Rob Sand
Jun. 11, 2023 6:00 am
Iowa’s new pro-corruption law is shocking and indefensible — and as Iowa’s former chief public corruption prosecutor, I know a thing or two about corruption.
That was my work from 2010 to 2017. Since 2019, I have been Iowa’s state auditor, working as Iowans’ watchdog, where my office uncovered a record amount of misspent public money in my first term.
Given Iowa’s long-standing reputation for honesty, integrity, and trust in our state’s checks and balances, it is hard to imagine our elected officials creating a system that would encourage waste, fraud, and abuse — except that’s exactly what Senate File 478 (the pro-corruption law) is about. It literally makes it legal for government officials to hide documents that show waste, fraud, or abuse from the state auditor. I’m not making this up.
Advertisement
Before the Legislature passed and the governor signed the pro-corruption bill into law, the Auditor’s Office could require government entities to hand over documents during the course of our work, and Iowa’s courts could independently review any dispute about it. This power is critical to uncovering waste, fraud, and abuse because, as you might imagine, entities and individuals negligently handling your tax dollars or knowingly wasting or abusing them are unlikely to voluntarily turn over information showing it.
This new law ends all that. It allows any state agency to simply deny the Auditor’s Office access to information it doesn’t want to share. In those instances, a three-person panel made up of a representative from the entity being audited, a representative from the Auditor’s Office, and one appointed by the governor would decide whether the information is turned over. Keep in mind, representatives of almost all state agencies already serve at the pleasure of the governor. So that’s two to one. Simply as that.
It gets worse: that decision is final, according to the law. Iowa’s independent court system couldn’t review the decision of that panel stacked 2-1 against transparency for your taxpayers. They can deny us any document, for any reason, and there are no checks and balances to correct abuses of power.
A nationwide coalition of leaders who consistently uncover waste, fraud, and corruption pleaded with the governor and the Legislature to stop this law from being enacted. A former U.S. comptroller general, first appointed by Ronald Reagan, and a non-partisan coalition of state watchdogs from around the country agree it would harm the ability of the Iowa Auditor’s Office to effectively do its job. They also expressed concern that it could impact the state’s credit rating and cause Iowa to lose out on crucial federal funds for programs like Medicaid, SNAP, student loans, and infrastructure.
A small number of Republican elite insiders had an easier time getting their party to go along with this scam because I happen to be a Democrat. But six Iowa House Republicans had the courage to do what is right and vote against the bill. The bill isn’t conservative — in fact, ALEC, an organization that proposes model “conservative” legislation for state legislators, has a model bill on auditing that makes obstructing access to documents a crime — the opposite of this bill! This clearly isn’t just partisanship — it is insiders putting themselves above accountability, removing checks and balances, and slashing your ability to find out what’s going on with your tax dollars.
While the auditor of state is an elected position, it should not be subject to the whims of insiders’ favors or partisanship. In the four years I’ve served as your state auditor, just as in my time as Iowa’s chief public corruption prosecutor, I have investigated Democrats and Republicans alike. I’ve defended Gov. Kim Reynolds when the facts call for it and I’ve held Democrats accountable when they’ve done wrong, too. But never have I seen those who make our law make it easier for themselves to break the law without anyone finding out.
www.thegazette.com
Jun. 11, 2023 6:00 am
Iowa’s new pro-corruption law is shocking and indefensible — and as Iowa’s former chief public corruption prosecutor, I know a thing or two about corruption.
That was my work from 2010 to 2017. Since 2019, I have been Iowa’s state auditor, working as Iowans’ watchdog, where my office uncovered a record amount of misspent public money in my first term.
Given Iowa’s long-standing reputation for honesty, integrity, and trust in our state’s checks and balances, it is hard to imagine our elected officials creating a system that would encourage waste, fraud, and abuse — except that’s exactly what Senate File 478 (the pro-corruption law) is about. It literally makes it legal for government officials to hide documents that show waste, fraud, or abuse from the state auditor. I’m not making this up.
Advertisement
Before the Legislature passed and the governor signed the pro-corruption bill into law, the Auditor’s Office could require government entities to hand over documents during the course of our work, and Iowa’s courts could independently review any dispute about it. This power is critical to uncovering waste, fraud, and abuse because, as you might imagine, entities and individuals negligently handling your tax dollars or knowingly wasting or abusing them are unlikely to voluntarily turn over information showing it.
This new law ends all that. It allows any state agency to simply deny the Auditor’s Office access to information it doesn’t want to share. In those instances, a three-person panel made up of a representative from the entity being audited, a representative from the Auditor’s Office, and one appointed by the governor would decide whether the information is turned over. Keep in mind, representatives of almost all state agencies already serve at the pleasure of the governor. So that’s two to one. Simply as that.
It gets worse: that decision is final, according to the law. Iowa’s independent court system couldn’t review the decision of that panel stacked 2-1 against transparency for your taxpayers. They can deny us any document, for any reason, and there are no checks and balances to correct abuses of power.
A nationwide coalition of leaders who consistently uncover waste, fraud, and corruption pleaded with the governor and the Legislature to stop this law from being enacted. A former U.S. comptroller general, first appointed by Ronald Reagan, and a non-partisan coalition of state watchdogs from around the country agree it would harm the ability of the Iowa Auditor’s Office to effectively do its job. They also expressed concern that it could impact the state’s credit rating and cause Iowa to lose out on crucial federal funds for programs like Medicaid, SNAP, student loans, and infrastructure.
A small number of Republican elite insiders had an easier time getting their party to go along with this scam because I happen to be a Democrat. But six Iowa House Republicans had the courage to do what is right and vote against the bill. The bill isn’t conservative — in fact, ALEC, an organization that proposes model “conservative” legislation for state legislators, has a model bill on auditing that makes obstructing access to documents a crime — the opposite of this bill! This clearly isn’t just partisanship — it is insiders putting themselves above accountability, removing checks and balances, and slashing your ability to find out what’s going on with your tax dollars.
While the auditor of state is an elected position, it should not be subject to the whims of insiders’ favors or partisanship. In the four years I’ve served as your state auditor, just as in my time as Iowa’s chief public corruption prosecutor, I have investigated Democrats and Republicans alike. I’ve defended Gov. Kim Reynolds when the facts call for it and I’ve held Democrats accountable when they’ve done wrong, too. But never have I seen those who make our law make it easier for themselves to break the law without anyone finding out.
New Iowa pro-corruption law stacks the deck for insiders
Iowa State Auditor Rob Sand speaks during an event at the Eastern Iowa Airport in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on May …
www.thegazette.com
