized that my “essential services” policy was too stringent agreed that on my watch the State Auditor’s office was in effective and competent hands.
In today’s financial climate, every penny really does count, but I will be a State Auditor that does more than look for loose change under the couch. I will be an active State Auditor that uses the office to push for the necessary reforms Minnesota must make to be a competitive and prosperous state. Minnesotans expect no less from any elected official. And I expect no less from myself.
Thank you.
I’ll take your questions on the auditor’s race.
