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Audit: Carr’s letter misinterpreted Wagner’s
To the editor:
Paulette Carr’s letter published by the West End Word on Feb. 3 is purposefully and maliciously misleading. It’s absurd to think that I’d want anyone to think that I had anything to do with the University City petition effort.
I did not, as she wrote, say or imply that I “directed the petition drive for the state audit.” That is her own misinterpretation, which is a transparent political distortion.
In e-mails sent in response to my supporters I was explicit, saying, “I was not one of the originators of the petition quest. However, as the message was developed and broadened, it encompassed many of my deep concerns for U. City.”
I first opposed the narrow objective of asking for a financial audit. U. City has long reported an annual independent audit, and I have full confidence in our director of finance and our accounting system. The state audit will cost the city an estimated $60,000 to $80,000 in an already distressed economy.
After it was apparent that the state audit would proceed, I stated publicly that our administrators should fully support the effort, and that I would urge action on the auditors’ recommendations.
While I’m convinced that the auditors will not turn up a “smoking gun” of corruption or accounting malfeasance, perhaps their report will help clear the U. City atmosphere of undeserved suspicion and false accusation.
Bob Wagner
University City councilmember
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