Auditor of State

An Independent Watchdog at a Critical Time

Ohio and its many great communities stand at a crossroads.  We need to compete in the 21st century for good jobs, for growing businesses, for families to live here, for young people to stay here.  Yet in too many places in Ohio, we are not winning this competition.  And as a state, we’ve got much work to do in this rapidly changing economy.

To succeed, some basic building blocks are essential.  First rate education generating a top-flight workforce.  Modern infrastructure and transportation.  The ability and agility to take advantage of the new economic opportunities of the 21st century.  A competitive environment that stimulates private sector job growth.  A quality of life that attracts and retains families and young people.

And for all this to happen, one thing is clear: wasteful, dysfunctional, polarized government will keep us from succeeding by squandering precious resources, delivering poor results, and costing taxpaying citizens and businesses too much.  On the other hand, well-run, efficient, effective government will be critical to any success we have by delivering the services and making the investments we need to compete, but doing so at a cost we can afford.

Which makes the Ohio Auditor of State so critical to assuring Ohio’s long-term competitiveness. 

The Auditor is ideally suited to get the most and best out of government at all levels while reducing its cost. The Auditor serves as the taxpayers’ financial watchdog, targeting corruption, eliminating waste, and ensuring the proper use of public funds at all levels.  Eliminating these problems is the best way to assure government is getting its important work done as efficiently as possible.

And no role in Ohio touches more areas and levels of Ohio’s government than the Auditor.  So it has the ideal platform to promote improved, high-performing, and efficient government across this state.

So, at a time like this, the state auditor’s role in reforming government is more critical than ever.  But that potential role is squandered without the right leadership.

David Pepper will bring that leadership to the office.  He has been a proven, independent-minded reformer and leader—with a history of challenging government to do more with less, eliminating waste, and pushing for accountability and needed reform. 

With that experience, as Auditor, he will insist on accountability and fiscal responsibility at all levels, and will root out waste, corruption and cronyism wherever they rear their ugly heads. 

He will start by reforming the Auditor's office itself—cutting out wasteful and frivolous spending, ending the extreme politicization of the office that undermines its professional credibility and effectiveness, and only hiring top-notch and qualified personnel for all positions in the office.

And having successfully pushed for change, reform and responsibility in local government, he will promote effective, efficient, high-performance state and local government across the state—the kind of change that will position Ohio to compete in the 21st century.