Five Republicans Seek Beth Wood's Job as State Auditor | Eastern North Carolina Now

   Publisher's note: The author of this fine report, Dan Way, is a contributor to the Carolina Journal, John Hood Publisher.

Contenders say public is not confident government can police itself

    RALEIGH     The five Republicans running for state auditor say incumbent Democrat Beth Wood has been weak in rooting out waste, fraud, and inefficiency in state government. Lack of transparency, selective auditing, and inefficient use of staff resources plague the office, they say.

    Public confidence in government's ability to police itself has plummeted as a result, according to GOP candidates Joseph Hank DeBragga, an auditor in the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources; Beaufort County GOP Chairman Greg Dority; Wake County Board of Education member Debra Goldman; former state Sen. Fern Shubert; and Hickory Mayor Rudy Wright.

    The winner in the May 8 Republican primary will face Wood in the Nov. 6 general election. Wood is unopposed in the Democratic primary.

    "I think there are serious problems in this state when it comes to corruption. If we don't eliminate the corruption it will just continue to get worse," said Shubert, of Marshville.

    "In North Carolina so much money is being diverted from useful purposes to things that they don't want you to know about," Shubert said. "The fleas on the dog are about bigger than the dog at this point."

    "My feeling is that there's no sense right now of fiscal responsibility for this state," said Goldman, a former firefighter and EMT.

    "There's so much wastefulness[and] fraud in North Carolina state government and so much that could be uncovered" and cracked down on, said Goldman, of Cary. Auditor reports "are sorely lacking in information, sorely lacking in recommendations, sorely lacking in depth and breadth."

    Taxpayers are "frustrated and disappointed in state government," said DeBragga, of Oriental. They believe "government is not delivering cost-effective services" because there is too much bureaucracy. "I'm one of those people that agree."

    "My concerns are more abut the level of government spending in the state budget and that's a legislative function," said Dority, of Washington, an economic development consultant. "Not all misspending is criminal."

    However, Dority said, "Whether it's the Tea Party meetings or whether it's the ball field, talking to the voters there's not a lot of confidence ... in the government's ability to [police itself]. I'm not necessarily sure I agree with that."
North Carolina State Auditor Candidate Greg Dority mixing it up with the home boys here in Beaufort County: Above.     photo by Stan Deatherage
    "Government doesn't have money. Taxpayers have money. Government tries to get it from taxpayers" and needs to be held accountable for how it's spent, said Wright, a former auditor with Deloitte, a national auditing company.

    "For every dollar of fraud, and believe me there is fraud somewhere in our state government, there's $100 of waste," Wright said. "That money's ... going to be spent come hell or high water" by agency heads loathe to return any excess to taxpayers.

    The candidates are quick to differentiate their qualifications.

    "My background is a combination of auditing and running small- to medium-size businesses," said DeBragga, who worked as chief financial officer at hospitals in Hendersonville, Oxford, and Smithfield, and for a hospital management company in North Carolina and several other states before returning to North Carolina after his parents fell ill.

    "I think it's critical that whoever has that position does not have a background of just working in an office with 15 people," DeBragga said. He has the acumen to handle the staff and functions, from routine compliance with federal guidelines to investigating fraud, he said.

    "I've got very strong investigative skills" he used doing audits in Albania for Worldvision International, a Christian relief agency, and in the Balkans with USAID, a government agency providing economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide, Dority said.

    "I'm not a CPA, I don't have an advanced accounting degree," Dority said. "I feel the job is about leadership and the courage to investigate perceived fraud. I've never been scared of investigating the misuse of government funds."

    "I'm the only one with a proven record of the combination of electability [and managing] multibillion-dollar budgets" as a member of the Wake County school board, Goldman said.

    She believes her independent spirit is a plus in a position that demands dispassionate review of government finances.

    "I am a pistol-packing mom and proud of it," said Goldman, a Second Amendment advocate. "As a school board member who prayed at our public meeting ... I've got my beliefs," the breast cancer survivor said.

    Shubert said her ownership of a CPA firm for 24 years, three terms in the state House and one as a senator, and track record of identifying fraud and corruption make her the best choice.

    "I got some people fired/retired and got them some money back" when Marshville hired her to investigate municipal financial malfeasance, Shubert said.

    "More than a decade ago I was warning people about [former House Speaker] Jim Black" and was one of only two Republicans who did not vote for him for speaker, Shubert said. Black was sentenced to more than 60 months in prison on federal and state corruption charges.

    Wright said he has helped to reduce taxes in Hickory by eliminating frills and operational inefficiencies.

    "That's the kind of mind set this state needs in the auditor's position," Wright said. In contrast, he noted, the state accumulated a $2.6 billion unemployment insurance debt to the federal government and Wood failed to detect it or report on it promptly.

    Each of the candidates plans improvements in the auditor's office.

    DeBragga, who said he grew up in a Barry Goldwater Republican household, later registered as a Democrat to enhance job prospects then switched back to the GOP a few years ago, would use his technical and managerial skills to make maximum use of staff resources so that more audits can be conducted.

    Wood "wants to make sure her findings are irrefutable," DeBragga said. "You don't need to be so repetitious in validating those findings that it's overkill."

    "We've got to make it easy for the taxpayer to reach out to us ... make it the most user-friendly system possible," Dority said. "It's about engaging the process, about engaging the people, showing up, listening, looking, understanding, not being judgmental."

    "Our current state auditor has chosen selectively what is and what is not being audited," Goldman said. "Instead of all these little superficial audits, I'd like to see audits that really target the appropriate use of our tax dollars, of our resources."

    Shubert said the auditor's office has not served North Carolina well by not monitoring areas at high risk for abuse.

    "I haven't seen them recovering any money, have you?" Shubert asked. "The consequences of taking the people's money need to be harsher than they are."

    Shubert believes she would be able to interact with the legislature to get the tools needed to be a strong fiscal watchdog.

    "The first thing I'm going to figure out is whether we're getting everything we should be getting from the 194 people" on the auditor's payroll, Wright said.

    "I'm proud to say I will only report to the taxpayers and the voters," Wright said.

    The auditor's race had some sparks early on after Goldman's website announced she won a Mecklenburg County straw poll. Dority won the precinct contest, and he blamed Goldman for "an attempt to fool the voter into thinking she won."

    "At their event they announced that I had won, so people started tweeting on that, and someone put a tweet out on my behalf," Goldman said. It was taken down after learning that Dority actually won.

    "I'm not interested in talking about other candidates or insulting them," said Goldman, who later won a Wake County straw poll.