INDIANAPOLIS – It’s experience versus enthusiasm in this year’s race for state auditor as Republican Tim Berry, a Fort Wayne native, tries to retain the office for a second four-year term.
Democrat Sam Locke and Libertarian Eric Knipe are the challengers.
Indiana’s auditor earns an annual salary of $66,000 and is charged with paying the state’s bills.
“I’m running on a track record,” Berry said. “This is truly a management position, and I bring experience to the table.”
Before being elected as state auditor in 2006, he served two terms as state treasurer and two terms as Allen County treasurer.
The 49-year-old father of two moved his family to Indianapolis and now spends most of his free time shuttling his two boys between hockey games.
Berry said one of his key accomplishments while in office was doing more with less. The office returned 12 percent of its budget while also expanding service to Hoosiers by creating a transparency Web portal that features state and local financial information.
One of his goals for the future is to add more to this website, including state payments to vendors. He also will push lawmakers next year to make the site permanent.
During his term, Berry also oversaw the transition of the state to a fully integrated financial system that allows Berry and other officials to know the state’s balances on a daily basis and use internal controls to track spending.
Locke, 28, grew up in a southern Indiana family with Democratic roots. He has degrees from Indiana University and the University of Wyoming in political science, secondary education and public administration. He served two years in the Air Force.
A resident of Floyds Knobs in southern Indiana, he said he has focused much of his work in the non-profit sector.
“I think this is an office that my background could have a lot of immediate impact on,” Locke said. “I thought I might be a breath of enthusiasm and energy.”
His first goal if elected is to expand the transparency website Berry created. He noted that the site simply repackages information that was already online. But Locke wants Hoosiers to be able to search for how much is being spent by specific agencies.
Locke also wants to use a special software program to find savings for the state. It identifies small-dollar fraud and cost overlaps and, he said, it could save $10 million in the first year.
His third goal is more philosophic: He wants the office to be a watchdog for taxpayers. While the auditor doesn’t have the power to stop an agency from spending money, the person in the office can use the pulpit to point out examples of waste.
“We need an independent voice on behalf of the taxpayers,” Locke said.
Both Locke and Berry agree that the offices of state treasurer and auditor should be combined to save money and make the system easier to understand for taxpayers. The treasurer essentially invests the state’s money while the auditor pays the bills.
But Knipe said keeping separate offices is necessary because it “provides a mechanism for preventing further fraud and corruption by government officials.”
The 30-year-old central Indiana real estate broker is also pursuing a bachelor’s degree. He said he is running to provide voters with another option.
The two most important issues to him in the race are increasing transparency to the public and running an efficient office.
