State Auditor-Tom Wagner
No, no, defeating Alleged State Auditor Tom Wagner does not require a ‘suspendering of disbelief’.
All that’s needed in these fiscally-troubled times is a credible candidate dedicated to restoring this office’s purported mission of weeding out waste, fraud and abuse.
By doing nothing, Tom Wagner has done great harm to the State. His by-now well-documented modus operandi consists of hibernating from the day after election until six months before the next election, threatening El Somnambulo’s well-deserved title as ‘The Beast Who Slumbers’. Awakening from his torpor, he slothfully scours the News-Journal to see what the Usual Miscreants are up to (Larry King sez, “Look up the definition of ‘usual miscreant’ in the dictionary, and you’ll see a picture of Norman Oliver”), and makes a big show of going after small fish.
He then amiably ambles about any number of campaign events, eye candy conveniently on his arm, the once-ornamental suspenders now performing a vital function. Despite the suspenders’ efficacy, this emperor has no clothes.
Here’s the dirty little secret of Wagner’s success: He is doing exactly and only what the Delaware Way Patriarchs (and one Particularly Malodorous Matriarch) want him to do.
He is a go-along-to-get-along charter member of the good-ol’-boy network, which is precisely everything a State Auditor should not be. There is a reason why the News-Journal, and not the Auditor’s office, broke the Delaware Psych Center story, the prison health care story, and Tony Lofink’s looting of Richard Cordrey’s Department of Finance story. The Journal was actually investigating leads, developing information, and reporting it to the public. Wagner was off somewhere touting the empty public relations of his phony Fraud Hotline. In the Lofink case, Wagner received the tip in January of 2007. Instead of doing his job and investigating it, he passed the tip on to good ol’ boy Cordrey, who proceeded to protect a legislator’s crooked son. Yo, Tom, you have a staff of auditors. Why not have them audit something?
As a public service, El Somnambulo will give you some ideas: The Delaware State Fair, where Uncle Thurm, Pistol-Packin’ Pete, and virtually every other Sussex legislator, past, present and future, have a piece of the action; the University of Delaware, which, every June 30, backs its Brinks truck up to Legislative Hall to collect its annual goodies, but which refuses to open its books to the public, claiming it’s a ‘private’ institution; the State Medicaid Office and every DHSS agency charged with oversight of Medicare/Medicaid dollars, but which, under Minner, provided virtually no oversight. You should then audit the Auditor’s Office since it is obviously not carrying out its statutory mandate.
Once you’re done with those, come on back, and the Beast Who Slumbers will give you a whole new list.
There is so much more that the Auditor could do, based on his statutory mandate. He can conduct performance reviews of state agencies to identify ways to increase efficiency and efficacy in state and quasi-state agencies (like boards and commissions). He can even identify agencies that no longer serve a public purpose. If that sounds similar to the responsibilities of the legislative Joint Sunset Committee, you are correct. Unlike the Sunset Committee, which has only one overworked staffer, the Auditor has a full staff of professionals at his disposal. Auditors in states as disparate as Hawaii and Iowa have made great use of this tool to bring serious savings and improvements to their state governments.
In other words, Delaware needs a new auditor because, for all intents and purposes, it has not had a fiscal watchdog protecting the taxpayers’ interests since Wagner first took office in 1989.
El Somnambulo could not care less whether the new auditor is a Democrat or a Republican. This office is too important, and has been neglected for too long, to simply have a blinkered partisan from either party at the helm. Having said that, Wagner is very vulnerable despite what is on the Auditor’s state website page. From the official State of Delaware biography: “He was overwhelmingly reelected in 2006 to his record fifth term, thus becoming Delaware’s longest serving Auditor of Accounts in State history.”
Overwhelming, eh? Let’s go to the videotape…oops, that ‘overwhelming’ reelection garnered Wagner 53.7% of the vote to first-time unknown Michael Dalto’s 46.3%.
So, on an official state page, the Auditor erroneously touts his political prowess. That’s Wagner in a nutshell. He sees nothing wrong with putting political info on the State Auditor’s page, and his inability to read numbers casts even more doubt on his supposed accounting acumen.
There are two keys to beating Wagner. One is a (or more than one) credible candidate. By credible, ‘bulo does not necessarily mean someone who has run for office before. He does not even mean someone who can accumulate a huge campaign war chest. He means someone who has at least the kind of background that shows they could handle the office. It doesn’t have to be a CPA, it could be an attorney or a recently out-of-work investigative reporter. Any of those would have more credibility than Wagner.
The second, and vital key, is message. In other words, in 30 seconds or less, why are they running? Free of charge from El Somnambulo:
“I am running to protect Delaware taxpayers from waste, fraud and abuse and to restore fiscal accountability in state government. As your state auditor, I will leave no stone unturned and no ledger unexamined to ensure that public money is being spent in a prudent and responsible manner.” You’re welcome. Please send ‘bulo whatever you can afford in consultation fees.
The Beast Who Slumbers also believes that this is one race where perceived negatives can be turned into positives. He will use former State Rep. Bob Valihura as a guinea pig, for demonstration purposes only. If one looks at legislative accomplishments, he was effective. He also did not sing from the Rethug Talking Points Hymnal, he was/is capable of thinking for himself. He has a prickly (some would drop the ‘l’) personality. He once told a group of Dartmouth Woods residents that, in effect, they were a bunch of whiners b/c they opposed a home for the mentally ill in their community. ‘Bulo admires that. On one hand he was right, but on the other hand, incidents like that cost Valihura his House seat.
El Somnambulo’s point, and he does have one, is that someone like Valihura could run admitting that, while he may not be the nicest guy and while he’s not one of the good ol’ boys, amiability/insider status and the Auditor’s office don’t mix. His only friends are the taxpayers.
This race is perfect for a party outsider who can cite the harm that the Delaware Way has caused. Or, maybe, the State Democratic Party under Markell will embrace this kind of independent thinking. A Wilmington CPA, Ken Matlusky, is also considering a run and, while he’s inexperienced, his message seems to align with ‘bulo’s suggested message.
Here’s what the Beast Who Slumbers knows: Any long-time incumbent who views 53.7% as an overwhelming victory is essentially Dead Incumbent Walking.
The path to victory is clear. All it will take is the right person.