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Reprinted from
State Auditor Rebecca Otto says she loves her new
job
 Prior
to decisively winning last November's election over incumbent State
Auditor Pat Anderson, Rebecca Otto served on the Forest Lake ISD 831
School Board and also served in the Minnesota Legislature.
Thursday, 12 July 2007
by T.W. Budig
ECM capitol reporter
State Auditor Rebecca Otto once considered politics so foul she couldn’t
imagine stepping into it.
But she did.
Democrat Otto, 44, trounced former state auditor Pat Anderson last
November to bounce back from a tough election loss two years before.
“I love this job. I understand why the former auditors loved this job,”
said Otto recently. “It’s low visibility but the work you do is
incredibly important,” she said.
Anderson has opined the DFL wave last election was so strong anybody
with a DFL Party designation behind their name could have beaten her.
Otto views the election as a bit more complex. “There’s a lot of factors
that go with it,” she said. “Timing has a lot to do with it,” she
conceded.
But Otto argues the “wave” translated into a three- or four-point gain
for most DFL candidates.
Otto won by 11 points
And she won by 11 points — Otto credits her campaign, credits hard work,
with winning a lot of those extra points.
It’s never fun to lose — always fun to win, she explained. “And I’ve
been on both sides of it,” Otto said with a laugh.
She has.
In a high profile race in 2004 in House District 52B, it was the
incumbent, Rep. Rebecca Otto, who came up short.
But both elections are behind her.
Now Otto presides over an office with about 115 employees and the duty
to oversee the fiscal decisions of about 4,300 units of local
government.
Otto speaks of assisting local government in their duties — detecting
unproductive budgeting trends early and through education, halting them
before they become endemic.
Otto looks to making auditor office reports more accurate, easier to
wade through, and more far reaching in terms of not just reporting data
but spotting trends.
Otto wants legislators to read the reports coming out the office. And
that’s not always done, she noted.
While Otto talks of living life one day at a time, she also explains
that she has walked down unanticipated paths..
Served school board, Legislature
Although she once found politics distasteful — told people that — Otto
wound up serving on the Forest Lake School Board and a short stint in
the Legislature.
Now it’s state auditor, which might raise the question of what next?
People have spoken to her about a possible run for governor, Otto
explained. “There are people who love to plan your life for you,” she
said, smiling. That’s part of politics, she explained.
Still, Otto doesn’t slam any doors shut. “I have learned never to say
‘Never,’” said Otto. “I guess what you have to do is keep your head,”
she said.
Professor Larry Jacobs, Professor and Walter F. Mondale Chair for
Political Studies at the Humphrey Institute at the University of
Minnesota, opined in an e-mail that Otto could be seen as a possible
gubernatorial candidate. “Holding statewide elected office can be a
stepping stone,” said Jacobs.
Arne Carlson came from auditor office
Indeed, one of Otto’s political heroes, former governor Arne Carlson,
emerged out of the state auditor’s office. He endorsed Otto for the
auditor’s post.
But 2010 is a long way off — it’s heard to know who’ll run, Jacobs
explained.
Former U.S. Senator Mark Dayton, Secretary of State Mark Ritchie,
Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Ryback and former House Minority Leader Matt
Entenza are all possible DFL gubernatorial candidates, he noted.
“So, it could be tight competition with some bigger names in the hunt,”
Jacobs said.
For her part, Otto said she would neither run for another elective
office, nor stay in her current one, unless she was or could contribute
— work to make things better.
“We have a good thing going (in the state) and it didn’t happen by
accident,” she said of people dedicating their talents to public
service.
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