Democracy In Albany

Audits!

By DIA, Section News
Posted on Mon Sep 29, 2008 at 06:47:57 AM EST

As a resident of Albany County and the City of Albany I am strongly in favor of more audits, even if they are politically motivated.

Let's see some more.

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Audits! | 12 comments (12 topical, 0 hidden)

audits (none / 0) (#1)
by HarryS on Mon Sep 29, 2008 at 07:22:46 AM EST

They are more likely fraudits, fake audits done by a politically motivated charlatan. The story indicates that the audit findings were not disclosed to the auditee, just given straight to the media.

: the TU's slanted reporting strikes again (none / 0) (#12)
by memyslfnI on Tue Sep 30, 2008 at 09:26:52 AM EST

Soares admitted he received the audit last week. The Times Useless, by their own lead in to the story calls it politically motivated. In the article calls the safe audit a surprise. (Duh, all audits should be a surprise don't you think..) So what is this guy supposed to do?
Hold the audit until after the election? Not do his job? Release the audit in an election year?
this is a "damned if you do/damned if you don't scenario"
Auditors are pretty unpopular to begin with, but at least we have a guy in there who will audit pretty much everyone regardless of party affiliation

[ Parent ]

Conners (none / 0) (#2)
by professor on Mon Sep 29, 2008 at 08:08:28 AM EST

is simply doing his job. I don't believe that there should be restrictions on when and where the Comptroller is supposed to do an audit. You are supposing that the Comptroller is the person who "leaked" this to the press. Quite the contrary could have been the case. If the findings were made available to the District Attorneys Office, who is to say that a disgruntled employee from that very office would not have spoken to whoever it was that leaked this to the press?
By the way, does this audit ever mention that the DA has not done a good job as a prosecutor? Has it mentioned that he should not be re-elected? I would assume that the report makes observations and reccomendations as to the procedures under which the District Attorneys Office handles money. It's that simple. David Soares was not elected to be an accountant. He probably spends the vast majority of his time doing the things that a Prosecutor is supposed to do. Now he knows that he has to have people in his office that are adept at implementing systems.
Soares will probably be re-elected, Conners will remain an independent watchdog of our funds in the County of Albany and all will be happy.
And, oh by the way, we should all be very proud of the fact that we have a Comptroller who puts political considerations far behaind the job that he is elected to do!

: Want to be there is more to this story? (none / 0) (#3)
by alfrednewman on Mon Sep 29, 2008 at 08:39:10 AM EST

Stay tuned.
And the more audits the better.
"What? Me worry? " "whatmeworry.alfred@gmail.com"
[ Parent ]

BREAKING: Audit of golf course announced (none / 0) (#4)
by Tom Paine on Mon Sep 29, 2008 at 09:20:43 AM EST

Just kidding.....

Here are some things that will not be audited before Jan 2010:

a) The golf course

b) City hiring practices

c) DGS

d) Police OT

.....and so forth.....

I am glad the DA's office was audited - every major city department should be audited too - but let's not kid ourselves why.

: Re: BREAKING: Audit of golf course announced (none / 0) (#5)
by nycowboy on Mon Sep 29, 2008 at 09:56:25 AM EST

None of those are county agencies, so the County Comptroller would not audit it.
It's been well known for a while that Soares' office has had some financial problems and sloppiness running the back office. He screwed up the Spitzer investigation or at least didn't dig in with the full weight of the office. Soares claimed it was the fault of the law, but I have my doubts.
Regardless, I like David Soares. We don't need a career-candidate like GOP-stalwart Roger Cusick running the office. Soares is passionate about his work and improving our communities, and helping those most in need. Yet, he's human and not perfect.

[ Parent ]

get your head out of your "S" , Harry. (none / 0) (#6)
by mailer daemon on Mon Sep 29, 2008 at 12:41:48 PM EST

Let's see. The TU's fair haired golden boy Brendan Lyons (who, by the way was a bouncer at Quintessence with Chris D'Ellessandro back in the day) is getting all his information from...Take a wild guess Chris D'Ellessandro!!!

This is merely the DA's attempt to inoculate themselves from the back draft when the audit is released and nothing more.

The story will be spun by the TU to protect the DA by Lyons, who is still buddy buddy with Chris D. and is liking the exclusive coverage of the big cases such as the steroid case. Lyons has a lot to lose such as his exclusive source to all things in the DA's office. He might actually have to do some investigative reporting without Chris D and David Soares leaking all the info out to him.

What? (none / 0) (#7)
by alfrednewman on Mon Sep 29, 2008 at 01:18:15 PM EST

You think that Soares leaked this? Gosh.
"What? Me worry? " "whatmeworry.alfred@gmail.com"

yep, (none / 0) (#9)
by mailer daemon on Mon Sep 29, 2008 at 01:36:32 PM EST

It's bad news for the DA, spun as politically motivated by Chris D's friend and bouncer buddy, who incidentally is the story author. Does anyone think its an accident that Lyons, the TU's steroid story lead writer, also wrote this story? He wants the exclusive to MORE stories like the Steroid case.

[ Parent ]

: "Safe" hahahahah (none / 0) (#11)
by alfrednewman on Mon Sep 29, 2008 at 03:12:51 PM EST

The large safe is protected by a combination lock. A smattering of current and former prosecutors and investigators have held the combination over the years, officials in the office said.
Following the 2005 audit by the state comptroller's office, the safe and its contents remained in the former county courthouse on Eagle Street for more than a year. It was then moved to a busy fourth-floor conference room in the newly constructed Albany County Judicial Center across the street, where the district attorney and many courtrooms were relocated.
-----------------------------------
So lets see, nice safe full of thousands of dollars placed in a nice room where lots and lots of people go in and out unnoticed after sitting in an office being moved and/or renovated.
Combination isn't changed even after prosecutors and investigators got fired or quit.
This is just the guy I want to be reelected. Time for me to get my lawn signs.
"What? Me worry? " "whatmeworry.alfred@gmail.com"
[ Parent ]

Reading, as always, is fundamental (none / 0) (#8)
by albany layman on Mon Sep 29, 2008 at 01:35:46 PM EST

From the article:

The Times Union was briefed on the audit's highlights last week by a person employed with the Albany Police Department. The audit, which is still in draft form, had not yet been turned over to the district attorney's office for review at that time.

So, from Conners' office to the APD, eh? Is that the normal procedure?

Honestly, I don't care what the motivations are in this case. If the audit is accurate, it's accurate, and things need to be addressed. I'll be surprised if voters consider these financial and operational questions in deciding who to vote for for DA.

County Board of Elections (none / 0) (#10)
by E Corning on Mon Sep 29, 2008 at 01:40:54 PM EST

Now that the Albany County Democratic Party has put Matt Clyne into his cushy job as Democratic Elections Commissioner (at $80K/yr.) over Karen O'Shea, who is actually qualified, I hope Conners will audit this agency. It is a county agency. It deserves to be audited.

Oh, wait, but that would involve Conners auditing the guy who got him to audit Soares in this election year. Just wait, Conners will be back in the good graces of the Democratic Party again soon enough, despite the wishes of the Breslins - whose political star is fading in the Capital District now that McCoy/Clyne/Steck/Jennings have made their backroom deals - just wait and see.

Audits! | 12 comments (12 topical, 0 hidden)

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