(C) Iowa Capital Dispatch
This story was originally published by Iowa Capital Dispatch and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
Iowa Auditor Rob Sand says parole board withheld documents, citing 2023 law [1]
['Robin Opsahl', 'More From Author', '- February']
Date: 2024-02-15
Iowa Auditor Rob Sand said a 2023 law restricting the auditor’s office from accessing certain information was invoked by the Board of Parole in refusing to provide documents to resolve a whistleblower report.
Sand said a news conference Thursday that a whistleblower contacted his office about concerns that an Iowa Board of Parole member was not attending certain hearings required by state law. After being contacted by the auditor’s office, the board said the issue was resolved internally, but would not send documentation to the office showing the problem was fixed.
The board cited Senate File 478, a law signed by Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds in June 2023, that limits the state auditor’s ability to access personal information when performing investigations and prohibits the auditor from going to court for subpoena enforcement against state agencies, departments, boards, commissions and statewide elected officials.
“Last year, despite bipartisan opposition, the governor signed the most pro-corruption bill in Iowa history, allowing state agencies to hide documents from the auditor’s office, and the truth from you, the taxpayers,” Sand said at the news conference. “Today we are issuing the first report telling the public that the truth remains hidden from them as a result of that law.”
In the Board of Parole audit, auditor’s office staff stated that the board responded to their requests by asking for a separate engagement letter on the subject, saying that the attendance issue was a matter of ongoing litigation and not related to the annual financial audit.
Iowa Board of Parole Chair Renee Schulte said in a statement that the auditor’s office did not provide the board a separate engagement letter, outlining the rights and responsibilities of both parties in an audit.
“As noted in the audit report, the Board of Parole requested an engagement letter as required in Iowa law.” Schulte said. “The auditor refused to provide one.”
The auditor’s office cited the signed engagement letter signed by the Departments of Management and Administrative Services to conduct its annual audit of the state of Iowa, which includes the Board of Parole, as applicable to the request.
Kollin Crompton, a spokesperson for Gov. Kim Reynolds, said in a statement that “engagement letters are an industry standard, and it’s concerning that he refuses to comply with it.”
“The auditor may believe he’s above the law, but he still has to follow it,” Crompton said.
Instead of being able to go to court, the 2023 law directs these disputes to a board of arbitration, made up of two members appointed by the parties involved in the dispute, and a third member appointed by the governor. Sand said that he was “not sure that there would be a point” to bring the dispute to the board.
Sand said “government, corruption and secrecy are growing in the state of Iowa” because of the law, and said these problems will grow further if lawmakers approve a new bill, Senate File 2311.
The bill, passed by the Senate State Government Committee Thursday, would allow state agencies to employ private certified public accountants to conduct their annual audits instead of the auditor’s office. Sen. Mike Bousselot, R-Ankeny, who authored the legislation, said the measure would allow state agencies to take up the same practices of hiring private accountants to conduct audits that local government and school districts have already implemented.
While the audit results would be submitted to the auditor of state, Sand said the measure would not give the auditor’s office oversight over the private accountants conducting state audits, and would restrict its ability to conduct special investigations — accountability measures in place for local entities that work with CPAs to conduct audits.
“We could review it in the sense that we could read it, but that would be it,” Sand said.
In Wednesday meetings, Democrats and auditor’s office staff said the bill was politically motivated. Sand is the only Democrat to currently hold statewide elected office in Iowa. Bousselot disagreed with that claim, saying the measure would give state government more flexibility in meeting auditing requirements.
“At its core, this is not about politics,” Bousselot said. “It’s about good government and finding innovative and efficient ways to effectively address the challenges we are facing with less accountants and more financial reporting and more transparency for Iowans.”
Sand said the measure would decrease government accountability and potentially increase government spending by up to $5 million, and would allow state departments to conduct audits in a way that could conceal corruption.
“It would replace the state auditor chosen by the people of the state of Iowa with one insiders will handpick, with no bidding requirement and no means for independent oversight of their audits,” Sand said. “These insiders want a state auditor who is a lapdog, not a watchdog.”
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2024/02/15/iowa-auditor-rob-sand-says-parole-board-withheld-documents-citing-2023-law/
Published and (C) by Iowa Capital Dispatch
Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-ND-NC 4.0.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/iowacapitaldispatch/
