All rights reserved (About Us). "There are no checks and balances because they are providing substandard, inadequate services to our communities across Pennsylvania.”, In particular, she is calling for more accountability and internal controls when it comes to those third-party contractors providing elderly care. If elected, Hartmans said she will focus on criminal justice reform, disparities in education and prescription drug costs as the state’s auditor general. Ahmad is arguably the wrench in this primary for the Democrats. Shortly after her resignation last September (by law, Tracie had to resign her position to run), the Auditor General’s Department was down to 392 staff members statewide while still be responsible for the conduct of 5,000 mandated audits. In: Articles. Tom Wolf’s controversial business closure waiver program being managed by the Pennsylvania Department of Community & Economic Development. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. He is running for Congress. Torsella, a Flourtown resident who might face Shapiro in the 2022 Democratic primary for governor but might opt instead to run for the U.S. Senate, cast himself as a reformer who upended a history of corruption in his office while taking on Wall Street. This 57-year-old Harrisburg resident is also a certified public accountant but unlike … Tagged: 2020 Elections, Auditor General, Pennsylvania, Row offices. The seat was open because Auditor General Eugene DePasquale could not seek a third term. He hopes that his connections to swing areas in Central PA will carry over to other swing areas across the state and propel him to the Auditor General position. While Ahmad was trained as a molecular biologist rather than a certified public accountant like some of her opponents, she doesn’t consider that a detriment in any way. They can also be used as stepping stones to a more known position, such as Governor, Senator or in some cases, Representatives. She was employed there for nearly 30 years before resigning last September to run for this office. ▪ Don’t sell ads against the story. Here though, with DeFoor possibly having a better chance at getting swing voters than most Republicans, I have this race as a pure toss-up, though Democrats have better chances at holding this seat with Lamb or Hartman as their nominees. Looking at his website, Lamb states that he “has been an independent voice for the citizens of Pittsburgh”. , the Laborers District Council of Western Pennsylvania, Plumbers Union Local 27, Pittsburgh Firefighters IAFF Local 1, and Fraternal Order of Police Fort Pitt Lodge No. He gets to audit all the finances of anything that gets state funding. Besides that, he’s the only Democrat running for a statewide office this year from western Pennsylvania. Seventy-seventh House District Rep. Scott Conklin declared his candidacy for the seat in January, saying that his experience makes him the perfect person for the job. ▪ You can publish our graphics and any photos that are credit to Pennsylvania Capital-Star with the stories with which they originally appeared. State Auditor General Eugene DePasquale is not seeking re-election to this seat because he is running for U.S. Congress. Tracie Fountain’s extensive technical and managerial experience with the Auditor’s General’s Department is really what is needed at this time, especially given the significant legislative budget suffered by this department over the years. Directory of Pennsylvania elections. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. She does however have the endorsement from PA-02 Representative Brendan Boyle. A percentage of your purchase will go to Elections Daily, helping us continue to provide quality content. Davis said she wants the job as the state’s top fiscal watchdog “to ensure that all of your tax dollars – and mine, are being spent in a reasonably, proper and fair manner.”. by Chris Brennan , Updated: November 5, 2020 Pa. Attorney General Josh Shapiro from the podium during a drive in rally for Joe Biden outside of … The GOP do not have a competitive primary, as they only have one candidate in their primary. DeFoor also has many connections to the Central PA community. Last year, we left Act 47 status [a plan for turning around financially distressed municipalities] and we’ve made good strides in Pittsburgh. Lamb also claims to have “eliminate city waste, fraud and abuse, strengthened the city’s finances and save citizens money.” Being from Allegheny and the only candidate in the primary from the western part of the state, Lamb hopes that the geographical advantage will work in his favor in the primaries. It has been a long time since a row office race was not contested by at least one person from the Philadelphia or Pittsburgh areas. Pennsylvania voters across all spectrums are known to take geography into effect while voting, which Lamb will look for huge margins in Pittsburgh and its surrounding suburbs. As mentioned, Ahmad does not have the endorsement of her former boss Jim Kenney. declared his candidacy for the seat in January, saying that his experience makes him the perfect person for the job. ", She added: “State governments across the United States recognize when artificial barriers have been put in place to prevent someone or something from being subject to proper accountability and oversight. Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. ▪ If you share the story on social media, please mention PennCapitalStar on Twitter and penncapitalstar on Facebook. If elected, she said she would be the first CPA as well as the first prior employee to hold the auditor general’s office along with being the first African American to hold a statewide elective office “so that part of history wasn’t lost on me.”, Admitting her lack of name recognition and being a political novice may be seen as a detriment, Fountain said, “I just want Pennsylvania voters to understand you aren’t always going to get the best person for the position based on how much money they raised or how many times they run for office. An entrepreneur, molecular biologist, former Philadelphia Deputy Mayor for Public Engagement and previously a candidate for lieutenant governor, Ahmad and fellow auditor general candidates Fountain and Davis, all women of color, were the targets of several “Zoom bombing” incidents in late March. Subscribe to PennLive. Republican Stacy Garrity led Democratic incumbent Treasurer Joe Torsella by more than 3 percentage points, a margin of more than 210,000 votes. More than 340,000 mail ballots, a form of voting more favored by Democrats than Republicans, still need to be counted, according to the Pennsylvania Department of State, which has already tallied more than 2,274,000 mail ballots. She wanted to focus on charter schools and do what she can to expand high-speed internet. She has had a career that one would not think could lead to the Auditor General position. DeFoor is also a member of the Harrisburg area NAACP. As Deputy Mayor, Ahmad quotes her managing of the $4 billion dollar operating budget as her main reason to why she is prepared to take on the job. Shapiro, a likely candidate for governor in two years who is from Abington, seized the spotlight amid President Donald Trump’s legal and rhetorical attacks on voting in Pennsylvania. Even with a slim victory by Donald Trump, Republican candidates in the open Attorney General and Treasurer races both lost by decent amounts. Heidelbaugh, a Pittsburgh trial attorney, called on Shapiro to step aside from legal challenges about the election, accusing him of having a conflict of interest. Chris Dush left to run for the open state senate seat left by Joseph Scarnati while Lancaster County commissioner Dennis Stuckey dropped out after failing to gain the party’s endorsement. Ahmad has also made combating Donald Trump a much bigger part of her campaign than the other two favorites. All rights reserved (About Us). There are six Democrats running for the chance to be the Democratic nominee for the auditor general seat in November. She said the office has CPAs on staff to provide the infrastructure for performing audits. Six Democrats are in the hunt for the only statewide office up for grabs this year that doesn’t feature an incumbent seeking re-election in the June 2 primary. Voting info. However, she is the only candidate in this race who, in addition to being a CPA, served 29.5 years in various leadership roles in Department of Auditor General, serving in the administrations of current Auditor General Eugene DePasquale and the prior three. The Republican ticket has one candidate, Timothy DeFoor, who is running unopposed. Along with auditing the influx of federal stimulus dollars the state receives, another area of interest for Fountain is in the area of education. He has spent three decades conducting governmental audits and fraud investigations for the state inspector general, the state attorney general and a large hospital system. Jan Murphy may be reached at jmurphy@pennlive.com. His most surprising endorsement has to come from the east. Feel free, however, to publish it on a page with ads you’ve already sold. Follow her on Twitter at @JanMurphy. Charter school spending is another “to make sure that we’re holding charter schools accountable for the same things that we’re holding public schools accountable for," she said. The Democratic candidates are: Nina Ahmad of Philadelphia, Scott Conklin of Centre County, Rose Marie Davis of Monroe County, Tracie Fountain of Dauphin County, Christina Hartman of Lancaster County, and Michael Lamb of Allegheny County. Fountain says on her campaign website that she is seeking the higher office to continue to work for her predecessors and bring a new perspective to the job. While she does not have the same experience in the role that Lamb does, she does have twenty-plus years of experience running and managing major government projects. Republican Timothy DeFoor has won the race for Pennsylvania auditor general. He later was elected as the county prothonotary and held that position from 2000 to 2007 until he successfully eliminated his position, when county offices were merged. Ahmad, a former deputy mayor in Philadelphia, used a considerable chunk of her own money to finance her race. PA’s Auditor General race is shaping up to be the closest of the row offices. She said if elected, she would take a look at the department and its staffing and identify what the challenges are that it faces. He said the commonwealth with its complicated documents and relationships could use more of those. We need your support. The race for auditor general pitted DeFoor, a county controller in central Pennsylvania, against Democrat Nina Ahmad, a former deputy Philadelphia mayor.

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