For a fiscally responsible governor, vote Gianforte

by Kalispell & Mark Rice
| November 4, 2016 9:33 AM

The scandal of $1.1 billion dollars improperly accounted for is enough to tilt my vote for Greg Gianforte and against incumbent Gov. Steve Bullock.

Greg Gianforte with his history of integrity and successful business management (note: RightNow Technologies in Bozeman, employed over 1,000 people in 2011, sold to Oracle) and his independence from special interests and only beholden to the general and varied interests of every Montanan, deserves your vote!!

See the gory details of laxity and mismanagement in the office of governor (who should truly govern, right?) in Montana Public Radio (MTPR) June 24, 2015, and Billings Gazette Opinion (BGO), July 3, 2015.

Summary:

Gov. Steve Bullock called it “completely unacceptable” only after it was revealed by the Legislative Audit Division. (BGO)

Apparently, appropriate accounting controls have not been in place…and it seems to be an endemic problem.

And, the Department of Administration has had 100-percent turnover, from the administrator, to the state accountant, to the accountant in the last 24 months, from June 2013 to June 2015. (MTPR)

“125 errors and lack of internal controls. Sadly, those controls, had they been in place, according to the audit division, could have caught these problems earlier. In other words, there weren’t even controls in place to catch problems.” (BGO)

Cindy Jorgenson Legislative Audit Division said … “We communicated over 125 significant items,” … “Many of those amounted to hundreds of millions of dollars in error. The audit team caught them, not the agency’s control system, [thus] we classified this as a material weakness.” (MTPR)

“[Estimating] State’s liability for infrastructure needs, the [Montana State Financial] report pegged the amount as $1.2 billion, but [Legislative] auditors revised downward to just over $200 million; a billion dollar mistake.” A $1 billion overstatement of accumulated depreciation. (MTPR)

State budget liabilities were underestimated or overestimated (factor of 10).

Montana Budget Director Dan Villa told the committee that in a few cases zeroes had been left off figures. (BGO)

Wow! Math 101 remediation seems necessary!!