Bob Grogan: 2024 candidate for DuPage County Auditor

Bio

Party: Republican

Office Sought: DuPage County Auditor

City: Downers Grove

Age: 56

Occupation: Certified Public Accountant

Previous offices held: DuPage County Auditor (2008-2020)

Why are you running for this office, whether for reelection or election for the first time? Is there a particular issue that motivates you? If so, what?

I am running DuPage County Auditor to bring a professional auditor back into the office. The current auditor has never been hired in the real world to do any auditing. When he leaves the office no one would hire him to do auditing. He is an attorney by trade and I am a professional auditor, a CPA, and a Certified Fraud Examiner.

When asked four years ago what he would do if elected, he told this paper that he would put greater emphasis on the legally required quarterly reports, well it took him 3.5 years to do his first quarterly report. If he had kept that promise, maybe we wouldn't have lost as much of the $4 million with the clerk’s marijuana tax revenue error.

True to form as an attorney pretending that an election can make you an auditor, he was rebuked by the state’s attorney for offering up a legal interpretation in a dispute with the county clerk. I will return the auditor’s office to its eponymous niche of being an AUDITOR.

If you are an incumbent, describe your main contributions. Tell us of any important initiatives you've led. If you are a challenger, what would you bring to the board and what would your priority be?

Previously as auditor, I pioneered putting a usable checkbook online, creating an audit hotline, and developing a transparency portal. In fact, these three initiatives have been emulated so much by auditors around the state that they are almost a given for the office.

During my tenure our audits garnered five convictions. Two of which were on federal corruption charges sending an elected official away to prison for 3.5 years. During my opponent’s 3.5 years in office, he has reduced the number of audits performed by 60% and was 3 years late in producing legally required reports. He blames software issues and high staffing turnover.

My priority will be to reorient the focus of the office away from excuses and return that focus to financial auditing.

What special qualifications does a county auditor need that may not apply to other county offices? What professional qualifications or experiences do you possess that will help ensure your success as an auditor?

It is simple, the special qualification is you need to be a professional AUDITOR. Prior to serving as the DuPage County Auditor, I worked in public accounting, performing and leading audits of local governments, federal grants, nonprofits, and pension plans. This kind of experience allowed me to see hundreds of examples of frauds and mistakes, making me a better steward of the taxpayer’s money.

I am a Licensed CPA (Certified Public Accountant) and a CFE (Certified Fraud Examiner). Four years ago, when speaking to this paper, my opponent argued that the office of auditor should steer away from a fraud focus and toward the operations of other departments, thinking his experience as a lawyer would allow him to tell others how to be more efficient. This is Illinois, do we want more auditing for fraud or lawyering for efficiency?

To what extent must an auditor remain independent of other county offices and officials, and how will you ensure the appropriate level of independence in this office?

Independence is very important. A balance must be struck between having a healthy working relationship, while never losing professional objectivity. Ironically, four years ago at the Daily Herald interview when asked why anyone should vote for him with no auditing experience, he repeatedly raised partisan and ideological justifications, in essence: “because I am a Democrat, I will be able to get along with the other Democrats.”

I pointed out then that debits and credits don’t have a political party. During my tenure as auditor, partisanship was never an issue, in fact one of our audits resulted in the federal conviction of an elected official who happened to be a Republican. A real auditor calls out balls and strikes, not fixating on Rs and Ds.

Describe your position regarding the allocation of resources in the auditor's office. Are personnel allocated as they should be? Are there capital expenses or other budgetary items that the office must address, and, if so, how do you propose to address them?

The resources available to the office are adequate, what is lacking is professional audit leadership. As with most things, more resources can get more accomplished, however the staffing level provided by the county has worked for decades.

The problem is, as I pointed out four years ago, that the small staff of seven auditors is materially reduced when you replace a professional auditor with an attorney. Combine this with the high turnover his office has endured, and the result is less actual auditing. In my last four years in office, we issued 436 audits.

In my opponent’s almost four years, he has issued 162 audits. It doesn’t take a CPA to see that there is less auditing getting done. Last campaign my opponent promised that he would redirect away from a financial focus to operational reviews. He should have focused on the operations of his own office. He complains about needing more resources, but government should be about DOING MORE with less. I can do just that.