Suppressing a report because it is embarrassing and harmful to the same-party Governor of your state looks like corruption.
But was the report suppressed?, or was it released 16 months late for other reasons?
I am talking about the Office of State Auditor's performance audit, PER-2022-3510.pdf(1).
The audit showed negative impacts from policies adopted by public schools in 2020-2021. Meanwhile, the North Carolina state legislature and the Governor were locking horns on school funding, with the legislature trying to increase school choice and the Governor vetoing such legislation.
State Auditor and Governor from the same political party
We may never know why the Democrat State Auditor released their performance audit 16 months late and after the school funding fight was substantially over. But at first glance, it looks bad.
We would be far less suspicious if the State Auditor was not from the same political party as the Governor.
This is what the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) means in their requirement that Auditors be independent in both appearance and in fact.
A way to solve this problem with the North Carolina Office of the State Auditor and to clean up the lingering scandal that forced the last Auditor to resign is to elect the qualified, scrupulous, and independent candidate in this race: Bob Drach.
Bob Drach, the Libertarian candidate, earned his Certified Management Accountant (CMA) credential and an MBA from Stanford University. He worked for professional services firm Deloitte, and has been doing accounting, treasury, management, and IT for over 30 years. His public service includes serving as a teacher in the United States Peace Corps and serving on a county board.
Politics in North Carolina are broken. Help Bob Drach change politics in North Carolina. Vote for Bob in November, and follow his campaign at https://www.electdrach.org.
(1) Session Law 2021-180 § 7.27.(a)(14) authorized the audit and required PER-2022-3510 to be reported no later than June 20, 2022.