As part of our voter guide, the Long Beach Post and LAist partnered to ask Long Beach candidates how they’d handle the issues voters said they cared about most. See all the candidates for auditor here and our guides for all the races at LBPost.com/elections.
A recent poll showed that a majority of voters believe waste and mismanagement by the Long Beach city government is an extremely or very serious problem. Is it? How will you restore people’s trust in their local government?
I believe that waste and mismanagement is a huge problem in LB government. One of the main reasons there is waste and mismanagement is that the city auditor, the watchdog, does not have term limits. I am proposing a 6-year city auditor term limit which will help to improve independence and objectivity.
A key role of the city auditor is to deliver reports on how departments or specific programs are performing to understand and demonstrate to the public how money is spent. What specific programs, issues or departments would you look into? Why?
I will audit homelessness funding. There seems to be endless issues there. I will also audit parking ticket and street sweeper funds, and Olympics spending. These are the issues I hear people talking about. That is why I will audit these issues first.
Oftentimes, in carrying out the role as an internal watchdog, a city auditor can come into conflict with other elected officials and their respective goals. The person elected must navigate this sometimes adversarial relationship, even as the City Council and top city management have say over the auditor’s budget. What is your philosophy for navigating this?
City council sets the budget. Management implements it. The city auditor makes certain that council’s budget is implemented efficiently and effectively. I will do performance audits of the various departments to make certain that taxpayer money is well spent, and that the city is accomplishing its goals.
Tell voters why you should be elected.
An outside auditor is replaced every six years. This ensures objectivity and independence. I believe the city auditor should also be replaced every six years for the same reason. The budget is out of control. We need a new city auditor to solve the budget problem and other problems.