Inside the editorial page

What's on the minds of TNT editorial writers

Friday, February 29th, 2008

Posted by David Seago @ 05:35:28 am

On his Washington Policy Center blog, Jason Mercier alerts us to a surprise move in the state Senate that would esssentially be a slap at state Auditor Brian Sonntag for his handling of performance audits.

Senate Bill 6450, earlier thought to be dead this session, was revived under a suspension of rules. It would force the auditor to reimburse school districts for costs associated with performance audits.

As Mercier notes, Sonntag strongly objects and contends the audits save local governments far more than they cost.

Even though Sonntag is a Democrat, many Democratic legislators do seem itching to yank his chain. It could be they resent the way Sonntag positions himself as a champion of good government by promoting performance audits. Sonntag has in the past considered running for governor.

They may resent the way he appears regularly on conservative radio talk shows and has allied himself with Tim Eyman, whose successful Initiative 900 gave the auditor the authority and funding for performance audits.

Another possible factor I haven't quite nailed down: I heard behind-the-scenes complaints that Sonntag exceeded his mandate and delved into policy matters when a performance audit of the state Department of Transportation urged a greater emphasis on "congestion relief."

That gripe might have some merit, but I haven't the chance to explore it. Done properly, however, performance audits are a good idea. It was a state PA that blew the lid off shady practices at the Port of Seattle.

Comments, anyone?

Categories: Taking notice • 3 comments

COMMENTS:

Comment by dbreneman @ 10:06 - Friday, February 29th, 2008

http://tildebang.com

Sonntag may well go down as one of the great leaders in Washington history. When he was Pierce Country Auditor, I was on the Charter Review Commission, and performance audits of Pierce County were a hot topic. Sonntag spoke forcefully about the need for an Auditor that actually audits. Needless to say, then as now, the "old boy network" fought him tooth and nail. There was a performance audit provision in the proposals we put before the voters. As I recall, it was one of the few items that had any organized campaign surrounding it, and of course that campaign was negative. It was defeated. The fact that he has power brokers in Olympia running scared today, just as he had them worried in Pierce County 20 years ago, demonstrates that he's on to something. Thankfully, our Legislature hasn't yet established a gulag in which to punish the politically inconvenient reformers like Brian Sonntag.

Comment by ldozy1 @ 11:43 - Friday, February 29th, 2008

Hey- I'd love to have him audit our PC exec, ( Golf Course, etc) Sound Transit ( Miller property shame) Public Works ( failure to maintain levee) just to name a few.
From all their "performance success... viagra wouldn't even help!

Comment by reformedliberal @ 18:17 - Saturday, March 8th, 2008

Perhaps an opinion on whether Sonntag exceeded his bounds would depend on what verbiage exists to define the mission of DOT. If they have a written mandate somewhere to maintain passable highways, I wouldn't need an audit to tell you that they are failing.

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Inside the editorial page

Inside the editorial page

This blog is designed to give readers a glimpse of our editorial-page operation and how we make our decisions. We’ll let you know who we’re meeting with, what they’re telling us, what events and issues we’re looking at. We’ll also pass on information and observations that may not make our print editions. In addition to the editorial board members who post on this blog, the board includes Publisher Cheryl Dell and Executive Editor David Zeeck.

Contributing bloggers

Editorial page editor David Seago joined The News Tribune in 1967. He oversees the daily editorial and letters pages and the Sunday Insight section. E-mail him at david.seago@thenewstribune.com.

Chief editorial writer Patrick O’Callahan came to The News Tribune in 1987 and has worked at Washington newspapers since 1979. He writes the editorial board’s annual civic agenda published at the beginning of each year. E-mail him at patrick.ocallahan@thenewstribune.com

Editorial writer Cheryl Tucker began her journalism career in 1974 at a Virginia newspaper and came to The News Tribune in 1978. She is responsible for day-to-day production of the editorial and op-ed pages and editing letters to the editor. E-mail her at cheryl.tucker@thenewstribune.com.

Editorial writer Kim Bradford joined The News Tribune in 2005 after working 11 years at newspapers in Washington and Maryland. She manages this blog. E-mail her at kim.bradford@thenewstribune.com.