McHenry Co. auditor candidates spar

It's been more than a year since McHenry County voters learned their state's attorney had spent about $17,000 in taxpayer money feeding his staff, buying gifts and arming his parade volunteers with candy.

But those expenses continue to have political reverberations, and not just in Louis Bianchi's bid for re-election.

Candidates for county auditor verbally sparred recently over whether incumbent Republican Pam Palmer acted quickly enough to halt Bianchi's spending and has done enough to get that money back.

"The expenses were paid, and then later deemed inappropriate," Democratic challenger Kerry Julian said in an interview with the Daily Herald editorial board. "If an expense is deemed inappropriate, it would be appropriate for the auditor to go back and ask the department to reimburse the county."

Palmer has said she wishes the expenditures had been stopped sooner, and has made changes in the office to fill the cracks through which they slipped.

However, she said, she endangered her own political future by stopping the spending and publicly criticizing Bianchi, a fellow Republican, as soon as she discovered it.

"I could have gone ahead and ignored it, and not caused any friction," she said. "I didn't do that. I took action right away."

Any demand for reimbursement, Palmer said, would have to come from the McHenry County Board. When she attempted to raise the issue before the board's finance and audit review committee, she said, its members told her to move on to another topic.

The issue is one of few significant points of contention between Julian, who runs an insurance firm in his hometown of Woodstock, and Palmer, the longtime chief deputy auditor who took over the office in 2006.

However, Palmer says her 10 years experience as auditor or deputy auditor make her the candidate best suited to continue leading the office.

"When I came (to the office) as a deputy from the banking industry, I quickly learned it was a whole new ballgame," she said. "If I had just jumped in as auditor, I would have been lost."

Julian, however, believes his extensive business background - including running a $10 million budget and overseeing 110 employees for HCC Insurance, would allow him to move into the office seamlessly.

"I don't think it's rocket science," he said. "If it takes me 12 hours a day, then that's what it takes."