Phil Bryant--Where Are the Audits?

Phil Bryant has bragged what a great job he has done as State Auditor. He even boasts as to how much he has brought in to the state treasury from all the funds he has recovered. www.cottonmouthblog.blogspot.com has carefully reviewed Bryant's record as State Auditor. I strongly suggest you go to that blog and read it. But as a CPA who carefully has observed reports on the State Auditor's office, I'd like to point out a few things:

1. Why was there no audit in any year for the Partnership for a Healthy Mississippi? The PHM spent over one hundred million dollars in five years and not once was there an audit.
2. Why was there no audit of the failed Mississippi Beef (mooooo) Plant fiasco? His office allowed the appropriation for this white elephant. Did he ever think of having a thorough review of where the money was going and scream when it looked like the Plant would be a turkey?
3. He claims he has recovered twelve million dollars from misappropriation of funds during his ten years as State Auditor. But that has been over a TEN-YEAR PERIOD. Wow. A lot of the recovery has not been due to corruption, but a misapplication of funds.
4. There has been a decrease in the amount of quality audits during his ten years. Cottonmouth has extensively written on this and gave a link to the PEER report.
5. Before June 30th, turnover in the State Auditor's office was an eye-popping 82%. But on June 3oth, four more experienced employees in the OAS quit. They "had their fill with Phil".
6. The NSAA audit of the OAS (peer audit of the audits completed) shows the quality of audits is terrible. Before Bryant, the OAS has always had good audit reports. This is the FIRST TIME FOR A BAD AUDIT REPORT!!

My sources tell me morale is so low in the OAS they are literally counting the days when Bryant steps down. He has politicized the office and has made it a fiefdom for his own selfish political ambitions. Quality audits and professionalism have taken a back seat to one man's ego and political aspirations.

Do you seriously want this man to be YOUR Lt. Governor?

Phil Bryant--Wasting Taxpayers' Money

Much has been said about the Partnership for a Healthy Mississippi. Phil Bryant, the so-called exemplar of conservatism, was on the board of Mike Moore's brain child. Bryant was coming up with all sorts of liberal ideas to waste the taxpayers' money.

Bryant had no qualms about twenty million dollars a year being diverted to an unaccountable private organization. Mike Moore created the PHM, appointed himself chairman and cut an illegal deal with a local Chancery Court Judge to fund it with the taxpayers' money. Bryant had no objections to that.

Consider what the PHM spent the money on:

1. Lobbyists to pressure State Legislators.
2. Highly questionable contributions to the Legislative Black Caucus.
3. Paid political ads.

NO AUDITS WERE BEING PERFORMED BY THE STATE AUDITOR!! The PHM had no accountability. One hundred million dollars of taxpayer money was illegally diverted to this non-profit. Bryant was on the Board and never once did he think of auditing the PHM.

The late Gov. Kirk Fordice, Bryant's hero and the one who appointed Bryant to the State Auditor's post, started the battle against the questionable funding mechanism for the PHM. It was Gov. Barbour and State Treasurer Tate Reeves who finished the fight. Whether or not you like Fordice and Barbour, at least they were fiscal conservatives. Bryant is a fiscal liberal and will waste the taxpayers' money if he can.

Mississippi can't afford to have Phil Bryant as Lt. Governor.