For state auditor: Re-elect Yost

In the low profile but highly important race for Ohio auditor this fall, The Vindicator endorses incumbent Republican David Yost without hesitation.

In his job of holding the powerful accountable and ensuring all state tax dollars are responsibly spent, Yost has accumulated a record of which he and all Ohioans can be proud.

Consider a few of his accomplishments:

Yost has aggressively hunted down and prosecuted corrupt activities in what he aptly labels the state’s “rickety system” of charter schools. Of 80 criminal convictions his office has attained, 22 have involved charter-school officials. More than half of his office’s findings issued during his term target charter schools.

Critics, such as Democratic opponent John Patrick Carney, accuse Yost of not doing enough to reform charter schools. Carney and others ought to know, however, that structural reforms in the operation of these schools rest almost exclusively under the purview of the Ohio Department of Education and state legislators, many of whom continue to misguidedly sing the praises of this largely unsuccessful experiment in educational alternatives.

VIGILANCE ON JOBSOHIO

Much to the dismay of fellow Republicans in the John Kasich administration and of GOP state lawmakers, Yost has fought valiantly to make the quasi-public jobs and development department called JobsOhio more transparent and accountable to the public. Despite boisterous protests from many, Yost insisted that he had a duty to fully audit its operations to guard against irregularities and corrupt practices. The state Legislature thwarted the bulk of his efforts by passing a law that keeps much of JobsOhio’s operations outside of Yost’s legal oversight.

Yost also has implemented a series of innovative initiatives, including the ShareOhio.gov program, a centralized equipment-inventory database for local governments to use to share resources and cut costs; expansion of performance audits of local school districts and governments that has reaped more than $76 million in potential savings; expanded use of procedures to cut the costs of audits from 25 percent to 50 percent for local governments.

Against such an exemplary record, Carney is left to grasp at straws. One example of such desperation campaigning is Carney’s recent attack ad that alleges Yost’s office provided $7 cups of coffee to members of an auditor’s workshop two years ago. Though the content of that silly ad is without merit, the fact that he resorted to such low-brow misrepresentation illustrates a campaign in trouble.