In 15 years as your State Auditor, Brian has transformed the office from a once obscure bureaucracy into a true champion for the state’s taxpayers.

He brings to the 2008 election a strong record of achievement and putting the public first.   Here are some highlights and accomplishments in the past four years alone:

The recipient of widespread bipartisan support

• Received more than 1.66 million votes when voters re-elected him to a third four-year term in 2004 . . . . the highest number of votes for any statewide candidate.

• Garnered 64 percent of the statewide vote, the widest margin of anyone running statewide.

• The Seattle Times – in its last endorsement – called Brian “one of the best public servants produced by this state.”

As a steadfast advocate for greater government accountability, Brian has . . . .

• Tirelessly built support over time among citizens, opinion leaders and others for using performance audits as an effective tool to make government work better.  His efforts helped create an environment where citizens overwhelmingly approved a statewide initiative in 2005 giving the Auditor authority to conduct the audits.

• Subsequently, proved that support was well placed.  The first 10 performance audits identified more than $3.2 billion in identified potential savings, unnecessary costs and potential economic benefits.

• Made a true difference in how government serves its citizens.  His performance audits have produced 454 specific recommendations to streamline government operations and to provide better services to citizens.

• Made his Performance Audit Program the object of a major research project by the national Association of Government Accountants, which now uses it as a model for other states in establishing their own performance audit programs.

• Created a Division of Special Investigations to strengthen efforts to root out fraud and train government finance managers to better identify signs of misuse, abuse and misappropriations.

Brian is engaging citizens to participate in their government.

• His idea for a Citizens Alliance for Accountability called for engaging citizens and seeking their thoughts to evaluate how government does business.  He has fulfilled the idea’s premise by putting in place an innovative method of asking citizens to help determine where the State Auditor’s Office directs performance audits.

• Governing magazine, a national magazine that follows the trends and best practices of government, called Brian’s citizens outreach efforts a “one-of-a-kind effort to bring citizens back into the decision-making fold.”

• He established a toll-free hotline so citizens have a convenient, efficient means of reporting suspected government waste, abuse and fraud.

Keeping government’s doors wide open to citizens is a priority to Brian. 

• He co-sponsored legislation to further protect the public by making government bodies more accountable when meeting behind closed doors.

• He helped spearhead successful legislation that significantly expanded the rights and protections of state employee whistleblowers.  

• In an editorial in February, The Seattle Times called Brian a “tried-and-true champion of open government.”

• Spoke out for legislation that would require state government make budget and financial information readily available to citizens over the Internet.

• He passionately participates as a board member on the Washington Coalition for Open Government, a broad-based organization that advocates for strong public access laws.

Brian is recognized as a national leader.

• He proudly serves as a trustee in the Association of Government Accountants’ Academy for Accountability and is a member of the National State Auditors Association’s Performance Audit Task Force.