Louisiana: State Auditor explains why AG Commissioner can't explain expenditures
Subject: Kyle doubts Odom can 'explain everything'
Date: Fri, 1 Mar 2002 18:19:26 -0500
From: Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization: Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)
To: Paul Helliker <phelliker@cdpr.ca.gov>
Director, State of
California, Department of Pesticide Regulation
cc: Christine Whitman whitman.christine@epa.gov
Kyle doubts Odom can ‘explain everything’
By MARSHA SHULER Capitol news bureau
Legislators who criticized a critical audit report on state Agriculture Chief Bob Odom reacted just the same to a report that helped send former Elections Chief Jerry Fowler to jail, Legislative Auditor Dan Kyle said Thursday.
"We will see how it plays out," Kyle told a meeting of the East Baton Rouge Republican Women.
Kyle spoke to the group a day after Odom and some lawmakers questioned Kyle’s audit practices and objectivity during a Legislative Audit Advisory Council meeting.
The council reviews legislative audit reports and can force agencies to take corrective action.
In the case of Odom, Kyle alleged the agriculture commissioner inflated employee salaries, used department planes for personal reasons, had employees carry out personal business and took bribes to rig contract bidding for warehouses.
Odom, a six-term Democratic official, claims that Kyle is on a vendetta and has overlooked facts and laws to make Odom look bad.
The findings and others from prior Kyle reports are being investigated by a state grand jury.
Kyle talked about the Odom report as he acquainted the women’s group about the job of legislative auditor and the workings of his office.
Kyle said his office goes into investigative audits with an open mind, and a majority of the investigations uncover no wrongdoing.
But, he said, "Many times these people we do these audits on do a little (jail) time." He said Fowler can "vouch for that."
Fowler is serving a five-year sentence on state and federal charges of malfeasance and conspiracy to launder kickbacks from overcharges to state voting machine vendors.
"For the sake of the taxpayers of this state, I hope Mr. Odom can explain everything," Kyle said. "I don’t believe he can."
For instance, Kyle said Odom appointed 14 people to "high-paying positions" in the Department of Agriculture and Forestry even though state law doesn’t give him that authority.
"All work in his (election) campaign," Kyle said.
Kyle said it cost $3 million more to employ the individuals than it would cost to pay them the salary for the positions each actually held.
Kyle said his auditors documented more than 300 occasions when Odom improperly used a department airplane.
He said Odom’s campaign reimbursed the state for 72 of the flights but "not enough." He said actual costs totaled $70,000, but Odom paid less than $12,000.
Kyle said his auditor became interested in contracts for storing agricultural commodities because the same company rented space to Fowler for storing voting machines.
Kyle said his investigative report on Odom’s operations should never have been on Wednesday’s audit council agenda because the allegations are part of an ongoing grand jury probe.
But Odom pushed for the hearing to get a forum, he said.
"What Odom apparently wanted to do was to embarrass me and my staff," Kyle said.
http://www.theadvocate.com/news/story.asp?StoryID=28174
- Published
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