By Phil Kabler, Charleston Gazette-Mail
More and more each session, the Republican legislative supermajority operates in an echo chamber where opinions that differ from their own are ignored or dismissed, and where the mainstream media is treated as an annoyance at best, and as an antagonist at worst.
As the supermajority continues to become more and more politically extreme, and moves farther away from mainstream values, transparency and public scrutiny are anathema.
As I referenced last week, the Legislature has now passed and sent to the governor a bill to take away the ability of the Legislative Auditor’s Office to operate independently. The Legislative Auditor would require approval from the Senate president and House speaker to conduct audits of state agencies and programs — audits that would be made public only with the approval of those leaders (Senate Bill 687).
Even before the legislation passed, the emasculation of the Legislative Auditor’s Office had already begun, upon the retirement of longtime Auditor Aaron Allred in December.
According to testimony, five completed audits have not been released, and the office has been directed to call off a number of scheduled audits.
