Everyone seems to agree this police department scandal is a political disaster for Luke “I Am Not a Target” Ravenstahl, but doesn’t Michael Lamb come out looking pretty terrible too?
Neither the city controller, the city finance director nor the city treasurer were keeping tabs on the millions of dollars of checks received by the bureau’s Office of Special Events to ensure they were all being deposited into city coffers or that the surcharge money was properly accounted for.
And ask who’s responsible for tracking that money, city officials point fingers at each other.
Mr. Lamb has been critical of the mayor for not having information on the accounts. The mayor’s spokeswoman, Joanna Doven, Wednesday retorted that Mr. Lamb, as controller, should have come across the discrepancies. City finance director Scott Kunka said he was relying on others to ensure the money was accounted for.
The whole rationale for Michael Lamb’s candidacy was supposed to be that he’s the guy who’s uniquely qualified to put the city’s finances in order. That’s a crazy boring message, but here was a chance to make it relevant to a big newsy event. This could’ve been Lamb’s big chance but instead the voters’ impression is probably going to be that he bungled it.
(via Moriah Balingit)
Former AG Wagner on KDKA radio says accounting for these funds is treasurer/Finance Dept. responsiblity. Not Controller. All incoming funds should be audited by the treasurer.
I don’t really buy it. What’s the point of having a Controller then if he can’t review this stuff independently?
You can buy it or not but in a municipal government the Treasurer audits the taxpayers and the other incoming funds. The Controller audits the expenditures. That is the way it has always been.
He didn’t find it for the same reason that the Chief and everyone else didn’t find it. Someone is making up false receipts that look legitimate. It is pretty easy to fake a receipt or invoice. That is all the executives or board members usually see. You could easily shave off a few dollars on some invoices or fake some invoices and pocket the cash if you have control of the checkbook and the paperwork. You might not even need an accomplice.
Casino – The Count Room http://youtu.be/ZN6mp2NjMhs?t=1m25s
It can happen this easy: http://triblive.com/news/adminpage/1563462-74/smith-money-judge-million-company-diamond-letters-baierl-crime-died