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Oakland Auditor Faces Stiff Challenge in Run-Off

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Friday October 13, 2006

In this internet-dependent age, when less than a month before a runoff election an incumbent officeholder’s website [www.roland4auditor.com/] has no photo, no qualifications, no campaign platform, no endorsement information, no contact number, and reads only “Site under construction—check back for more information”—well, then, you know that incumbent is in some political trouble. 

Two-term Oakland auditor Roland E. Smith is in some political trouble. 

Last June, four people chose to challenge him for the auditor’s position, including one of his former deputies. Smith came in second, with 31 percent of the vote, to East Bay Conservation Corps Chief Financial Officer Courtney Ruby’s 39 percent. 

Ruby’s endorsement list manages to bring together groups or individuals who are often at odds with each other—Oakland City councilmembers Desley Brooks, Jane Brunner, Pat Kernighan, Nancy Nadel, and Larry Reid, for example, as well as the Oakland Tribune and the San Francisco Bay Guardian and the pro-business OAKPAC and SEIU Local 790, which represents many of the city’s workers. 

In addition, she’s run the table of the local Democratic club endorsements—John George East Oakland Democratic Club, the Metropolitan-Greater Oakland, East Bay LGBTQ Democratic Club, Wellstone, and the East Bay Young Democrats, as well as the politically powerful Black Women Organized for Political Action. Ruby has also nabbed the grand prize of local endorsements—Congressmember Barbara Lee—while managing so far to keep Oakland mayor-elect Ron Dellums neutral in the race. 

For his part, we could find no listed endorsements for Mr. Smith, since his website is not up. There don’t seem to be many major ones left, in any event. 

Does all this mean that the challenger, Ms. Ruby, is the best candidate for the auditor’s post over the incumbent Mr. Smith? Hard to say, because the auditor’s position naturally brings on political enemies, if it’s properly done. 

Among other things, the city auditor audits the books and bank accounts of all of Oakland’s departments and agencies, reviews the soundness of financial transactions and financial internal controls, and makes public reports on these matters. That can mean stepping on some powerful toes, if the job is done right. 

Last year, for example, Smith released a scathing report on what he called the poor management of credit cards by city employees. Shortly after that report was released, the City Council and the Oakland City Administrator essentially shut down the audit department by defunding six of the nine audit department employees, transferring them to other departments. Smith said it was retaliation for his criticism of the city’s fiscal management; councilmembers said it was to protect staff members who had complained of harassment by the auditor. Smith sued, but before the lawsuit could be heard the council restored his staff. 

As for their qualifications, the 69-year-old Smith is a certified public accountant with 30 years experience in auditing. He promises to continue issuing performance audits targeting the quality levels of city services, as well as establish Citizen Investigation Study Groups “for studies addressing vital community needs.” 

The 39-year-old Ruby is also a CPA, who promises to reform the auditor’s office to “establish higher standards of professionalism and accountability” as well as promising to “protect Oakland from waste, fraud and mismanagement through effective financial and performance audits.” 

The DellumsWatch blog [http://dellums.blogspot.com], which bills itself as “eager supporters of Ms. Ruby,” described a recent Smith-Ruby debate by saying “Ruby convincingly made her case for change in the auditor's office from her opening statement. I found her emphasis on benchmarks and copying successful practices in other cities (such as San Jose) very persuasive. She also suggested that the auditor place more of an emphasis on performance evaluation of city programs and grants, rather than double-checking parking tickets. Roland Smith pointed to clear improvements in the city auditor's office since he took over in 1999, including migration to a sophisticated Oracle payroll system and an overall increase in the number of audits. He defended his work to refund parking tickets to citizens and increase revenue from city-owned parking lots, and blamed the council for not supporting him. (Ruby responded that San Jose found that business and sales taxes are better targets of city revenue audits than parking lots.)” 

Meanwhile, the Oakland Post, which is supporting Smith, wrote recently that “Smith, unable to reduce a backlog of reports after staff reductions by the City Council and the mayor’s staff, said he wants to see more fiscal transparency at City Hall when Mayor-Elect Ronald V. Dellums takes office in January. ‘My office can advise him on what changes need to occur for more transparency in city agencies,’ said Smith. ‘The city should also issue monthly financial reports and put them online. The city’s Finance Agency can do that. They pay the bills and handle the transactions. It’s the accountant for the city.’”  

 

Assembly, AC Transit 

Two other local races in the November election should get brief mention, only because they are not expected to be very competitive. 

Incumbent Loni Hancock (former mayor of Berkeley) is running for her second and final term, (under term limits) as 14th District assemblymember from Berkeley, Richmond, Albany, El Cerrito, Emeryville, a portion of North Oakland, and a few other cites. 

Her Republican opponent is Leigh N. Wolf, a computer technician who says that California “needs young blood and fresh ideas to break the log jam in Sacramento. Career politicians have done nothing but pander to special interests and spend your money in irresponsible ways. With your vote I can go to Sacramento and lay waste to the bureaucracy and begin to mold a more efficient, honest and open government.” 

Running in a district that is 59 percent registered Democrat and only 18 percent registered Republican, however, Mr. Wolf may be going to Sacramento next month, but most likely still as a private citizen. 

Incumbent Rebecca Kaplan is running for re-election to one of the two at-large seats on the Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District Board of Directors. A Green Party member, Ms. Kaplan lost six years ago to incumbent Henry Chang in a run-off for the Oakland City Council at-large seat. Kaplan’s opponent, paralegal James Muhammad of Oakland, lost to H.E. Christian Peeples in 2004 for the other at-large AC Transit seat, winning less than 10 percent of the vote.