November 5 will be a pivotal day for the Commonwealth. Yes, there’s the role we’ll be playing in the presidential race itself — a true contest of firsts. Will Kamala Harris win to become the first woman president? The first Asian president? Or will Donald Trump prevail to become the first felon president? It is a consequential race on whose scale the Commonwealth will certainly place its thumb.
But there are other important races on November 5 for Pennsylvania — including deciding who will be our next attorney general — Eugene DePasquale (D) or David Sunday (R) — which Citizen Co-founder Larry Platt noted in the spring could be the most important race in this election that no one is paying attention to.
A few attention levels below that AG race, is another AG race happening on November 5 — the race for the state’s auditor general. (True story: I spent my first day researching this story believing I was writing about the attorney general’s race. “Wait, which AG are we talking about?” I finally asked. “Auditor general? What the hell is that?”)
Read on for what the hell this position is and why the hell you should care.
“Chief Fiscal Watchdog”
Most descriptions of Auditor General use the same three buzzwords: “chief fiscal watchdog.” In a nutshell, this AG (as the title alludes) is the person who audits how the state spends its money. They are the Big Brother omnipresently watching over the books, “overseeing the examination of practically every financial transaction involving the state.”
The roots of this particular government office go back to the War for Independence. One year after Cornwallis surrendered to Washington, Pennsylvania created the Office of the Comptroller General. Comptrollers are basically CFOs, and you find them in most business and governmental bodies. But we do things our own way in this state — for example, we call ourselves a “commonwealth” — so in 1809, the Office of the Comptroller General was broken up and a whole new office was created: auditor general.
The auditor general drew from and subsumed three previous positions: a chunk of the comptroller’s books and responsibilities went to the AG, as well as those of the register general, and (a few years later) the escheator general.
For history buffs, the register general dealt with claims for services performed during the Revolutionary War. “Escheat” is an Old French word for “inheritance,” and an “escheator” was a royal officer who transferred property to the crown (or state, or commonwealth) in the event that a person died and had no heirs.
Like the presidential race, this year’s auditor general race is between candidates of consequential “firsts.” Come November, voters will choose between incumbent Auditor General Tim DeFoor and his Democratic opponent, Malcolm Kenyatta.
All of these responsibilities were turned over to the auditor general. The office also had their hands in tax collection and issuing liens against properties for unpaid taxes until the Commonwealth created the Department of Revenue in 1927. After unshackling the AG from tax responsibilities, “the Department of the Auditor General became for the first time a true auditing agency.”
For the first 40 years, the governor of PA appointed our auditor general. In 1850, that changed to become an elected state position like the attorney general and the treasurer (these two positions are also on the ballot in November).
Being a state auditor might sound like a … boring job (and it is true that AG Joseph Henderson resigned his appointment after a whopping six days in 1836), but in its modern incarnation, the AG uses regular audits to make sure the state’s money is being spent properly, effectively and free of fraud and grift. Okay, that also sounds boring.
It doesn’t have to be, though. DePasquale, for example, used his office to release an audit of untested rape kits going back decades, along with recommendations for clearing the backlog. Three years later, 97 percent of the kits had been processed.
As a counter-example, see the audit for comparative statements of capital stock paid by telegraph companies, 1870-75. Not exactly a report to cuddle up with by the fire. Fortunately, the race itself is more interesting.
The 2024 race for PA Auditor General
Like the presidential race, this year’s auditor general race is between candidates of consequential “firsts.” Come November, voters will choose between the incumbent Auditor General Tim DeFoor and his Democratic opponent, Malcolm Kenyatta. (If Kenyatta’s name doesn’t instantly ring a bell, he was the state representative duking it out with John Fetterman for a senate seat two years ago. Kenyatta currently reps Philadelphia’s 181st District.)
When DeFoor was elected to the auditor general position in 2020, it marked two milestones. He became first Republican to hold the position in more than 20 years, and the first person of color to win any statewide office in the Commonwealth.
DeFoor came to the office from an auditor-friendly background. He was a special agent in the state attorney general’s office where he investigated cases of Medicaid fraud. DeFoor was an internal auditor for the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. He was the Dauphin County controller in 2015. Five years later, he defeated now-Philadelphia Councilmember Nina Ahmad for the auditor general position.
DeFoor has an old-school flair for the office, laser focusing his efforts toward transparency and the classical fraud and waste hunting for which his long career prepared him. This stands in contrast to the previous auditor general, Eugene DePasquale, who bent the office to include more progressive initiatives like suggestions for gun violence reduction and the monetary benefits of legalizing weed. (Not a bad route towards higher public office, however, since DePasquale moved on to become the Democratic finalist in this year’s attorney general race.)
DeFoor’s challenger also has an impressive list of firsts behind his name. When Kenyatta won his state rep race in 2018, he became the first openly gay person of color to enter the General Assembly. He was also one of the youngest representatives elected at just 28 years old. In the race he soundly lost to Fetterman, Kenyatta was the first openly gay person of color to run for a U.S. Senate seat.
Kenyatta is an unapologetic progressive and gifted speaker. His speeches frequently catch fire online and he accepted invitations to the stage at both the 2020 and 2024 Democratic National Conventions.
Kenyatta’s passion earns him quite a bit of attention, but his legislative proposals, which range from championing a higher minimum wage to stricter gun laws to LGBTQ protections under the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act have all petered out in a divided Assembly and failed to become law. As auditor general, he would undoubtedly pick up DePasquale’s progressive mantle and push for the office to support initiatives like reducing gun violence and “investigating wage theft” against the working class.
Drawbacks on both sides
Both candidates have had their stumbles. DeFoor got himself snarled in a tussle with a dozen school districts for claiming they were moving money around in a “shell game” to fraudulently raise local taxes. There was fierce pushback from the districts.
And, in an embarrassing face-off with his future opponent at a state House committee meeting, the newly elected DeFoor refused to say the 2020 presidential election was free and fairly conducted. It was less election denialism and more election waffling-ism.
“I believe my election was fair,” he told Rep. Kenyatta. “As far as anybody else’s election, that’s a conversation that you would have to have with them, but I haven’t heard any complaints with regard to my specific election.”
Kenyatta does have the kinds of progressive credentials that make Democrats cheer, but has he made his bones in the same way lifelong auditor DeFoor has? That’s a hard argument to make.
And then there’s the fact that in the state of Pennsylvania, you can run for a statewide seat and a district seat at the same time. Which Kenyatta is currently doing. It gives off an air that if the whole auditor gig doesn’t work out, that’s okay, he’s got his state rep race to fall back on.
Another reason to vote on November 5
It may not seem it, but there is a six degrees of Kevin Bacon potential here in the Keystone State. DePasquale may go from auditor general to attorney general. Josh Shapiro went from attorney general to governor. And governors like to cast their eyes toward that big, beautiful Oval Office (wink, wink, Governor Shapiro).
Maybe, just maybe, your vote for auditor general in this November’s state election will create a trajectory that leads one candidate straight to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Or maybe not. Either way, now you know what an auditor general does, so get out there on November 5 and exercise your right to vote!
