reprinted from

June 22, 2006

State auditor candidates hit campaign trail

By Heather Voorhees Staff Writer

LE SUEUR - As part of a re-election tour of southern Minnesota last week, state auditor Patricia Anderson stopped by Le Sueur to discuss politics.

Anderson was elected in 2002 after serving as mayor of Eagen for four years and as a city council member for seven years. She started two businesses, which she ran until taking state office. She earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Minnesota and a master's degree in public administration from Hamline University. She was endorsed by the Republican party earlier this month.

The News-Herald also got in touch with 's Democratic competitor for the auditor seat, Rebecca Otto.

Otto served as a state DFL Representative from 2003-04. She successfully built a 50-employee business and taught environmental science in public schools for five years. She has bacehlor's degree from Macalester College and a master's of education degree in science from the University of Minnesota. Otto was endorsed by the Minnesota DFL party in early June.

Why are you running for the office of state auditor?

PA: There's still a lot to be done and I enjoy the job. When was elected, there were a couple of things I really wanted to do. One was to provide more information to the public and policy-makers about what's going on in government finances. We've done that through e-updates; 6,000 people around the state get these e-updates that come out every 10 days.

"We've done big reforms on the (public) pension funds. We passed a bill this legislative session, raising rates, capping benefits.

"There's a lot of new things we want to do. Post-retirement health care is starting to hit now.

[Organizations] are all going to have to hire actuaries, figure out their liabilities and start putting them on the books, and in some cases, it's really bad. That issue alone will keep me really busy for the next four years."

R.O. - "I know we can do lot better. I've served in both state and local governments, and I know what happens when the state turns its back on local communities.

"My husband and I have an 11-year-old boy and I'm very concerned about the direction [government has] taken - not thinking about whole state, not planning carefully. We want him to reach full potential in school, to have opportunities as he grows up and I'm not sure that we're setting ourselves up at this point to do that."

What is the most important part of the state auditor's job?

P.A. - "Auditing, clearly, is the most important. But, I think it is providing factual information to citizens, policymakers and the press about what's going on. It affects so many people and gives them sort of a basis by which to make a decision - 'Do we have good council or not?' I think that's really important.

"My role is to oversee government finances - we call it being the taxpayer's watchdog. People in Minnesota are pretty smart; if they have the data, they can pretty good decisions."

R.O. - "The auditor is sup posed to serve as bridge between community and state government. You can stand up for counties when the governor proposes changes. You're there to help them be as efficient and effective in spending that money. You're really there to help them avoid waste and mistakes in spending, and if you do your job well, there shouldn't be any problems. Then you turn to building relationships."

Otto has claimed cities are reluctant to turn to your office for help because you are parti san. How do you respond?

P.A. - "I think if you ask cities overall, they'll laugh at that. I'm not supposed to be their friend, I'm their auditor. I'm their watchdog. I believe that I've been very helpful to them and very unbiased. I think if you talk to any group of government entities that they've say I've absolutely been that. I don't think I'm partisan whatsoever no one has ever accused me of that."

In April, Otto uncovered a $12 million error in the Minnesota Dept. of Education's financial reporting of school district revenues. Would you like to respond to that?

P.A. "She went through every single thing on my office's Web site, every single study, every single report, and they found one mistake made in a formula. It was something my researchers didn't catch - it was a minor and unimportant thing. So, of everything on that Web site, that's what she found.

"She's beat me up on that, that I made a mistake, and I did. It was."

How do you respond to Anderson's statement that you have very little experience and that she's "not even sure if [you] know what the auditor does"?

R.O. - "I'm very, very aware of what state auditor does. I have several former auditors working with me and did a lot of research before decided to run for the position. She came from local government and probably knows more, but the way she's running her office has been very one sided, solely punitive and partisan. She's been called to the carpet by many groups by how she spins numbers."

What do you want voters to remember about you when they head to the polls?

P.A. - "The auditor is the tax payer's watchdog, and so when you make a decision about who should fill that role, decide who would best watch after our tax dollars."

R-O. - "This is basically a job review for the current auditor, and there are a mounting list of things people need to understand. We have to make sure our communities are as strong as we can be. We need someone to not just look at past spending but look to future. The policies [Anderson is] advocating for are not in our best interest."

Heather Voorhees can be reached at hvoorhees@lesueur news-herald, com