Auditor: New policies will end mistakes

McHenry County Auditor Pam Palmer said her office should have done a better job ferreting out what she now calls questionable expenses by the McHenry County state's attorney's office, but new policies will prevent the situation from arising again.

Palmer, speaking Monday with members of the Daily Herald editorial board, said as a result of the controversy over state's attorney spending, she or her office's internal auditor now personally reviews every bill for red flags.

"It's unfortunate that it happened," said Palmer, a Republican from Union seeking her first full term as auditor. "Right now all I can do is concentrate on putting procedures in place so that it doesn't happen again."

Palmer's opponent in next month's Republican primary, Crystal Lake attorney Richard Kelly Jr., did not attend Monday's editorial board meeting. According to a posting labeled "Conspiracy" on his Web site, and a letter sent to a Daily Herald columnist, Kelly said he believes the newspaper tried to aid Palmer's re-election bid by issuing a campaign mailer reprinting coverage of the state's attorney's expenses.

But, in fact, outgoing McHenry County GOP Chairman Bill LeFew last week admitted that he had purchased reprints and then sent out the mailer on his own.

Kelly did not return phone calls seeking comment Monday.

State's Attorney Louis Bianchi came under fire late last year after it was revealed that his office used about $17,000 in taxpayer money on meals, candy, snacks and other food and drink items since he took office in December 2004. The reimbursements included money for parade candy and Bianchi's swearing-in luncheon.

Palmer later deemed some of the expenditures inappropriate and political, prompting Bianchi and his supporters to ask why she approved them in the first place. On Monday, Palmer said staff members assigned to review those bills did not know they could question them.

"It should have come to my attention," she said. "Their training should have been better."

She also dismissed claims that she gave Bianchi's expenses extra attention at the urging of LeFew, a one-time supporter of the state's attorney who now is working to unseat him.

Palmer said the new policy of having all bills reviewed for questionable spending is one of many the auditor's office has put in place or is in the process of creating since she took charge of the office in 2006. The office, she said, also is revamping the county's employee travel policy, working with county departments to install better internal financial controls and creating a condensed version of the county's financial report to make public.

"The whole point is to make something that is very understandable so the citizens can see where the county stands," she said. "I want the county to be more accountable to the public."