Carney Calls on Yost to Perform Full JobsOhio Audit Before He is Prohibited by SB 67

Representative John Patrick Carney (D-Columbus) sent a letter to State Auditor Dave Yost today calling on him to perform a full public audit of JobsOhio before Senate Bill 67 takes effect in 85 days.  SB 67 was rushed through the legislature and signed by the governor in less than a week, in an effort to prohibit Auditor Yost from fulfilling his constitutional responsibility to Ohio’s taxpayers and ensuring accountability and transparency of their tax dollars. 

A copy of the letter can be seen below:

June 10, 2013

The Hon. Dave Yost

Office of Auditor of State
88 East Broad Street, 5th Floor
Columbus, OH 43215

Auditor Yost,

I am writing to address the recent passage of Senate Bill 67, the bill that was rushed through the legislature to eliminate your ability to audit records at JobsOhio, a deliberate undermining of the Auditor’s responsibility to Ohio taxpayers. 

After hearing your recent public comments, I am glad to see that you are as concerned as I am about the lack of transparency and accountability at JobsOhio.  As you are aware, the Ohio Constitution requires that a full 90 days must pass after a bill is signed before it takes effect as a law. That means you have until September 3, 2013 to receive and audit the full records of JobsOhio, and restore some semblance of trust and understanding to JobsOhio, and its secretive use of millions of taxpayer dollars.

At the very least, I expect that your office will use the next 85 days to audit the subpoenaed documents that were handed over to you on March 19, 2013 from the Ohio Development Services Agency and JobsOhio before SB 67 becomes law and they are shielded from scrutiny. And if you have performed the audit already, Auditor Yost, will Ohioans get to see what you have found?

Governor Kasich and state lawmakers clearly believe you currently have the power to perform this audit, or they would not have passed SB 67 to eliminate your ability to do so. You are the only person who can audit these records in the next few months, and can either reassure Ohioans that their money is being spent wisely, or come forward with any wrongdoing that you have found.

If you are as troubled about SB 67 as you have said publicly, I trust you will use the short time available to develop a full audit for the citizens of Ohio. Since there are only 85 days left, your office must act quickly to bring some fragment of accountability to JobsOhio, before it is entirely shielded from the public eye.

I look forward to seeing your full and thorough audit before September 3, 2013.

Sincerely,              

State Representative John Patrick Carney

CC:      Ohio House of Representatives

            Ohio Senate