As she prepares for retirement, state auditor Elaine Howle talks about speaking truth to power at the State Capitol, her favorite Californians, and her problems with the dreaded phrase "scathing audit."
Elaine Howle is the California State Auditor.
I don’t particularly like that characterization [“scathing audit”] What our audits are intended to do is—as I’ve said to staff and at legislative hearings—is speak truth to power. To let people know we’ve audited this program, we’ve looked at how the state agency is implementing this program, and we found some significant weaknesses, and it needs to be improved. Now, our language—the tone—is sometimes very strong, and some agencies don’t like it: “Oh, you’re just writing for headlines.” No. What we’re trying to do is write reports that are compelling—that will get somebody’s interest, and somebody will pay attention.
Notes and references from this episode:
auditor.ca.gov - California State Auditor home page
List of U.S. state auditors, Ballotpedia
Elaine Howle - 2012 Public Official of the Year, Governing Magazine
“State Auditor Elaine Howle is retiring,” David Lightman, The Sacramento Bee
EDD Follow-Up: Since the COVID-19 Pandemic It Continues to [...] Put Californians at Risk of Identity Theft, Auditor’s report on EDD (Nov. 19, 2020)
EDD's Poor Planning and Ineffective Management Left It Unprepared to Assist Californians Unemployed by COVID‑19 Shutdowns, Auditor’s report on EDD (Jan. 26, 2021)
Significant Weaknesses in EDD’s Approach to Fraud Prevention Have Led to Billions of Dollars in Improper Benefit Payments, Auditor’s report on EDD (Jan. 28, 2021)
“State Auditor Talks About Citizens Re-Drawing The Election Maps,” Capital Public Radio
2020 California Citizens Redistricting Committee
“UC President Napolitano Apologizes for Interfering With State Audit,” by Ana Tintocalis, KQED
The Science of Hitting, by Ted Williams
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