More incompetence by Secretary of State Kate Brown

Knute Buehler for Secretary of State

Candidate for Secretary of State, Dr. Knute Buehler, released the following statement yesterday after a story published Sunday in The Oregonian highlighted a lack of fiscal oversight by the Secretary of State’s Audit Division.  The Division’s failure to monitor submissions by municipalities such as Oakridge and Molalla could have prevented near insolvency by their governments.   

“The lack of fiscal oversight by our current Secretary of State is inexcusable. It’s the responsibility of the Secretary of State’s Audit Division to root out waste, fraud and inefficiency, so Oregonians have confidence their taxes are spent wisely.  We can’t continue to have cities that ‘go without oversight for years’ as The Oregonian exposed Sunday.  We need a Secretary of State that takes the job of fiscal oversight seriously and will focus the resources of the Division’s 70 auditors on carrying out this important job.”

“This is unfortunately another example of continued incompetence by our current Secretary of State.  She failed to notify the public about crucial election changes until the last minute.  She’s failing to monitor municipalities. In this time of shrinking tax receipts, while many cities lay on the brink of insolvency, fiscal oversight is crucial.  If she’s not monitoring cities, I wonder what else isn’t being audited?”