State Auditor David Yost yesterday made his first public comments about the newly-passed measure that blocks his authority to audit JobsOhio. The comments were made at an appearance before a conference of fraud examiners. Ohio Public Radio's Karen Kasler reports.
Auditor David Yost talked mostly about problems with student attendance data with the Columbus Public Schools. He never mentioned the JobsOhio situation directly, but it was clear it was on his mind…
“We don’t have our jobs, we do not exercise our duties in this profession so that we can make friends. I know that very personally – I’ve unmade a lot of friends in the last couple of weeks.”
The Republican auditor maintains that he feels he has the authority to audit JobsOhio’s finances, which come from state liquor profits. But now that the Republican-dominated legislature has clarified that he doesn’t, Yost says the debate has been concluded. But he says he’s confident the friendships that were unmade won’t do permanent damage.
“There are occasions when Mrs. Yost undertakes a process that I find to be inadequate for terms of considering my point of view and we’re still married.”
As for legal action in the Ohio Supreme Court against the measure, Yost says he isn’t sure on what grounds that could be pursued, and that his office hasn’t even looked into that.