The race for state Auditor features four candidates: Republican Pat Anderson, DFL'er Rebecca Otto, Independence Party nominee Lucy Gerold and Green Party nominee Berger.
The state Auditor is an important office charged with overseeing fiscal management of various government and quasi-government entities. The office has also been a stepping stone to higher office nominations -- U.S. Sen. Mark Dayton, former Gov. Arne Carlson, and DFL Lt. Gov. nominee Judy Dutcher.
Neither Gerold nor Berger have a chance to win this race. However, Gerold does have a long public service record, including her recent role as deputy police chief in Minneapolis. Berger is running primarily to abolish the elected auditor office.
Otto is a former DFL state representative from Marine on St. Croix and has served on the Forest Lake school board. Her campaign focus has been citing math errors in Anderson's auditor reports and criticizing the auditor's partisan agenda.
Anderson, elected in 2002 as Patricia Anderson Awada, is a former mayor and City Council member in Eagan, a Twin Cities suburb. With a master's in public administration, she has run an aggressive office, serving as a fiscal watchdog of the state's 4,223 units of local government. She defends her local government aid studies as a necessary example of government review.
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Anderson should be re-elected as state Auditor.
