Yost gets Dispatch endorsement

Posted at the request of a reader...

Yost offers solid track record to Ohio voters
Thursday, October 21, 2010  02:55 AM

The Columbus Dispatch

Ohio has several good candidates to be the next auditor of state. The Dispatch gives the edge to Republican Dave Yost, whose history lends confidence that he can help guide state and local governments through challenging times, with competence and professionalism.


Yost served four years as Delaware County auditor and is finishing his second term as Delaware County prosecutor, giving him invaluable experience in public fiscal management as well as enforcing the law, including bringing cases against white-collar criminals who can cost taxpayers dearly.

Given the state's budget problems, the auditor's role is more important than ever. Clear financial and performance audits, free of political bias, can help state agencies and local governments to make the most of the resources they have and to avoid waste. Yost promises to emulate the example of current State Auditor Mary Taylor, who brought high standards and professionalism to the job and is now running for lieutenant governor on the Republican ticket with John Kasich.

When Taylor proposed an unsolicited audit of the Ohio Lottery Commission, many cried foul, certain that Taylor planned to use an audit to bash the performance of the Democrat-controlled commission. But when she found the commission to be functioning generally well, she reflected it fairly in her audit.

Yost's party loyalty has been tried, too, and he has come down on the side of taxpayers. He prosecuted a fellow Republican when he was called upon to bring a case against Michael A. Pirik, a former clerk of Franklin County Municipal Court, for falsifying an employee's time sheets so that she could be paid for hundreds of hours she never worked.

He won guilty pleas from Pirik for falsifying records and from the employee for a misdemeanor ethics violation.

As state auditor, Yost says he would do more performance audits, which can be extremely effective in revealing wasteful practices and in pointing to ways to improve efficiency. He'd like lawmakers to give those audits even more power, with a measure that would require the agencies addressed in audits to respond publicly to audit recommendations - in his words, "to raise the political cost of doing nothing."

Yost's Democratic opponent, David Pepper, a former Cincinnati City Council member and a current Hamilton County commissioner, has tackled problems in his community energetically. He has shown an ability to cut spending and keep taxes in check. His political success in a county that is divided between Republicans and Democrats suggests a pragmatic approach to solving problems.

Pepper sees the auditor's office as a bully pulpit from which to cheerlead for best practices in government. His detailed plan for ways to improve the auditor's operation shows that he has studied the office and given extensive thought to its importance.

While the candidates bring strong credentials to the race, Yost's background as a county auditor and prosecutor give him the advantage. The Dispatch endorses Yost for state auditor on the Nov. 2 ballot.