Palm Beach County and their commissioners are in hot water. Three commissioners were imprisoned from being corrupt, and the County has become known as Corruption County. One reason could be lack of oversight, and apparently it was so poor the public and local businesses have pushed through the establishment of a completely independent Inspector General for the county. Additionally, in the future, the IG authority will be expanded to cover all the cities in the county, AND other Constitutional Officers, such as the Sheriff.
How does that compare to Lake County? The local "County auditor" really works
for the elected County Clerk, Neal Kelly, and currently does not perceive the auditor has enough authority to initiate audits of the County operations or other Constitutional officers. Now, professional auditors don't only ensure financial statements are accurate, but they do reviews of regulatory compliance like grants, plus reviews to ensure operations are efficient, economical and effective. That is the kind of auditing I practiced for 18 years when I was a corporate and government auditor.
So, below is an editorial in the Palm Beach Post about how bad it can get when you don't have good oversight. Lake Countians might start asking their commissioners why there is no central audit oversight here. Then maybe we might know why all five Lake County Commissioners voted to pay the Economic Development Commission $300,000 per year without specific performance criteria, or ANY accountability provisions in the contract, without an audit clause, and without any required status reports.
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Cure for Corruption County
By The Palm Beach PostPalm Beach Post Staff Writer
Posted: 10:41 p.m. Friday, Nov. 27, 2009A year ago, Palm Beach County commissioners would have been as likely to endorse strict new ethics reforms, including an independent inspector general, as they would have been to solicit campaign contributions from the FBI.
On Tuesday, that misguided reluctance officially ends. Commissioners are poised to submit themselves to an inspector general selected by an independent body. They are prepared to pass tough ethics rules overseen by an independent ethics commission. They didn't come to this rational place easily.
Even after the resignation and imprisonment of Tony Masilotti, Warren Newell and Mary McCarty, some commissioners viewed the prospect of an inspector general with arrogant disdain. Through their misguided prism, for instance, business groups demanding accountability were acting out over the commission's rejection of budget-cutting proposals.
The shift in the commission's attitude can be traced to an invitation from State Attorney Michael McAuliffe. He asked all the commissioners in February to appear before a grand jury to examine how Corruption County was born. Even then, three commissioners — Burt Aaronson, Addie Greene and Shelley Vana — initially declined. Mr. McAuliffe assured them that their appearances would not be used against them. After Mr. McAuliffe's grand jury issued its report in May — calling for the reforms now moving forward — commissioners took the lead in putting them into law.
Aside from pressure from the state attorney, who had created a public corruption unit and last week added a former West Palm Beach homicide investigator to the team, commissioners encountered pressure from the public. A consortium of business and civic groups, which have been working closely on the language of the reforms, vowed to petition voters if commissioners resisted. They made it clear that resistance would be, at best, political suicide.
The ordinances to be voted on Tuesday promise $600,000 to pay for the inspector general and ethics commission through Sept. 30. They include a 0.25 percent tax on contracts to assure money for future operations. The inspector general would be selected by the ethics board — consisting of a former police investigator, a lawyer, an ethics professor, an accountant and a former elected official — plus the state attorney and public defender.
The work can begin in January, one year after McCarty's arrest. In November 2010, voters will be asked to extend the inspector generals' reach to other bodies, including all 38 cities in Palm Beach County and the sheriff's office.
The public isn't likely to forget the corrupt years. But by November, the evidence should show that commissioners are serious about putting Corruption County behind them.
