Kane County State’s Atty. Meg Gorecki continues to press for an in-depth transitional audit of the office she took over last year but said she will follow the wishes of the County Board’s Executive Committee if it determines the cost would be prohibitive.
The apparent inability to locate some supporting documents for checks–several of which were disbursed from the office’s drug assets forfeiture fund during the tenure of her predecessor, David Akemann–spurred Gorecki’s request, said County Auditor Bill Keck. But members of the Executive Committee are balking at Gorecki’s request because it would cost about $35,000.
The scope of the work is such that Keck is unable to meet her request because of limited staffing and funding.
Keck said he typically does a transitional audit whenever there is a change of elected officials. It amounts to a baseline examination of the office’s finances “to basically give the new person some degree of confidence that they are starting from this point here and they’re not responsible for whatever happened before that.
“I usually only do two years, the two years immediately prior to the person taking office, and I think that’s the whole point of contention here,” said Keck.
Sandra Chidester, Gorecki’s chief financial officer, said the request was made after the basic internal audit conducted by Keck’s office didn’t go back far enough to explain some documentation gaps. It warranted a broader examination, she said.
After initially requesting an audit of Akemann’s entire eight years, Gorecki scaled back the request to two years, from July 1997 to July 1999, said Keck.
Because of the expense and board members’ doubts that an outside audit is warranted, Gorecki was asked to appear before the Executive Committee on Oct. 3 to justify the request.
Despite the politically charged nature of the situation–Gorecki defeated incumbent Akemann in a bitter Republican primary last year–Chidester said the state’s attorney’s request shouldn’t be construed to imply wrongdoing.
The Executive Committee balked at the request last week after a representative of the county treasurer’s office said a complete, unchallenged list of everyone paid from the fund exists.
At some point, the representative said, the documentation alleged to be missing would have had to be supplied or payment wouldn’t have been approved.
Reached at the Illinois attorney general’s office in Chicago, where he has worked since leaving office, Akemann said he wasn’t bothered by his successor’s request and did not he believe that it would reveal any problems. “We were audited every year by an outside firm,” said Akemann.
