Controversial record dogs GOP treasurer hopeful

"Controversial record dogs GOP treasurer hopeful" was the headline of a front page article on GOP Treasurer candidate, Sandra O'Brien. Written by Aaron Marshall, a Plain Dealer Reporter, the article includes:

1) A letter to O'Brien from bipartisan Ashtabula County Office holders addressing: "The problem was that O'Brien's office underreported to PERS in 2004 the amount that officeholders made, according to Ashtabula County Sheriff William Johnson, who has met with PERS officials on the matter. That is important because a person's highest three years of salary are used to determined the pension.

2) "The most serious questions about O'Brien's record arise from state audit findings spread over several years, including a 2003 finding that a lack of safeguards in O'Brien's office led to the embezzlement of $40,000. Couple those findings with a series of costly court disputes with local officials, and a picture emerges of an auditor with a penchant for controversy a picture at odds with her pleasant demeanor...

3) "The strongest evidence of O'Brien's troubles in office come from findings detailed in state audits by Republican state Auditor Betty Montgomery. A 2003 year-end audit said that a lack of internal controls allowed an O'Brien employee to embezzle $40,000 over two years. "If policies and procedures had been developed and followed . . . this theft might have been prevented or discovered in a timelier manner," the audit said. Springing to her defense, O'Brien said that the money was fully recovered and that the theft was discovered because of a special audit she performed. "I was the one who caught it and got the confession and took it to the prosecutor." However, a September 2003 Ashtabula County Sheriff's Department report shows that two employees brought the theft to O'Brien's attention, sparking the internal audit. O'Brien said her internal audit "was sort of concurrent." Asked if policies were changed, O'Brien said, "We just tightened up what we were already doing.""

5) "Other findings from recent state audits include the improper purchase of a Ford Explorer in 2003 for her office and the 2004 overpayment by $1,500 of O'Brien's own salary. O'Brien's record also reflects a series of run-ins with county officials-primarily Democrats - over local projects. One flash point: A 160,000-square-foot lodge and conference center opposed by O'Brien but approved by the Democratic county commissioners. When the lodge project went forward in late 2003 and early 2004, O'Brien took months to pay bills, earning a rebuke from Montgomery's office that noted she was "without the discretion" to refuse "merely because she doesn't like a particular project."

6) "Other legal flaps include a dispute over a job-training program, suing for outside counsel instead of using the county prosecutor to represent her, refusing to pay a $5,000 appraisal bill as well as refusing to do an appraisal on a campground. The lawsuits, almost all of which O'Brien lost, have cost more than $100,000, by the count of County Commissioner Bob Boggs, a Democrat and political enemy of O'Brien's....said Boggs. "She doesn't know her job, and she doesn't follow Ohio law.""

amarshall@plaind.com, 1-800-228-8272 © 2006 The Plain Dealer © 2006 cleveland.com All Rights Reserved.