Candidates for auditor debate impartiality, integrity

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(Host) Incumbent Democratic Auditor Elizabeth Ready is questioning the ability of her Republican opponent to offer objective audits of the Douglas administration. Speaking Tuesday night on VPR’s Switchboard program, Ready said a potential conflict exists because a member of Douglas’s staff is helping GOP challenger Randy Brock with his campaign and because Brock has contributed to Douglas’s re-election effort:

(Ready) “The state auditor’s professional standards manual defines personal impairment as those circumstances under which the auditor may not be impartial or may give the appearance of not being impartial. You would appear to be impaired and would need to step aside from those audits. How could you audit your buddy, the governor?”

(Host) Brock says the charge is baseless and that he will have no problem being an independent auditor:

(Brock) “I made it very clear in my kick-off and I have repeatedly since then [said] that prior to running for this position I had very specific and substantive discussions with the governor that made it clear that, as an auditor, I would be independent, impartial, agenda-free and would call things the way I saw them – regardless of political party or political bias.”

(Host) Brock reiterated his belief that Ready’s misrepresentation of her educational background on her official state resume calls her integrity into question. Ready said she takes full responsibility for the inaccurate listing of her college degrees and she says she hopes voters will look at her full record of public service as they examine this issue.

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