Political activist Gene Stilp lost his legal attempt to force the state Auditor General to conduct audits of the General Assembly’s financial affairs. The Supreme Court’s decision that Mr. Stilp “lacked standing” ended another effort to achieve full and fair disclosure of the financial affairs of the peoples’ elected representatives. Legislators also maintain that the constitutional principle of “separation of powers” precludes the Auditor General from conducting audits of the General Assembly’s financial affairs.

Voters should know that annual “audits” of the General Assembly’s financial affairs are conducted by independent auditors under the direction and for the benefit of what is called The Legislative Audit Advisory Commission (the “Commission”), a body consisting of legislators and others appointed by the leadership of the House and Senate. A recent editorial in a reputable newspaper states that legislative leaders believe audits directed by the Commission satisfy the constitution’s auditing requirement.

To date, these audit reports have been confusing at best and misleading at worst. For all practical purposes, the audits are worthless from the standpoint of safeguarding the taxpayers’ money, or informing anyone as to the nature and purpose of amounts expended.  As a former Certified Public Accountant, I am surprised that any reputable CPA firm would let their name be associated with such a confusing and misleading audit report.

Voters should know that the independent accountants’ report states in part that the “Report is not intended to be and should not be used by anyone other than the Audit Advisory Commission.” This means that the leadership of the General Assembly does not want anyone else to see the report.

Also, it is my understanding that many, if not most, legislators were either not aware of or have not seen these reports.  Unfortunately, it is equally clear that most legislators were  not aware of the nature and amount of expenditures made by the Senate and House leadership.

A review of the audit report issued for the year ended June 30, 2006, indicates that during that fiscal year, tens of millions of dollars were reported as “disbursed” under the responsibility, direction or control of various Senate and House leaders and the Chief Clerks of the respective legislative bodies and/or their employees, agents and committees. The report provides no description whatsoever of the nature, purpose or appropriateness of most of these expenditures.

In light of numerous unresolved questions in connection with the –

• Attorney General’s “Bonusgate” investigation,
• indictment of Senator Fumo for numerous counts, including personal use of taxpayers’ monies,
• indictment of former Representative LaGrotta for payment to relatives for work alleged not to have been performed,
• widely-publicized leadership spending for what many believe is campaign-related polling,
• widely-publicized extravagant spending for meals and entertainment by various leaders, especially Senator Mellow,  
• question of whether taxpayers’ monies were used for the Las Vegas, Super Bowl, or other travel expenses of Speaker Emeritus Perzel and his staff in addition to the reported use of campaign funds (a questionable use which should also be investigated) for these junkets,
• whether or not taxpayers’ monies were used for extensive domestic and foreign travel over the years reported for House Majority Leader DeWeese,  and 
• other possible incidences of misuse and possibly illegal uses of taxpayers’ monies,

To date, these recommendations, made both privately and by public testimony before ”The Speaker’s Legislative Reform Commission”, have been ignored. So long as leaders of the General Assembly continue to ignore the public’s right to know about these matters, we can only wonder what they are hiding.

Expanding on the aforementioned recent editorial, The General Assembly has a fiduciary obligation to clean house by providing its members, the press and the public with the results of the recommended forensic audits and, on an on-going basis, providing meaningful independent audits of the financial affairs of the General Assembly. Such audit reports should be presented in an easily understandable format, with sufficient descriptions to enable all concerned to fully understand the nature and purpose of all spending and to have reasonable assurances that such spending served legitimate public purposes.
 

Ken Schaefer is chairman of Vote For Integrity based in Lebanon County, PA.

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