Brian Sonntag
Party: Democrat
Candidate for: State Auditor
Incumbent? Yes
Age: 56
Hometown: Tacoma
Occupation: State Auditor
50-word statement: My record shows a strong commitment to make government open, accessible, accountable and responsive to citizens . . . . and when it talks to people, it tells the truth. Brian is a Certified Government Financial Manager, member of State Auditors Association's Performance Audit Task Force and Association of Government Accountants' Government Accountability Academy.
Three priorities: I am proud of my achievements to audit what matters to citizens and make sure taxpayers dollars are protected from misuse and abuse.
Among my highest priorities for the next term is to shape and advance our performance audit program to make sure it is relevant to the public, its information is useful and to ensure it is balanced in auditing both state and local government. The performance audit authority, which was granted to our Office by citizens' overwhelming approval of Initiative 900 in 2005, is still in its infancy. Our first 10 audits recommended major efficiencies to governments and identified more than $3.2 billion in cost savings, unnecessary costs and other economic benefits.
As we further develop the performance audit program, we will establish an Audit Academy to train our staff and equip them with the special expertise and skills needed to conduct performance audits. We also will use the academy to train other government auditors so they can apply accountability tools and strengthen their agencies' control over public assets. And we will use our performance audits - and the perspective gained from them - to serve as a central resource for state and local government to share best practices and to help them serve citizens better.
I also will work to strengthen public access laws and make sure the public has greater access to government actions and activities. I proudly serve as an active board member on the Washington Coalition for Open Government. It meant a great to me personally when the Tri-City Herald called me "one of Washington's leading supporters of open government."
Listening to citizens to get their ideas on how to make government work better is a strong commitment of ours. That is the cornerstone of putting our performance audit program together. We have elicited thoughts and suggestions from citizens all across the state. Governing magazine described our efforts as a "one-of-a-kind effort to bring citizens back into the decision-making fold."
Web site: www.sonntag2008.com
E-mail address: sonntag2008@harbornet.com
Phone number: (253) 279-3258
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