Trumbull County needs auditor with credentials

If there's one county government position where qualifications must trump politics (even though the post is filled through a political process) it is the office of auditor. While state law establishes minimum requirements for serving, the economic challenges confronting government demand a much higher standard.
Unfortunately, voters have not always displayed good sense when electing the county auditor, which is why we have long advocated a change in the state law to raise the bar -- such as requiring a public accounting degree and experience in government financing. We realize that legislators aren't inclined to set standards that could come back to haunt them, but something must be done to prevent political hacks from filling important public positions.
As we noted in an editorial last July, "Government accounting is far too complicated to be placed in the hands of someone with no specific qualifications and experience."
Today, Trumbull County's commissioners were expected to appoint a highly qualified individual, Adrian Biviano, to the auditor's job that became vacant with the retirement of David Hines. But the appointment will be temporary because the county's Democratic precinct committeemen and women are scheduled to meet Jan. 10 to put their political stamp on the office. Because a Democrat, Hines, was the auditor, his successor to serve out the remainder of his term must have the blessing of Democratic Party leaders.
Well-known politician
Until last week, Biviano, who has served as chief deputy auditor for 10 years and before that was controller of the county sanitary engineer's office, a state examiner and quality control coordinator with the Ohio Auditor's Office, was the only contender for the job. But then a well-known political figure threw his hat in the ring. Daniel Sferra, a former state representative and former mayor of Warren, has informed the party that he intends to seek the appointment.
While Sferra is an old political hand, his qualifications to serve as county auditor pale in comparison to Biviano's. The Democratic precinct committeemen and women would be doing the county commissioners, and by extension county government, a grave injustice if they ignored Biviano's superior r & eacute;sum & eacute; -- he is a certified public accountant with a master's degree in business administration and has 32 years' experience in public accounting and taxation -- and instead rewarded Sferra for being a good political soldier. It is noteworthy that Sferra lost his bid for re-election to the 64th District seat in the Ohio House to Republican Randy Law.
Why noteworthy? Because one of the factors party elders consider when making an appointment to an office is electability -- the ballot box strength of the appointee.
Sferra's loss to a Republican in this predominantly Democratic region must be of concern to Democratic Party insiders. On the other hand, appointing Biviano to the auditor's position would send a clear message to the taxpayers that the Trumbull County Democratic Party is not blind to the reality that certain government jobs must be filled by individuals with legitimate credentials instead of individuals with political ties.