Incumbent Pa. auditor general plays up reforms in office while challengers promise even more

By Ford Turner / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette /

The Nov. 5 election contest for state auditor general — an oft-overlooked post that serves as a fiscal watchdog — includes an incumbent Republican who touts a string of reforms, and a Democratic state representative who promises even more changes.

Republican Timothy L. DeFoor and Democratic state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta will be joined on the ballot by Reece Smith of the Libertarian Party, Eric K. Anton of the American Solidarity Party, and Alan R. “Bob” Goodrich Sr. of the Constitution Party.

The auditor general has been an elective position in Pennsylvania for more than 150 years, but gets far less attention than the other “row offices” of state attorney general and treasurer. The officeholder makes sure the state receives all money to which it is entitled and that taxpayer funds are spent properly. Mr. DeFoor currently makes $197,748 a year, heads a department with about 380 employees and a budget of more than $43 million.

Mr. DeFoor, 62, lives in Dauphin County, and grew up in Harrisburg. He is in his fourth year on the job after winning the 2020 election over Democrat Nina Ahmad by a margin of roughly 49% to 46% in a four-candidate field.

Mr. DeFoor’s online biographical information states that he was the first person of color elected to a statewide office in Pennsylvania.

Mr. Kenyatta, 34, was elected to the state House, representing a Philadelphia district in 2018. He was re-elected in 2020 and 2022, and in 2022 made an unsuccessful bid for U.S. Senate. He is listed on the ballot this year for his House seat as well as the auditor general’s office.

Mr. Kenyatta’s online biographical information says among other things he was the first openly LGBTQ+ person of color to be a state lawmaker.

The two major-party candidates have elicited skepticism from the others.

Mr. Goodrich said in an interview that since people from those two parties control most of state government, it makes sense to have “outside eyes on the books.” In a separate interview, Mr. Smith said the Constitution Party made sense to him because the major parties did not seem to be accomplishing much.

Mr. DeFoor and Mr. Kenyatta have name recognition beyond the other candidates. They also have far more money involved in their campaigns — although Mr. Kenyatta is ahead of Mr. DeFoor in that regard.

Mr. Anton and Mr. Goodrich showed zero balances in their campaign coffers as of Sept. 16, while Mr. Smith had $100. Mr. Kenyatta, meanwhile, showed a balance of $415,903, while Mr. DeFoor had $18,900.

Beyond that, a late September poll of 800 registered voters released by the Commonwealth Foundation showed Mr. Kenyatta with a four-percentage point lead over Mr. DeFoor. That was slightly greater than the poll’s margin for error, but far less than the 14% who chose “none of the above” — a segment that could indicate many voters are undecided.

In an interview, Mr. DeFoor said he was behind in all the polls before his 2020 election win. Asked about the money gap, Mr. DeFoor said financial support from his party has been in short supply.

“Unfortunately, some in the Republican Party just don’t see this office as being important,” Mr. DeFoor said.

Mr. DeFoor has an associate’s degree from Harrisburg Area Community College, a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh, and a master’s from Harrisburg University of Science and Technology.

Previously, he worked as a special investigator with the state Office of Inspector General and as a special agent in the state attorney general’s office. He also worked as a fraud investigator and internal auditor for the UPMC Health Plan, several federal contractors, and was elected as Dauphin County controller.

As auditor general, Mr. DeFoor said he has continually improved the function of the office, created the first “workforce development team” that seeks to make sure employees have the education and resources they need to do their jobs; and changed how audits are performed and written. A particular point of pride, he said, is his work to improve financial literacy.

A recent story published by Broad and Liberty, citing court documents, said Mr. Kenyatta was sued in January by Drexel University for more than $36,000 in unpaid tuition and late fees. The article quoted a spokesperson for Mr. Kenyatta as saying the matter is no longer pending and was settled.

Mr. DeFoor said he was aware of the lawsuit before the story was published

“It’s troubling to see that somebody who is running to be the chief fiscal officer of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania didn’t take care of their own personal finances and was sued by their alma mater,” he said.

A spokesperson for Mr. Kenyatta said he declined an interview request because of an ongoing strike by some Post-Gazette journalists.

Mr. Kenyatta’s website says he has a bachelor’s degree from Temple University and a master’s from Drexel. It describes him as “breaking barriers” by, among other things, being the first openly LGBTQ+ person of color to seek a U.S. Senate seat.

President Joe Biden, the website said, appointed Mr. Kenyatta to the Presidential Advisory Commission on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Black Americans. His legislative career and life, the website said, have been the subject of two documentaries.

“I’m running for Auditor General because it’s time for the underdog to become the watchdog for Pennsylvania’s working families. I want to ask the tough questions, streamline government operations, and building coalitions to fix what’s broken,” Mr. Kenyatta stated on his website.

Mr. Kenyatta promises to rebuild the agency’s Bureau of School Audits, restart annual compliance audit, and “demand accountability from all our schools — including cyber charters.” He says he will create a “bureau of labor and worker protections and push for transparency on how large hospital nonprofits and long-term care providers use state money.

Other candidates

Among the other candidates, Mr. Goodrich, of the Constitution Party, is the principal of a Christian school in north-central Pennsylvania. Mr. Goodrich, 60, has been elected twice as a supervisor in Osceola Township, Tioga County, and he has made an unsuccessful bid for county commissioner.

In an interview, Mr. Goodrich said he grew up as the son of a pastor, graduated from West Point, served in the Army for 25 years, and was wounded in Iraq in 2009.

His run for auditor general as a Constitution Party candidate, he said, is grounded in the belief that “if we followed our Constitution, we would solve many of our nation’s problems.” He added, “We need to get back to the way the Constitution was written, and follow it.”

He said he believes state voters should have a choice among auditor general candidates beyond the two major parties. And given the fact that people associated with the two major parties run most of the government, he said, it makes sense that a third-party person would be best for the auditor general’s job.

Mr. Smith, 21, lives in Crafton and recently received a bachelor’s degree in economics from Allegheny College. He works in the financial services sector.

In an interview, Mr. Smith said he started paying attention to politics as a teenager and “I wasn’t too impressed with either party.” Over time, he said, he saw that Democrats and Republicans did not seem to be making progress on things he saw as important: Limiting government encroachment into citizens’ lives; reducing the national debt; and curtailing or ending involvement in foreign wars and troop deployments.

His run as a Libertarian Party candidate is his first for elective office. He has plans for the placement of yard signs, he has a fully developed website and he expects to have people handing out literature at polling places.

His three main campaign points, he said, are his own calculation that less than one-fifth of 1% of the auditor general’s audits in recent years have focused exclusively on state government; that auditor generals from both major parties have shied away from hard-hitting, expose-type audits of state agencies; and that even if he is not elected, getting the message out on the first two points will help the state.

Attempts to contact Mr. Anton were not successful.