Double Dipping Explored At Audit Committee Meeting

Rep. Mark Martin's Off the Marble blog has commentary from a recent meeting of the Legislative Audit committee. There is lots of red meat in that one. The cliff notes version.......

"9:24 am – So far there are seven county officials who have refused to return the questionaires and have hired an attorney."

"9:33 am – Rep. Gaskill asked if not for the courage of Rep. Kerr would this have goine on forever? APERS Executive Director confirmed that it probably would have just gone on and on."

"9:52 am – Sen. Jeffress is asking if it would be appropriate to have an APERS perform a survey of all “Agency Heads and 99s”. He stated that in the form of a motion. There is currently wordsmithing going on. Ms. Stone said that she would comply “as much as I am allowed” then quickly said she misstated that and agreed to fully comply. What does that mean? “As much as I am allowed” by whom? Who would not be allowing her to comply."

"10:06 am – The point was made that even when this investigation is made we would not have names to connect to the violation due to confidentiality. That right there would be a good place to create some sunshine in government. This is an area that needs some openness and accountability."

"10:37 am – This whole meeting I have been wondering why Gail Stone, Executive Director of APERS, seemed to be obstructing this legislative inquiry with guarded answers. Well, there is more to the story, perhaps she is not the “bad guy”. Apparently the Chairman of the Board of Directors for APERS is currently under investigation for this very thing. This person is Larry Fraetsi (spelling?) currently the Jefferson Co. Collector. So a person who is Ms. Stone’s boss has a direct conflicting interest in the situation. It seems a resignation is in order. I now feel sorry for Ms. Stone. She is in a tough position."

It seems to me that some full time media people ought to delve into some of these issues a little more.