Lots of Sandra Media

Sandra is getting a lot of pretty bad press right now for her $195,000 accounting mistakes. Here is one of my favorites (with a link to the article and highlights)...

Platte County Landmark -- "Thomas' opponent offers opinions on special audit "
http://www.plattecountylandmark.com/Article10370.htm

1. “Accounting issues are the responsibility of the auditor. She (Thomas) needs to take responsibility for the accounting of Platte County. If this had happened in my county, it would be all my fault. I would take the blame,” Montee said.
2. As an example, Montee referred to a time when the Buchanan County books were off by 9 cents. Montee and her staff continued to trace the difference until they reconciled the 9 cents, Montee said.
3. Vic Hurlbert, Clay County auditor and a fellow CPA, analyzed Groszek’s special report from last Thursday and believes, like Montee, that lack of communication between Platte County officeholders was a main cause for Platte County’s recent $195,000 accounting fiasco.

Kansas City TV -- Worst Sandra News Report Ever!

You absolutely have to go see KMBC-TV Channel 9 in Kansas City. Oh my gosh, seldom is seen such a bizarrely bad report on a candidate. Poor Sandra.

Check it out for yourself: http://www.thekansascitychannel.com/news/9721225/detail.html

Here are my favorite parts:

1. Headline: Report Cites Errors By Mo. Auditor Candidate
2. "It is not my fault," she said.
3. "This is something that if it weren't an election year would never have even become public at all," Thomas said, referring to the outside audit into the accounting discrepancy. "I would put very little weight on it."
4. County commissioners said they didn't know about the discrepancy until the outside audit.
"I wish that I would have heard from Sandra and that there was a problem," Knight said.

Just you wait and see, more and more we are going to hear from the other county officials who are pretty unhappy about the poor job Sandra is doing. Pretty sad, really.

Report cites errors by GOP state auditor candidate

DAVID A. LIEB
Associated Press

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - An independent audit of a $195,000 discrepancy in Platte County's books attributes accounting errors to the office of County Auditor Sandra Thomas, a Republican candidate for state auditor.

But Thomas contended Monday that the bulk of the problems were attributable to the county treasurer and the outside auditing firm itself. "It is not my fault," she said.

Thomas, of Kansas City, has touted her awards as Platte County auditor and her qualifications as a certified public accountant in her campaign for state auditor. She declared victory in the five-way Aug. 8 Republican primary when results showed her with a 1,778 vote lead over Rep. Jack Jackson, who has vowed to request a recount.

If her lead holds up, Thomas would advance to the Nov. 7 general election against Democratic Buchanan County Auditor Susan Montee, who also is a CPA.

Montee said Monday that the independent audit shows Thomas is incompetent and uncooperative with other elected officials.

The report "says the errors are Sandra Thomas' - they are squarely within the auditor's office," Montee said. "I think it's clearly an issue in the (state auditor's) race."

Thomas countered that Montee's comments were a "political stunt."

"This is something that if it weren't an election year would never have even become public at all," Thomas said, referring to the outside audit into the accounting discrepancy. "I would put very little weight on it."

Platte County sought the independent analysis after the county's general ledger showed $195,865 more than was listed in the bank account as of Dec. 31, 2005.

Part of the error - $62,569 - occurred when the auditor's office incorrectly listed interest from the last quarter of 2004 in the 2005 books, resulting in the money being counted twice, said the independent audit conducted by Michael Groszek of Troutt, Beeman and Co., of Harrisonville.
But Thomas said she already had accounted for the money and it was the auditing firm that caused the duplicate entry.

An additional $121,855 error occurred because checks were attributed to a construction account when they should have been booked in the county's main account, Groszek's audit said.
In that case, Thomas said, the county treasurer's office failed to follow through with her directions to reconcile the books accordingly.

The independent audit said Thomas' office also incorrectly posted interest in the county's main account - $6,048 in 2004 and $5,426 in 2005 - that should have gone to a separate bond account.

Thomas said the money was shifted to the main account so checks could be written for bond payments. Any discrepancy was mainly a matter of the timing of the checks and a different accounting label used by the treasurer's office than her office, Thomas said.

The audit notes that when the adjustments are made, there is $33 more in the bank than the general ledger.

Groszek did not immediately return a call Monday from The Associated Press.
His report was reviewed at the request of the AP by Clay County Auditor Vic Hurlbert, a Republican who is president of the Missouri Association of County Auditors and also is a certified public accountant.

Hurlbert concurred that the errors cited in the report seemed to fall back on the auditor's office - either as the original source or as the entity that is supposed to catch accounting mistakes. But county auditors need to be able to work closely with local treasurers, he added.

"I think it probably reflects poorly on the cooperation between the treasurer and the auditor," Hurlbert said. "Political season or not, the point is they need more conversation and communication between the two offices."

Whereas Thomas is a Republican, Platte County Treasurer Bonnie Brown is a Democrat who has contributed to Montee's campaign.

Thomas acknowledged that she and Brown have had a rocky working relationship.

12/22/05 Letter to the Editor (Platte County)

Questioning the county auditor
Posted 12/22/05
EDITOR:
Did I read in the newspaper that Platte County Auditor Sandra Thomas voted to authorize a cost of living salary increase for herself in the middle of her term, even after it had been questioned as being unconstitutional? I believe I did.

Isn't this the same Sandra Thomas that made such a big deal of raises given to former county commissioners that were claimed to be unconstitutional? I believe it is.

Isn't this the same Sandra Thomas that pushed her two new commissioner buddies into filing a frivolous lawsuit against former Commissioners Short and Eskridge that was dismissed by the court and wasted thousands in taxpayer dollars? I believe it is.

Will I be voting for Sandra Thomas to continue this nonsense in 2006? I believe I won't.

—Brent Evans Kansas City in Platte County

From Sandra's Local Paper, 8-17-06

Review points to errors by county auditor's office
And better communication needed between auditor and treasurer
by Ivan FoleyLandmark editor

A highly-anticipated external auditor's report notes several incorrect postings were done by the Platte County auditor's office and cites a need for the auditor and county treasurer to work together to reconcile bank balances in a timely manner.

The latest external audit was conducted over and above the normal annual outside audit required to be performed for the county. County commissioners approved an additional $2,500 to cover the cost of this latest probe into a $195,000 discrepancy in the county's general ledger.

Platte County's bookkeeping discrepancy has been making news in the county for a month and became of interest statewide when Platte County auditor Sandra Thomas won the Republican nomination for state auditor last week.

Thomas, who has been absent from the Platte County Administration Building much of the time since filing for state office, was on hand to hear the external auditor's report and made a short response.

Mike Groszek of the accounting firm Troutt, Beeman and Co. of Harrisonville gave his findings in written and verbal form to the county commissioners at their regular meeting Thursday afternoon. One item of interest is that part of the problem did not reside in the parks fund as initially believed, but that a fund used for Resource Center construction was also the site of errors.

Four mistakes were found as the $195,000 in "unaccounted for" money was traced. Groszek listed the four causes for the discrepancy as:

1. The county's cash on the general ledger was overstated by more than $62,000 in the park construction fund due to 2004 interest income being recorded twice, once in 2004 and again in 2005.

2. The county's main checking account in the park construction fund was overstated and needs to be reduced by nearly $122,000 for activity incorrectly posted to the bond trustee construction account. The external auditor blamed much of the confusion on the way the parks fund was set-up, a duty of the county auditor, he said. The way the park fund is devised makes the cash reconciliation difficult because "it is not clear what bank account is off from the county's general ledger."

"You'll have to ask the county auditor why it was set up that way," Groszek told the county commission.

Later in the public comments portion of the meeting, Platte County Auditor Sandra Thomas stepped to the microphone and said establishment of the park fund setup was done in budget meetings in 2003 with other officeholders. She said the previous county commission, specifically former county commissioner Michael Short, "wanted to find a way to deal with it without having another fund set up."

Groszek said the county does not typically maintain their funds and general ledger accounts in this fashion.

"The county has had many construction projects and construction funds over the past decade and this is the first time this set-up has been selected," Groszek said.

Reached by phone late in the day Thursday, Short said he does not recall any budget discussion with Thomas on that issue, and said Thomas' has her dates wrong, as the parks tax was passed in 2000, not 2003.

"Heck no, I don't remember it. That was five and a half or six years ago. And even if I did offer an opinion on how it would be set up, why would she take advice from me? I'm not an accountant, I'm not a CPA. She is the budget officer," Short said in a phone conversation with The Landmark.

"And if it wasn't working, why hasn't she figured that out in the past six years? To me it proves she's a pretty weak officeholder," Short added.

"For her to step up now and make that kind of assertion. . . and she's running for state auditor? The state auditor is supposed to be an independent watchdog. What credibility would she have as a state officeholder?" Short remarked.

Short and Thomas, though both Republicans, are not political allies. Thomas campaigned for incumbent Short's opponent when Short was defeated by Tom Pryor in the 2004 Republican primary for first district county commissioner.

Under questioning from Betty Knight, presiding commissioner, Groszek said the commingling of bond money and sales tax money, as opposed to separating the two, played a major role in the confusion.

Groszek said the unusual format used by the county in the park fund "can work if everything is done perfectly," but when errors occur it's more difficult to locate the source of the error, he explained.

3. Journal entries made in 2004 by the auditor's office incorrectly posted interest into the county's main account when the interest should have been posted to the account with the bond trustee. This was not related to the park fund, but instead these entries were part of the Resource Center Construction Fund.

4. Interest posted incorrectly in 2005 by the auditor's office into the county's main account when the interest should have been posted to the county with the bond trustees. This was also part of the Resource Center Construction Fund.

Early in his presentation, Groszek said county treasurer Bonnie Brown and Thomas "need to work together" to achieve the goal of reconciliation of the accounts on a monthly basis.
Groszek report says when the treasurer's office completes the monthly bank reconciliation, it should be forwarded and signed off by the auditor's office.

"This will help ensure that any reconciliation difficulties will be communicated in a timely manner," he said.

Brown did not address the commission at Thursday's meeting and told reporters immediately after the meeting that she had no comment.

Knight questioned Groszek as to when he could complete the paperwork necessary to enable the county's financial statements to be certified. Bond holders and rating agencies are still awaiting the county's financial statements for 2005, which were due on June 30 but have been delayed by this discrepancy.

Knight asked Groszek if he could have them ready by the end of August. Groszek indicated there is no way that would be possible, and indicated the end of September would be more likely. Knight then pushed for a Sept. 15 deadline, and Groszek reluctantly said he would do his best to have them ready by that time.

In the meantime, Groszek will pen a letter explaining to rating agencies the reasons why the county has been unable to meet the previous reporting deadline.

MORE ON THOMAS' REACTION
In her brief remarks at the end of the commission meeting, Thomas said "there has been a lot of confusion" on this topic.

She said she wanted to make it known the county is required to do an outside audit every year, so this isn't unusual, she claimed.

In an interview conducted with Thomas after the meeting, The Landmark pointed out the latest review by the external auditor came at an additional fee on top of his original $54,000 compensation, and was ordered only after the discrepancy couldn't be reconciled in the regular annual review.

"That's true, but he (Groszek) said he's not going to charge us for it," Thomas told The Landmark.

This comment came as a surprise to county commissioners.

"He has not told me that," Knight stated. Plunkett also said he had no knowledge of Groszek agreeing to perform the audit at no charge.

Last month, Groszek had told the commission he needed $2,500 to perform the added review and the county commission approved a contract for that amount with Groszek in a special meeting held July 31.

Thomas said: "I'm glad this issue is resolved. There is no money missing and never was any money missing."

Asked by The Landmark for her reaction to the news that multiple mistakes by her office were noted by the external auditor, Thomas blamed a lack of communication from the county treasurer's office for much of the problem. Treasurer Bonnie Brown has admitted having trouble reconciling the bank balances to the general ledger for several months, but didn't speak her problem to other officeholders until July.

"She was showing balances to us that didn't reconcile with the bank. If she had not hidden the fact that she had a problem, the matter could have been resolved," Thomas remarked.

Questioned by The Landmark if she feels the fact Groszek has donated to her campaign for state auditor places him in a conflict of interest, Thomas said she doesn't feel that it does because she will be leaving county office on Dec. 31 and Groszek will have nothing to do with the state auditor's office.

Groszek left the county building shortly after the meeting's conclusion and could not be reached at his office.

What is SandraGate?

1. Sandra Thomas is running for Missouri State Auditor. Yes, there has been a primary, but she is not the candidate yet because one of her opponents is calling for a recount. So maybe Sandra will be the nominee. Maybe not.

2. Currently, Sandra is County Auditor in Platte County, Missouri. That's just north of Kansas City -- a hustling, bustling little county where she has "served" for about 12 years.

3. Sandra likes to tout the awards she has won as a county auditor, but lately she's been having a problem.

4. What's the problem? She keeps losing track of the money! This last year it was $195,000 and the year before that it was $17,000.

Here's my favorite article on recent developments, taken from her local newspaper last week, The Platte County Landmark:




Between the Lines
by Ivan FoleyLandmark editor

Platte County bookkeepingsituation has becomea comedy of errors
Posted 8/8/06
Just when you thought it wasn't possible, Platte County's bookkeeping fiasco turned even more bizarre on Friday afternoon when Sandra Thomas, Platte County auditor and state auditor candidate, sent out one of the strangest press releases you'll ever see.
I'm sure you've seen those movies where cops are standing by the scene of a major catastrophe and are trying to clear passersby from the area by saying: "Move along, folks, move along. There's nothing to see here."
That's basically what Thomas' email said, or at least tried to say. One would have to be pretty naive to fully consume the goods being spewed by Thomas and county treasurer Bonnie Brown in that press release. It was an attempt to try to take public attention away from the train wreck that has occurred in Platte County's bookkeeping ledger while Thomas closed out the final days of a campaign for the Republican nomination for state auditor.
Strangely, Thomas has gone from first denying any involvement or knowledge of the screw-up to suddenly trying to claim she rode in on a great white horse, found the discrepancies, checked the oil, kicked the tires, shook hands, kissed babies, and saved the world.
******
Friday's press release, in a word, was ridiculous.
Thomas and county treasurer Bonnie Brown claim the discrepancy in the books, where the bank was saying Platte County has $195,000 less than the county books show, has been found. "Finding problems like this are exactly why we perform an annual audit. No money is missing or ever was missing. The problem was caused by simple clerical errors made in the preparation of the bank reconciliation. These errors have been identified and corrected."
Wow. The Between the Lines BS meter is jumping off the charts.
No money was missing? Again, this is semantics, as we've discussed previously in this column space. When for 10 months you can't account for $195,000, you have "missing" money that needs to be accounted for. That doesn't necessarily mean anything was stolen, and no media outlet to my knowledge said the money was stolen or that there was any wrongdoing of any type. What has been said in this column space all along is that there are legitimate questions of competency and of disclosure.
Does it take 10 months and a $2,500 special external audit to find "simple clerical errors?" If it does, then we do have some major simpletons in charge of our tax dollars.
The county commission had to hire an external auditor to take care of a process that should have been completed in-house by county officials.
******
One glaring piece of the press release that is certainly humorous is that Brown and Thomas contradict one another. Thomas' quote says the problems were clerical errors. Brown says it was a matter of "accounting adjustments that have been identified."
Well which is it? Or is it none of the above? The outside auditor, who likely is sorry he ever agreed to play the role of Platte County's financial proctologist, is mysteriously not quoted in this declaration of independence.
Lordy, Brown and Thomas couldn't even keep from contradicting one another in their own bogus press statement. That's when you know you're watching a circus act.
******
Poor county treasurer Bonnie Brown. Sweet person. But she simply doesn't get it.
First, she fails to see that the county bank accounts are properly reconciled for 10 months. Then she tries to cover the confusion by asking the presiding commissioner to authorize the use of $195,000 from general fund reserves to balance the ledger. Now she speaks this bizarre quote as her claim to fame, as if she has been absolved of any blame in this comedy of errors: "It just confirms that there has been no wrongdoing in the treasurer's office and there is absolutely no money missing."
So there was no wrongdoing. Nobody ever reported there was. There certainly was some shoddy work. How can a treasurer and/or county auditor lose track of $195,000?
Even worse than that, there is this major issue of disclosure. Brown is the only one claiming to have had knowledge of the $195,000 discrepancy for months, so why did she not report it? If it wasn't the fault of her office, as she now claims, why not tell the auditor's office about it? As you'll recall, the deputy auditor says the auditor's office knew nothing of Brown's problem reconciling accounts until July. Until then, it apparently was Brown's little secret.
Deputy auditor Ruby Maline last week told The Landmark that if Brown had brought the matter to her attention when Brown first was unable to reconcile the bank accounts, Maline could have found the problem and the public mess could have been avoided.
Brown is portrayed to be grinning like the cat that just ate the canary. She thinks because there is no "wrongdoing" in her office that she escapes without scrutiny.
Hello, Bonnie? Is there anybody home?
We expect our public officials to be law-abiding citizens, don't we? If we didn't, we could just pick our next county treasurer from a police lineup.
Most folks assumed all along nobody in Brown's office had walked out the door with $195,000 stuffed in their pockets. What taxpayers are concerned about are issues of competency and disclosure. Why did the mistakes occur in the first place and why did Brown wait for months to let anyone know her office was unable to reconcile the bank accounts?
It's inexcusable and embarrassing, no matter how Brown, Thomas and their supporters try to spin it.
Will the public ever be able to trust the numbers spewed from the treasurer's office? How many other special outside audits will we have to pay for to find other mistakes?
Care about your tax dollars? I recommend you ignore the suggestion to "move along, move along, there's nothing to see here." With Brown now desperately trying to pass all blame to Thomas, and with Thomas now on her way to the general election for state auditor, don't look for this issue to die anytime soon.