Cohen Still in Line to Take Over as Auditor

Despite one supervisor’s withdrawal of support, Assistant Auditor-Controller Christine Cohen is still the favorite to take over for her boss, Tom Mahon, when he retires Dec. 31, county supervisors said Wednesday.

But reflecting an ongoing discontent with the auditor’s office, two board members said they favor putting a measure on the March 2002 ballot that would make the auditor-controller’s post appointive.

Three supervisors said they still back Cohen as interim auditor because she is capable and her appointment could be made quickly, before budget hearings begin early next year.

Supervisor Susan Lacey said she still supports Cohen despite the fact that her office withheld information about a $7-million state levy issued against the county in September. The board only found out about the new obligation in a news report Tuesday, prompting Supervisor Frank Schillo to withdraw his support for Cohen.

“Christine has excellent credentials,” Lacey said. “She’s done the job perfectly well for the last three months, and until I know differently, I feel she’s passed the test.”

Supervisors Judy Mikels and John Flynn also said they favor her appointment to temporarily run the county’s auditing office.

“We need some institutional memory,” Flynn said. “Christine has been there for some time and it would not be prudent to lose her.”

Cohen was the early front-runner to replace her boss, who announced Monday that he is stepping down two years early to care for his ailing wife. In his resignation letter, Mahon endorsed Cohen as “unsurpassed in her understanding of county government finance” and said she had his unequivocal support.

But that was before supervisors learned of the state audit snafu.

Schillo, visibly upset about being kept in the dark, accused Cohen of withholding important information from the board, noting that he called her into his office last week and quizzed her about any pending problems. She said there weren’t any.

Schillo now wants to open the search for Mahon’s replacement outside the office, and added he would give preference to anyone who is a certified public accountant. Cohen is not a CPA.

“In my personal businesses I always hire the most qualified person for the job,” Schillo said. “And I wouldn’t accept less than a CPA.”

Supervisor Kathy Long did not return repeated calls seeking comment.

The state levy incident has led both Schillo and Mikels to conclude that the office should not be an elected one--a position long held by interim county Chief Administrator Officer Harry Hufford. The supervisors said an appointed auditor’s office would never have kept that information from the board or Hufford because it would have meant the auditor’s job.

“It’s very difficult with a separately elected office to get the information you want or to make things happen when you want,” Mikels said.

“There’s a very fine line about independence,” added Schillo. “You want an auditor not to be swayed by his familiarity with the person’s department he’s auditing. But you do not want the auditor to have a $7-million hit and not tell anybody because he doesn’t have to.”

Mikels balked at the argument that an appointed auditor would take away an important public watchdog.

“The easiest thing for elected officials to do is to say the public will not be served and the public will be disenfranchised,” Mikels said. “That in my mind is total horse-hockey.”

Hufford has pushed the idea of placing the issue on the 2002 primary ballot.

“From Day One, I’ve really stressed to the supervisors that we need strong audits because they protect the [county] corporation,” he said. “Right now, it seems there is a weakness in the office. We’ve seen a lot of surprises on issues where they could have given us a warning.”

He cited the office’s inability to detect almost a decade of improper Medicare billing by the Mental Health Agency, which led to a $15.3-million federal penalty. And he said he was surprised last week to learn of the state controller’s finding that the county owes $7 million more in back taxes because of an auditor’s miscalculation.

“Those are problems,” he said.

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Staff writer Daryl Kelley contributed to this story.