This is part one in a series taking a closer look at the most important elections around the state and the candidates running in them.
With the Massachusetts auditor’s election coming up, college students may find themselves wondering who to vote for &- or what a state auditor does to begin with.
The Office of the State Auditor is in charge of investigating and evaluating the use of resources by state government agencies.
By ensuring that government expenditures are open, sensible and efficient, the OSA safeguards agencies from overspending and fraud.
Current Auditor Joseph DeNucci decided not to seek reelection in 2010 after 23 years in office, spurring a race that has now boiled down to two candidates: Democrat Suzanne Bump and Republican Mary Connaughton. Both are vying to become the state’s first female auditor.
Bump grew up in the town of Whitman. Her father was a funeral director and her mother was a homemaker. She earned an English degree from Boston College and then graduated from Suffolk University Law School.
As a candidate, Bump touts her experiences in policy-making and management. She served as a state representative for Braintree and House co-chair of the Committee on Commerce and Labor, and held various other government offices.
Bump was a key player in the Worker’s Compensation Act of 1991, which drastically reformed Massachusetts’ program for providing aid to injured workers.
She was appointed secretary of labor and workforce development in 2007.
If elected, Bump would emphasize streamlining management and lowering costs, according to her website.
“For me, [the role of a state auditor is] making sure that government is effective and efficient, that it’s serving people’s needs,” she said in a debate Tuesday at the Suffolk Law School.
Bump said that the upcoming state auditor election should be important for college students as well.
“I think that college students have the same perceptions of government that everybody else does&-that they don’t feel they’re getting all that they need from it,” she said in an interview after the debate. “There’s a real opportunity for someone to go up to Beacon Hill and make a difference by really focusing on that question, “are we getting our money’s worth?'”
Bump insists that a state auditor needs intimate knowledge of the inner workings of government, dismissing Connaughton’s qualification as the only certified public accountant in the race.
“Accountants can only take us so far in fixing government,” she said in the debate. “Accountants reviewed the books at Enron.”
Connaughton, however, said this was viewpoint was shortsighted.
“The job of the auditor is to route out waste, fraud and corruption in government to ensure that the taxpayers are being protected,” she said in an email. “My time as an auditor has really provided me with the necessary experience to get that job done.”
Connaughton grew up in Sudbury with her four brothers. Her father is a small business owner and her mother is a retired nurse and real estate broker. On her website, she said she looks up to her parents, insisting that it was their work ethic that shaped her into the person that she is today.
Connaughton earned her degree in English and Accounting from University of Massachusetts-Amherst and an MBA from Assumption College.
She went on to become audit senior manager at accounting firm Ernst &’ Young and is a partner at Ascentage Group, a business development firm.
Connaughton also served as a member of the now-defunct Massachusetts Turnpike Authority.
“After the Turnpike Authority was dissolved, I still had the public service bug and asked myself where I could best serve,” she said. “The state auditor’s office was clearly where I believed I could do a great deal of good for the people of Massachusetts.”
Above all, Connaughton says she wants to work for transparency in government.
“I believe the Auditor is in a unique position as the top public advocate to bring integrity, accountability and transparency to government,” she said. “My job is to be professional, not political.”
Connaughton was also chief financial officer of the Massachusetts State Lottery. Coupled with experience in public service and auditing, Connaughton said that the position of state auditor is a natural progression.
“I doubt any child grows up dreaming to be a state auditor, but that might change after they see me in action!” Connaughton stated.
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