(Host) Retired business executive Randy Brock launched his campaign for the Republican nomination for state auditor on Thursday. In his announcement, Brock promised to provide an independent and non-partisan approach to the office, something he says incumbent Democrat Elizabeth Ready has failed to do in her two terms as auditor.
Brock has lived in Vermont since 1970 and retired last year from Fidelity Investments. He says Ready has a management style that unnecessarily antagonizes people and he says she has relentlessly self promoted her partisan reports:
(Brock) “So what’s wrong with the way Vermont is being audited today? First there’s a ‘gotcha’ style of auditing, and in my mind simply reporting the weaknesses in internal controls falls far short of getting them fixed and this office is backward looking. Reviews sometimes have added very little value by only highlighting problems that people already know about that’s wrong.”
(Host) Ready says she’s brought an independent approach to the office and she highlighted her reports on energy efficiency, the Corrections Department health care system and information technology in state government:
(Ready) “Well I think I’ll just stand on my record of getting results. I think if you look at the performance of the office – this year the National Association of State Auditors gave our office top marks for the peer reviews in our financial audits and that means an unqualified opinion with no management comments. Once that audit was published the state went on to reaffirm its AA+ bond rating and I think those are good results.”
(Host) Ready is seeking her third term as state auditor.